Angels in our midst

From Helen

I am sure that you all have had those moments when you have been invited somewhere special, an event that you have looked forward to. Then the question comes - what shall I wear ? Or maybe you have the moments when you are going to an event and you don’t really know what to expect. There was once a man who had been invited to a very fancy event, it was a very important meal with lots of important guests. On the day of the meal he had been called into an emergency in work. As time went on, he realised that he was going to be late for the important event. So he rushed straight from work to the meal. He was a little bit dirty and he had less formal clothes on than he had meant to wear but he expected that it didn’t really matter so off he went. He got to the event and nobody spoke to him, he was ignored. So, he went home and changed into his fancier outfit. He went back to the event and people spoke to him and welcomed him. When the food came he started putting the food on his suit, people naturally were a bit shocked. He said, “ well, when I came here in my other clothes no one spoke to me, so I assumed that you invited my clothes not me, that’s why I am feeding my clothes as obviously they were the ones invited and they were the ones who were meant to be fed.”

This man experienced judgment based on his appearance and not on who he was. Sometimes people can really surprise us. The people we least expect to be able to help us are often the ones who do help. Or the people who seemed really stuck up turn out to be the kindest and friendliest people. 

We are all comfortable with people who look similar to us, people who understand the same type of things as us. The people who know the same things as us. We always need to treat everyone the same though. 

In our epistle reading (Hebrews 13:1-8,16-16.) this morning we heard of the time when someone entertained angels without knowing it. This person was Abraham who met three strangers and offered them somewhere to stay. When he met these strangers he treated them with kindness and with love. He looked after them, these strangers gave him a message from God. The  message seemed unbelievable, the message was that he and his wife Sarai would have a child. It was rather a shock as they were so old and had been trying for so long. 

It turned out that Abraham had entertained three strangers who were actually angels. We all love to think about and talk about angels. The ones who are either portrayed on a fluffy cloud, playing a harp, or who are with us, walking with us and looking after us. In the Bible angels are God’s messengers and they always arrive at the most surprising times, and in the most surprising way.

God speaks to us all through other people, through the things people say to us that help and sometimes through someone coming and disrupting our lives. I was once preaching a sermon about welcoming people to Church and loving others. When I mentioned a young man in my sermon a man burst through the doors saying, “it’s ok, I am here..” then he sat down underneath the pulpit. I carried on preaching, I mentioned a bottle of water and the man pulled a bottle of water out of his bag. Then he told me that I was funny and he was enjoying the sermon. I kept preaching.

Afterwards people congratulated me on the idea of organising a stranger to come into Church at exactly the correct moment in my sermon, I explained that I had  no idea who the man was. It took quite a while to convince them. They did all say that it was fantastic and that because the man visited they would remember the sermon and the message to love and welcome others.

The man wasn’t an angel, he happened to be in the area. He was from Holland, he had decided to come to Church to see what it was like.

God surprises us all and He certainly surprised Abraham, who had been visited by angels. 

It got me to thinking though about us and whether we are like angels to others ? Are we people who share the good news of Jesus with others ? We have the best news ever but do we tell others ? We pray for other people but do we share the best news with them ? 

Angels are always shown as good beings who love and help. Do we treat others in ways that people may describe as angelic ? 

The way we can be angelic is by being as Jesus to others. Treating people with love and respect not judgment. In the reading from Proverbs (25:6-7) we were reminded that we need to make sure that we put others before us and our needs, to make sure that we don’t try and make ourselves more important than we are. 

Like the man feeling the need to feed his suit we are to make sure that we don’t treat others as if they are worth nothing unless they look and behave like us. We need to love people and respect them to treat everyone as equal. Not because we might be entertaining angels, although that would be nice, but because everyone deserves to be treated as if they are the most important person in the world.

In the gospel reading (Luke 14:1,7-14) we heard of Jesus saying that we must be humble, not put ourselves forward but to love others and to welcome everyone. To love and treat others with respect.

Mother Teresa, used to tell all her nuns as they worked with her in the hospital, to treat everyone, no matter how much they might look messed up due to illness or if they smelt due to living a life on the streets, or anything else horrible, she said that the nuns were to treat everyone as if they were treating Jesus. Above every bed there was a note, stating that, “this is the body of Christ.” We are to love one another, no matter who they are, no matter if they have hurt us, even if we don’t feel comfortable around them, as if they were Jesus. It’s not easy, but we are to show love, welcome and hospitality to the stranger, treating them as if we were treating Jesus Himself.

May we love as God loves, indiscriminately, welcoming everyone and inviting people to come to know Jesus in their lives. AMEN