Christmas Angels
Dear Friends,
Do you believe in angels? If you do, then you are not alone. According to a poll commissioned by the Bible Society, one in three people in the UK believe in angels and the same proportion feel they have a guardian angel watching over them. Of course, for some angels are in the same category as fairies or chubby cherubs. But that’s far from the Bible’s descriptions of angelic beings. From the Old Testament to the New, the visit of an angel is always alarming. That’s why when angels appear to deliver a message from God, they begin by saying ‘Fear not’.
This Christmas, angels appear on our Ironstone Villages Family of Churches Christmas card – angels that have been drawn by children from Waltham Primary School. It can remind us that angels feature prominently in the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Think, for example, of the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary in Nazareth to tell her that she would conceive and give birth to a son, who was to be called Jesus. Or of the angel of the Lord who appeared to the shepherds out in the fields near Bethlehem to tell them of the birth of God’s promised Saviour, who they would find wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Most of the Christmas carols we enjoy singing at this time of year also mention angels. For example, Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new-born King; The angel Gabriel from heaven came; Angels from the realms of glory; The first Nowell the angel did say, to name but four. In spite of initial fear at the awesome presence of an angel, the message of the angels is one of joy and gladness – a message of good news sung to those in need of the light of hope. In the carol It came upon the midnight clear, the ‘glorious song of old’ the angels bring is one of ‘Peace on the earth, goodwill to all, from heaven’s all-gracious King’. The message of the angels continues to come to our war-torn and weary world; but we need to ‘hush the noise of mortal strife’, in order to hear ‘the love-song which they bring’.
May I wish you Christmas joy and peace, as we celebrate again the love-song which the angels bring,
John Barr, Rector
Dear Friends,
Do you believe in angels? If you do, then you are not alone. According to a poll commissioned by the Bible Society, one in three people in the UK believe in angels and the same proportion feel they have a guardian angel watching over them. Of course, for some angels are in the same category as fairies or chubby cherubs. But that’s far from the Bible’s descriptions of angelic beings. From the Old Testament to the New, the visit of an angel is always alarming. That’s why when angels appear to deliver a message from God, they begin by saying ‘Fear not’.
This Christmas, angels appear on our Ironstone Villages Family of Churches Christmas card – angels that have been drawn by children from Waltham Primary School. It can remind us that angels feature prominently in the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Think, for example, of the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary in Nazareth to tell her that she would conceive and give birth to a son, who was to be called Jesus. Or of the angel of the Lord who appeared to the shepherds out in the fields near Bethlehem to tell them of the birth of God’s promised Saviour, who they would find wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Most of the Christmas carols we enjoy singing at this time of year also mention angels. For example, Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new-born King; The angel Gabriel from heaven came; Angels from the realms of glory; The first Nowell the angel did say, to name but four. In spite of initial fear at the awesome presence of an angel, the message of the angels is one of joy and gladness – a message of good news sung to those in need of the light of hope. In the carol It came upon the midnight clear, the ‘glorious song of old’ the angels bring is one of ‘Peace on the earth, goodwill to all, from heaven’s all-gracious King’. The message of the angels continues to come to our war-torn and weary world; but we need to ‘hush the noise of mortal strife’, in order to hear ‘the love-song which they bring’.
May I wish you Christmas joy and peace, as we celebrate again the love-song which the angels bring,
John Barr, Rector