Unexpected Angel Voices

Unexpected Angel Voices

I’m not sure how you feel about electric vehicles.  Some people love them, others do not.  On a recent trip to Britain, I rented an electric vehicle (EV), which was fine in England, but when I crossed into North Wales, I had a hard time finding charging stations, so I was frustrated with EVs for a while.  However, they have created one unexpected benefit.  EVs make no sound, and safety watchdogs have determined that a silent vehicle poses a danger.  So, governments have mandated that EVs have to make a sound.  That raises the question: if you can give a car any sound you want, what sound will you give it?  Early on, some carmakers experimented with the high-pitched wail of a V-12 Ferrari.  Others tried the deep gurgle of an American V-8.  They thought those sounds would be familiar or exciting.  But EV drivers did not want to make noises like an internal combustion engine.  Most manufacturers settled on a harmonious, space-age tone.  Many auto journalists have decided that the best sound comes from Hyundai EVs because they sound like…are you ready for this…a choir of angels.  No Way!  That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard!  Please judge for yourself.  This afternoon, you can Google, “Do Hyundai EVs sound like a choir of angels?”  In the meantime, please accept this word of caution and reassurance: if you are walking down the sidewalk this week, and hear the sound of an angel choir behind you, it’s not a band of angels, comin’ for to carry you home!  It’s just someone in a Hyundai EV.  This sermon is called “Unexpected Angel Voices,” and EVs are not the only place where we hear unexpected angel voices!

 

Here’s another place where I heard an unexpected angel voice.  A few weeks ago, I was doomscrolling, as we do, and I ran across a man giving financial advice, so I stopped to listen.  A middle-aged woman called in and said, “Can you help me?  I am in financial trouble.  I can’t afford a house or an apartment, so I am living in a hotel room, and I can’t seem to get back on my feet.”  The host said, “How much money do you make?” And she replied, “$90,000 per year.”  And this was in the United States.  And he asked, “What are your expenses?”  And she said, “I’m paying $2,500 per month for my hotel room, $1,000 per month for a car lease, and I have a student loan.”  He asked, “What are your grocery expenses?” And she replied, “I don’t buy groceries, I have no place to cook, so I just eat in restaurants.  What should I do?”

 

I will give you all a moment to think about your response.  What do you think the host said?  Keep in mind, he was an old white man.  Sometimes old white men tend to be a bit judgmental.  I know what my response would have been.  It would have been harsh and fast!  “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!  How can you be wasting your money on a hotel room and that car lease? What is your problem?  And eating in restaurants, that’s absolutely bizarre!!!”  I really would have told her off!

 

But the host shocked me.  He responded softly and gently in these words, “Ma’am, I think you are an intelligent and good person.  I think you are a hard worker.  I don’t think you are having a financial problem…I think you are grieving.  I believe something very painful has happened in your life, and you’ve fallen into a spiral of sadness and despair. I want to help you.  I think that if you had an understanding counsellor, they could help you get back on your feet again.  I know a counsellor who can help you, and I will pay for you to see her, so you can start to rebuild the good life that you desire.”  At that, the caller started to weep and to relate the story of her grief, and how her life had fallen apart.  She expressed deep gratitude for the understanding and confidence that, with help, she would be able to get her life back on track.  That financial advisor was an unexpected angel voice; a voice of compassion and redemption, calling that person to forgive themselves and move toward healing.

 

Do you know what haunts me about that call?  My response.  I am not bitter, angry, or judgmental, but I responded so poorly.  I am not making an excuse for myself…but we live in a world that has become angry, confrontational, even hateful.  We have some world leaders who are monsters, and they have created a world that is divided and hateful.  As I listened to that woman, I reflected and even magnified the ugliness and anger of the world.  Those voices that are filled with hate, lies, condemnation and division are the voices of demons.  They are infecting the whole world and will fill the world with pain and suffering if they are not challenged.  We are called by God to resist anger, hate and vengeance.  We are all called to be unexpected angel voices, bringing healing, hope and reconciliation to the world around us.  The Bible is filled with unexpected angel voices.

