Canon Alan Sheridan explores God’s messages through angels and prophets in a talk to the Cleveland Newman Circle.
The Cleveland Newman Circle was recently delighted to welcome Canon Alan Sheridan to give a talk on ‘God’s Messengers: Angels and Prophets’. Canon Alan began his lively talk by asking ‘What is God’s message for people?’, and suggesting that the Old and New Testaments offered contrasting versions. First we must understand how they came to be different.
The Old Testament contains mixed messages. On the one hand the Israelites were encouraged to fight their enemies but then to stay clear of foreign tribes; on the other hand they were God’s chosen people, he wanted them and would always take them back. They were in ‘learning mode’ throughout this time and God’s messages were helping them to evolve, to grow in their knowledge and love of him. In the New Testament God reveals himself directly, through Jesus: God is Love and we must share his love with everyone, including our enemies. Angels and Prophets occur in both Testaments.
Around the 6th century it was proposed that there are nine orders of celestial beings serving God, but only the lowest two, ‘angels’ and ‘archangels’, have dealings with people (‘angel’ means ‘messenger’). Scripture describes fearsome creatures with six wings; maybe the three visitors to Abram and Sarah were angels; an angel guided the Israelites across the Red Sea; an angel visited Mary for the Annunciation. Three archangels are named: Michael, Raphael and Gabriel; and all the stories about angels contain messages from God - even when they sound strange to modern ears.
God also gives us messages through prophets, and Canon Alan emphasised that there have been prophets throughout time, in all cultures. Most prophets are not like John the Baptist, with camel-hair clothing and eating locusts; many Old Testament prophets were ordinary ‘professional’ people. Sometimes, not always, prophets have had visions, and performed miracles. It is the knowledge of the divine that sets them apart: they discern the Truth and proclaim it. (Only recently has ‘prophecy’ meant ‘telling the future’.)
The prophet above all others is Jesus, who reveals God the Father and proclaims the Father’s Will. Jesus is Prophet, Priest and King, and by Baptism we share in all these roles. It is not only those like Catherine of Sienna, Oscar Romero and Mother Theresa who are prophets, we too are called to rediscover the Holy Spirit within us, discern God’s Truth and speak out - whenever it is good for the Church and the world.
For further information about the programme of the Cleveland Newman Circle, e-mail p.egerton123@gmail.com or phone 01642-645732. Talks are held in St Mary’s Cathedral Hall, Coulby Newham, TS8 0TW. All are welcome!