Angels: Messengers to All the World

Luke 2:8 – 14
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”


Each week during Advent, it has been helpful for me to begin with words that describe the character(s) who serve as our focus for the week. This week, we are interested in finding the angels within us. These are words I’ve started with:

• heralds – (Hark, the herald angels sings)
• announcers
• messengers
• bearers
• angelos (angellion, eu-angellion) = messenger, good news bearer (Greek)
• go-betweens
• mediators (“pontifex” = bridges)
• interpreters
• message-bearers
• mystery-explainers
• inviters
• separate beings
• crossing the veil (of the heavenly/spiritual realm and the earthly/ordinary realm)
• singing/music (their first language?) – “sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation”
• comforters (“do not be afraid”)
• connecting (earth and heaven)
• proclaiming/exclaiming (a great mystery)

In the New Testament, the word for “angel” comes from the Greek word eu-angellion. The word is usually translated in modern translations as “Gospel”, or “good news.”

[It is also the word from which we get “evangelism,” which is literally “good news,” but which for many of us has been communicated as anything but good news. The kind of evangelism I grew up with began, not with good news, but with bad news . . . the bad news that I was a failed, incomplete, “sinful” person. Many of us are still stuck on notions of evangelism that did not communicate a message of “good news of great joy for all people,” but began with condemnation, and sometimes the fires of hell itself. But I digress . . .]

Literally, the word eu-angellion could be translated “good message” or “good angel.” You can see in it angellion, angel or message/messenger. So angels are good news bearers, message-bearers. This is what they do in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

So the beginning place for us is to discover the part of ourselves that is angel-like. It is that aspect of our being that is connected to good news, that bears God’s message, that heralds the goodness of God.

It has been important to me during Advent that in Luke 2 the angels pronounce in the good news for “all people.” What God does in the world is not for one person or group, not for one nation or race. God’s project for the world includes everyone, and the angels proclaim it to be so. All people are included. Everyone is inside. There are no outsiders.

I think the angel within us would be that part of each of us which is open to the other . . . so open that every person everywhere is included.


For Reflection:

Look over the words above and see which words or phrases resonate with you. To which words are you drawn? And can you discover times recently when that word describes something you did or said?