This is the season when we think about Angels – messengers from God. When Angels appear in the Bible it is always important. Special messages of mercy and protection, “glad tiding of great joy”, the birth of the Prince of Peace, important stuff. Angels though, are really anyone that brings a message of God’s mercy in Christ. Pastors are angels. We are angels when we witness. Evangelization has the word angel right there in the middle. There is a reason for that. When we share, or help others to share the “good news” of the Savior of the world we are angels – messengers.
We started this blog to help us see the ways that folks from Minnesota North and North Dakota work toward sharing God’s mercy in myriads of ways, often “crossing” paths without even being aware of it. We may be angels “unaware” in our own Districts. I have tried to document the number of folks that have traveled to Minot to help with the clean up. It is not easy but we try. I would still like to have a story about Pastor Breitbart and his group, but once he sent the pictures I haven’t heard back. It is as if, like angels, these people don’t want to bring attention to themselves. Folks from Minnesota and other places have gone and the folks in Minot are not even aware.
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares”, says Hebrews 13:2. That seems to be a two way street in the work that we do as Christians. In helping a stranger the Hebrews passage intimates that sometimes angels were the object of our help and we didn’t know. Sometimes the angels are our helpers and we don’t know.
The folks at Cross Point Lutheran in Fargo and their Pastor Mike Giddings spent an evening of fellowship with the folks at the Perry Center, a residential center for pregnant women and their children. As they say on their website they are a “God-centered home reaching out to strengthen and provide for young unwed mothers spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally”. That is a good thing and what the folks at Cross Pointe did was a good thing too. Both sides of that equation may have “entertained angels”.
I wrote a song about the angel messages on that first Christmas. The angels gave a message and Mary listened, Joseph was stengthened and shepherds hastened. All of these people in their own way became angels too. Mary went and shared the “good news” (that is what evangel means) with Elizabeth, Joseph, as far as we know strengthened and supported his new wife and unborn child, the shepherds went and told the story to anyone that would listen. They all became angels. The tag line for the song is “maybe its time I was an angel too”. I tried to get the Christmas Program that went with it published but the editor asked, “doesn’t that reinforce the erroneous idea that we become angels in heaven when we die?” Well no, that is exactly what the Christmas program was designed not to do. I thought an editors job was to read stuff, but I digress. Here is the song and if you have a chance, “be an angel” and do something like what the folks at Cross Point Lutheran did. For Jesus sake.
[cincopa AIBAGxavhuwD]
