My son, who was in an automobile accident about a month ago, told me that he is now more aware of other drivers around him. He is much more defensive. Last Wednesday I was about to pull from a department store parking lot onto a main road but noticed a car coming from my left. It had it’s right turn signal on. that meant it was turning into the parking lot that I was leaving. I started to pull out but noticed a truck approaching from the other direction. It was moving slow and I thought, "I have time to pull in front of it." But no, something said, "wait." I waited and the car that had indicated it was turning right never turned. Had I not waited, I would have caused an accident.
What kept me from moving in that instant? Was it luck? Was it fate? Or did an angel intervene? It’s not something I can prove. I only know something helped me to make a different choice. Perhaps it was the voice of my son from the previous evening. Perhaps an angel of God just happened to be in the area.
In counseling I teach my students that dreams are a way of helping people solve their problems. There is evidence to suggest that dreams have two purposes; to relieve anxiety and release joy. Dreams help us to be in touch with the feelings, emotions and struggles that are going on in our lives. Dreams can give us a message about new potential in life or a destructive course we may be on.
Many people have told me that they believe in guardian angels. And who am I to doubt the fact that angels have appeared to them? I can’t recall an appearance of an angel. I can, however recall moments in my life when "something", a feeling, a sense, an enlightenment, a voice, or even another person intervened in my life and presented me with a word of wisdom.
Such was the case with Joseph. Angels appeared to him on four separate occasions. Here we find an angel appearing to him in a dream and telling him to take his family and flee to Egypt. The magi too have an encounter with angels and are warned in a dream to return to their homeland by an alternative route.
What this means is that both the wise men and Joseph are presented with an option that will take their lives in a different direction. They can ignore the angelic message or they can choose to follow the new path that is given. The magi will have to go out of their way to return home, perhaps traveling further and through unknown territories. Joseph will take his family to Egypt, a land with a different culture, language and religion.
Both new choices require courage and faith. What lies ahead is unknown and the way may be difficult. In both cases the new option is one that will help to fulfill God’s promise of salvation, protecting the life of Jesus. Both were encountered by angels. How do you know if the encounters you have are angels from God? It is not always easy to discern whether or not the message you receive is of a divine nature.
In the gospel there is a pattern involved when it comes to the appearance of angels. First, they are helping to preserve the life of the young Jesus. In other words, the hope of God through the gift of God’s son is being held in the highest regard and God needs the faithful to help fulfill that promise. Second, God’s ways are not logical or practical. They lead us into foreign places, causing us to struggle and make sacrifices. And third, Whenever God presents us with new options, God assures us that God is present. "We need not be afraid."
Perhaps the best way for me to illustrate this is to tell part of my own journey. There was a time in my life when I had a fairly good career, a new home and a young family. I was led to move some 1,000 miles from Orlando, Florida to Columbus, Ohio. It meant leaving a new home, leaving friends and moving away from my family.
Columbus was not completely foreign to me since I was born there and attended college in one of it’s suburbs. In a sense I was returning home, just like the wise men. Ironically, Joseph was going to Egypt, the very place the Israelites had escaped from many years before. God sometimes calls us back to places where we have roots and memories. This, I believe, is God’s way of filling us with inspiration and faith.
Columbus, Ohio? In the dead of winter? Leave a warm climate and return to the Midwest? Didn’t seem very logical to others and certainly not very practical. Why? I had no idea at the time but within a year I was enrolled in seminary and assigned to be a minister of three rural churches. I don’t recall an angel appearing to me, but I did, however feel assured that this was a choice I could make.
This is a story about choices. The wise men had a choice. Joseph had a choice. And on two more occasions Joseph encounters angels with new options. He is told to return once again to Israel, then again to Galilee. In his early life, Jesus moved several times, experiences which would help him in his journey of ministry as he traveled from once village to another.
As we conclude one year and begin another each of us is faced with many choices. We can live with resentment because of things people have said and done to us or we can forgive. We can continue living with destructive habits or we can replace them with healthier ones. We can be pessimistic about the future, filled with despair and hopelessness or we can live with hope and determination. We can be indifferent to people around us or we can choose to listen and to care. We can just go on living, life as usual, or we can be attentive to the voice of God.
I believe we are more inclined to hear "a message" when we are tuned in to the world around us. When we are sensitive to other voices, when we are willing to listen. When our lives are filled with anxiety and fear it is impossible for us to listen. When we are totally self-absorbed we block sounds and sights that may speak to us.
You may never encounter an angel. Or the ones you encounter may be eccentric like Clarence, in "It’s A Wonderful Life." Clarence, the angel didn’t save George. Instead he presented George with new options, plus a review of the choices he had made in the past. It is not the messenger or angel who saves us. It is the choices we make and the consequences that go with them. Never underestimate the fact that God could intervene at any time, providing you with new options. What you hear or see may be illogical but it may be in fact the direction your life needs to take. And remember, whatever you face in the coming year "You need not be afraid, for God is with you."
Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio