Union Church

Advent II
Luke 1: 5-19; 24-38

Stanley Ott in the forward to the book "Becoming a Blessed Church," tells the story of sitting in a hospital waiting room with just one other person, a guy waiting for a doctor to return with a prescription. Someone walking by said hello to the man and he replied, “Have a blessed day.”

A short time later, Stanley said to him, “Now that’s a great phrase, ‘have a blessed day,’ because it says you are trusting God to do the blessing.”
The man turned to him and beamed. “That’s right!” he said and went on to describe the power of his experience of Christ, explaining,
“Blessed means ‘He will make you rise!’”

After the doctor brought his prescription, this gracious man stepping into the elevator, turned around and said to Stanley, “Have a blessed day.”
Stanley waved and said, “He will make you rise!”

And the man was gone.

This is an example of an angelic visitation, of waking up to angels in our midst: Waking up to God.

Angelic visitations are not quite what we expect.

Our gospel lessons tell the strange story of two conceptions, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. One conception takes away an old woman’s disgrace.
The other initiates a young woman’s disgrace.
One occurs to one too old.
The other occurs to one too young.
One conception requires divine assistance.
The other conception requires divine intervention.
However both births require a wake up call.
The angel Gabriel is sent to enlist the main characters. Angelic visitations are not quite what they expect.

Luke’s gospel requires the angel Gabriel to get the process going, to get Zechariah and Mary to wake up to God’s Dream.
Luke’s gospel, in particular, requires angels, in fact a whole host of angels to get the shepherds to wake up and become the first witnesses of God’s grace come in human form.
Luke’s birth narrative requires angels to wake us up and move the plot along.

So let’s look at angels this second Sunday of Advent.
Remember Advent calls us to wake up to God in our midst. To recognize the angelic wake up call in our lives.

Have you ever had a strange sense of invisible hands holding or helping you?
Have you ever felt a warm radiant presence that set your heart at peace?
Have you ever experienced a vision of something amazing yet invisible or heard silent words of wisdom spoken to your heart?
Has someone out of the blue helped you or blessed you, never to be seen or heard from again?
Chances are you have entertained angels unaware.

You see, Advent doesn’t come without angels.
Christmas doesn’t come without angels.

Advent is a time that helps us open up to the presence and blessings of angels.
The spiritual realm is not some vast empty space.
Rather it is teaming with messages of hope, peace, joy and love. It is filled with moments of grace and blessing. The spiritual realm is really all around us. The gift of God’s peace is just hanging in the air.
The peace of Christ that passes all understanding is just a brush, a breath, a wake up call away. Angels bring these messages, these blessings.

But we Protestants have rationalized angels away. We have vacuumed out heaven so to speak and see only God and the Risen Christ active in the eternal realm. We might see our dearly departed there but we don’t expect to see angels.

So lets open up our awareness: Let’s wake up to what’s really in our midst.
Because Christmas doesn’t come without angels.
Angels are spiritual encounters with God’s grace.

Angels are message bearers whose persuasive power can change our lives.
They bring us peace in the midst of turmoil.
They bring us peace in the face of challenge.
They bring us the peace of Christ that carries us through tough times to new beginnings, new birth.

When we recognize that an angel has visited us we can always recall the experience.
Angels populate our stained glass windows, because God’s dream just doesn’t develop without angel actions.
Advent doesn’t happen without angels.
Peace doesn’t come without angels.
Christmas doesn’t come without angels.

Truth is we all have been touched by angels.
They can take so many forms. We don’t usually see the wings or feel the feathers, because God’s grace comes to us in our human context. These messengers reflect the intersection of Divine glory and human form. We entertain angels unaware in various guises.

In Advent we wake up, open our eyes and listen intently for the angels who move God’s dream forward in our lives.
It’s grace that caused us first to believe.
It’s peace that passes all understanding.
It’s blessing that transforms our lives.
These are the business of angels.

With Zechariah and Mary we are enlisted by angels to bring God’s blessings into our world, to transform our humanity and the humanity of those around us.
This is how we wake up God in our midst in Advent: An angel’s visitation.
An angel’s gift of peace.
Christmas doesn’t come without angels.

The Application for Advent:
“Have a blessed Advent.
Angels will make you and others rise.”