So, um, well, it’s the Weekend, so yay for that! Well, things are decidedly not in our favor right now, and the lineup Biden is amassing should he get in the White House scares the bejeezus out of me. I know the Trump team isn’t done, but all I can say is, you better hold onto your guns. Maybe buy some more right quick just in case, since Biden’s aiming (!) to bring in people like California’s AG Becerra who is decidedly anti-gun and very, very pro-Planned Parenthood. And that’s the mere tip of the iceberg. Yep, I shudder to think…
I continue to pray that Good will overcome evil, that Right will overcome wrong, and that rampant, widespread voter fraud will not determine the next Leader of the Free World.
Throughout it all, I am reminded that angels are among us, working around us, working FOR us, as God’s messengers. I have written before about angels being among us, and the other day, I received an email from the President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Yael Eckstein. Yael took over the IFCJ after her father, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, died suddenly last year. Though she is not a rabbi, at least officially, she sure is in her writings, her ministry, and her big heart. She has continued his tradition of providing reflections and devotions.
In the email I received recently, Yael wrote about angels and their importance throughout our religious history:
When I was a little girl, my mother and father sang over us the traditional Hebrew lullabies as we fell asleep. Now I send my children off to sleep with thoughts of angels guarding and protecting them through the night. I call upon the four archangels — Michael, the angel of mercy; Gabriel, the angel of strength; Uriel, the angel of light; and Raphael, the angel of healing — to surround my sweet children as they go to sleep. I sing the words that our Patriarch Jacob used to bless Joseph’s sons: “the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys” (Genesis 48:16).
From the angel who stands guard at the Garden of Eden with a fiery sword, to the three angels who visited Abraham with good news about the pending birth of Isaac, to the angel who wrestled with Jacob, the Scriptures are filled with angelic encounters. As the writer of Hebrews in the Christian Bible said, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” (13:2).
Angels are of utmost importance in the Jewish faith. We mention them every day in our prayers. We call upon them when we set out on a journey or face a difficult challenge. On the Sabbath, we begin our meal by welcoming angels into our homes.
Clearly, God wants us to know about these supernatural beings — to know that they exist even if we cannot see them. As we read in the Psalms, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (91:11). Angels are God’s army of messengers sent to guide, protect, challenge, and help us throughout our lives. (Click here to read the rest.)
Honestly, I love the thought of angels being around us, speaking to us, helping us, and protecting us. And in this time of Advent, it is exceedingly appropriate to speak of angels. It was an angel, after all, who came to Mary (and her cousin Elizabeth) to tell her that she was the Chosen one, the one who would bring the Savior into the world. And not just any angel, but it was the angel Gabriel. From Luke 1: 26-38:
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed[a] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”[b] 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”[c]
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[d] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[e] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
After that, you may recall that Mary praised God for the life altering, WORLD altering, gift He bestowed upon her. Her response has become known as the “Magnificat.” It is a beautiful, humble, response to being chosen to bring for the Savior of the world. You can read Mary’s response in Luke here, and listen to it in this truly lovely version below (there is a translation to the Latin in the notes):
I love this. I may have mentioned that in my teenage years, I tested my vocation at two different convents, and they were very different from each other (one had nuns who worked out in the world as teachers, nurses, and even a priest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The other one was cloistered, and we were silent a lot of the time. Their work was to make Communion wafers.). All of that is to say, I love Gregorian chant. Love it. It stirs my soul. I think that particular style of spiritual music has a way of taking one to a deep soulful place. Yep. I love it.
The words alone to the “Magnificat” are just so powerful, and adding them to Gregorian chant? Heaven.
This angelic visit by the angel Gabriel was foundational, no doubt about it. And it brings me to another one of my favorite carols of this season, “The Angel Gabriel”:
Isn’t that just so beautiful? And fitting for the Third Week of Advent.
I have one more song for you, and it’s a good one for this time we are in. Though she isn’t an angel, Dolly Parton sure has the voice of one. This one Parton just recently wrote, and it’s a good reminder to believe in God, and in angels. I know that I still believe. Hopefully this song will help inspire you to do the same:
That’s it for me, friends. Angels abound!
This is the Weekend Open Thread.