 

Just a brief note for theologians before I proceed.  Angels cannot be human, and humans cannot be angels.  They are two different life forms within God’s creation.  So, please allow me some poetic license in this sermon.  The term “angel” derives from the Greek, Ἄγγελος (ángelos), which means “messenger.”  When I call on all of you to be unexpected angel voices, I am encouraging you to bring God’s message to the world.  God’s message is always redemptive, restorative, healing and gracious.

 

Scripture provides us with many examples of people who found themselves in situations where it might have been natural to speak and act with bitterness, vengeance, hatred, and cruelty, but instead, they spoke and acted with tenderness, reconciliation, love, and kindness.  They were unexpected angel voices, and they changed the world around them.

 

Do you remember how cruel Joseph’s brothers were towards Joseph?  They threw him in a pit to die, and then relented and sold him into slavery.  It was a cruel and hateful act.  Joseph was seventeen when his brothers sold him as a slave, and he endured years of suffering before he became the second in command of all of Egypt.  When he was thirty years old, there was a terrible famine in the Middle East, but due to Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams, Egypt had stored up a surplus of corn.  Then came the day that Joseph’s nasty, murderous brothers came to Egypt begging for food.  Joseph recognised them when they entered the storehouses of Egypt.  And now the stage was set for a great act of vengeance.  Please remember that this story was being told in a world filled with conflict and hate.  The listeners were hungry for a tale of revenge.  What would Joseph do to these cowardly, miserable men who had sold him into slavery?  You can imagine how the audience was wringing their hands waiting to hear a tale of beautiful vengeance.  Would Joseph throw them in prison?  Would he have them killed?  Would he make them slaves?  Whatever he did, they would deserve it.

 

But Joseph became an unexpected angel voice.  After some initial interactions, he revealed to them who he was – they shook with fear when they saw that the brother whom they had treated so poorly now had power over them – and he poured out love and compassion.  Joseph wept with joy at being reunited with his family.  He said to them, “All is forgiven, don’t blame yourselves.  What you intended for evil, God intended for good!”  He inquired about his father, Jacob, and then brought his entire family to live with him in Egypt, where he gave them the land of Goshen as their new home.  An occasion for anger, hate and vengeance, turned into an occasion for healing, forgiveness and grace.  Imagine the original audience hearing that wonderful story of an unexpected angel voice!  At first, they might have been disappointed at the lack of vengeance, but then they would have smiled with joy at the realisation that Joseph was reflecting the true nature of God.  They would have smiled with joy, knowing that they, too, had the power to choose grace and mercy over revenge and cruelty.

 

And what about the story of Jacob and Esau?  Jacob was so clever that he was able to cheat Esau out of his birthright and the blessing of their father, Isaac.  Esau lost everything to Jacob, and when they parted, he shouted after Jacob, “The next time I see you, I will kill you!”  Twenty years later, Jacob was forced to return home to face Esau, and he was terrified.  As he was approaching home, word came to Jacob that Esau was marching towards him with four hundred soldiers!  Jacob did everything he could to postpone the inevitable encounter with Esau.  Esau’s words were still ringing in his ears: “The next time I see you, I will kill you!”  And he had no reason to think that Esau’s attitude had changed.  Here is another story in which the audience would have anticipated a brutal act of vengeance.  Jacob deserved it!  He had harmed Esau in a terrible way!  But when Esau saw Jacob, he ran to him, hugged and kissed him, and wept for joy.  And Jacob responded by saying to Esau, “To see your face is to see the face of God.”  A moment that could have been a world-changing event of hate, vengeance, and bitterness became a moment of healing, reconciliation, and love when Esau became an unexpected angel voice.

 

The angels and their voices were always around Jesus.  After Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, scripture says that God’s angels came and ministered to Jesus.  And their voices shone in Jesus’ life at the most wonderful moments.  So many of our most beloved stories of Jesus occur when Jesus steps into a situation that was a clear occasion for revenge and brutality, but Jesus turned it into an occasion for healing and restoration.

