Sunday, December 4, 2011: The Second Sunday of Advent

Noting that angels and their messages play rather a large role in the Advent readings for Year B, John H. Barden took a moment (in the November 208 issue of Homily Service) to reflect upon the role of Angels in God’s creation.

Angels are messengers, purely and simply, albeit messengers of God. In almost every instance in which an angel appears in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, the angel is a bringer of news, usually good news. sometimes angels are personal messengers, bringing good news to an individual, like Joseph or May. Sometimes angels are cosmic messengers, bringing good news to a whole group of people, such as to the shepherd of Bethlehem. It is hard for us to see angels for who they are, because we do not really understand what they are. Angels are messengers of good news. Angels are evangelists. The root word and meaning are the same. An evangelist is someone who tells forth good news; an angel is a messenger or herald of good news And , always, angels are inseparable from the good news they bring and the One who send them with the news. Angels do not bring just any news; they bring good news. Moreover, it is not simply good news in general, it is good news from God concerning god’s activity to bring about our salvation.

Homily Service: an ecumenical resource for sharing the word, vol. 42, no. 1, p. 20.
John H. Barden is a Presbyterian Pastor serving as Vice President for Admissions at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He won the Presbyterian Church’s Jim Angell award for best first book in 2005 for 'Postle Jack Tales, Gospel: Images in New Appalachian Folktales.