 

For example, Jesus’ community hated the Samaritans, and they had a long history of bitter animosity.  How could Jesus ever turn this history of hatred into a future of love and mutual respect?  We all know the answer.  Jesus offered the story of the good Samaritan, in which two respected religious leaders passed by a man in need, but a despised Samaritan stopped to help. You can imagine Jesus’ audience hearing and thinking about the story.  They likely all knew of religious leaders who were less than compassionate, and also knew about Samaritans who were kind and thoughtful people.  Jesus had now given them a framework to start thinking about the idea that all people were capable of showing kindness and mercy.  It was an unexpected angel voice, bringing tenderness to a situation of long-standing animosity.

 

The story of the woman accused of adultery in the eighth chapter of John is another occasion of Jesus turning a situation of hate and vengeance into an occasion for enlightenment and healing.  A group of men have gathered around a woman who has been accused of adultery, and are about to stone her to death.  From what we know of Jesus’ society, we now understand that the woman had likely been abused and discarded and now had no place in society.  The men who gathered around her were brutes and bullies.  How could Jesus turn such an irredeemable situation of brutality into an event of hope?  He did not use force, he did not argue, he said, “Go ahead, stone this woman…but the one who is without sin, should cast the first stone.”  And the men began to think.  They thought about the law, and they all knew in their hearts that they had violated God’s law again and again.  They all thought that perhaps they did not really have the stomach to participate in an act of murder on this day, and then, one by one, they dropped their stones and walked away.  It is significant that the oldest man walked away first.  He had lived the longest, he had seen the most, he had gathered the most wisdom, and the stone fell from his hand, and he walked away.  Once he had made the initial move towards mercy, the others quickly followed.  Here, in a situation of violence and cruelty, an unexpected angel voice changed everything.  Jesus spoke up, and the world was changed.

 

It happened over and over again in the presence of Jesus.  When Jesus encountered the greatly despised Zacchaeus, he said, “Zacchaeus, I want to come to your home to have lunch with you today.”   Imagine how such kind words affected Zacchaeus.  Well, we don’t have to imagine; we know that Zacchaeus’ life was changed forever.  When Jesus encountered a person who had been rejected by society because he was afflicted with leprosy, he spoke words of welcome and love.  Wherever Jesus was, and whomever Jesus encountered, he spoke and acted with unexpected grace, compassion and mercy.  Even as he was being nailed to the cross, he spoke with tenderness about the soldiers, saying, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing.”

 

In recent months, our world has become so dark and filled with bitterness, vengeance and violence.  Certain world leaders make no attempt to hide the fact that they are hateful, vengeful, brutal, angry and bitter.  Their evil is filtering down to the rest of the world, dragging us all down towards a disgraceful mentality of brutality and distrust.  The world was something like that in the time of Jesus.  Rome ruled with cruelty and violence.  In Judea, the leaders of the church aligned themselves with Rome, and a whole society was cast into darkness.  Jesus was born into that context, and he brought to it a wonderful light and hope.  He went to all the people whom Rome and the church had rejected, and he said to them, “You are beautiful, you are good, you are beloved of God, you are worth, and God is on your side.”  This was the Good News for people who were lost and broken.

 

In our world, some people only expect to hear condemnation, judgment and anger, but you can bring the message of God.  You can be an unexpected angel voice!  You can speak words of healing, reconciliation and hope.  You can speak words of appreciation, acceptance and love.  You can speak these words because you live in the light of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and you know that there is hope for the world, and for every person.  In the week to come, you will be in a situation where anger, vengeance or bitterness might be the expected reaction.  But you will remember how Joseph responded to his brothers, how Esau responded to Jacob, and how Jesus responded to everyone.  You will be an unexpected angel voice.

 

And if anyone arrived in a Hyundai EV today, please drive it up and down the parking lot during coffee hour this morning so we can all see if it really sounds like a choir of angels!