• Home
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Authors
  • Write for Us
  • Forward Movement

Grow Christians

A community of disciples practicing faith at home

  • Parenting
  • Discipleship
  • Liturgical Year
  • Prayer
  • Archives
    • Seasons of the Year
      • Advent through Epiphany
      • Ash Wednesday, Lent & Holy Week
      • Easter & Pentecost
      • Ordinary Time
    • Seasons of Life
      • Childhood Years
      • Teen & Young Adult Years
      • Grandparenting & Godparenting
    • Saints and Feasts
      • Saints
      • Feasts
    • Discipleship
    • Making Faith Visible
    • Special Series
    • Grow Christians Updates & Giveaways
  • The Good Book Club

Children Still Speak of Angels

September 29, 2016 By Mary Lee Wile 1 Comment

Today the Episcopal Church celebrates the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Last week we provided reflections and ideas for this feast day. Many more are provided on the website for the book Season of Angels, written by today’s author. – Ed.

paradiso_canto_31

Back in the 1830’s, Bronson Alcott kept a journal in which he recorded “Conversations with Children on the Gospels,” classroom conversations that he had with children ranging in age from seven to twelve. Here is part of one about angels:

Mr. Alcott: I should like to know what you each think angels are.

George K: I think angels were good people who lived here.

Emma: Angels are God’s messengers, like our thoughts; they bring us our thoughts.

Mr. Alcott: So you think that they are not ourselves, but bring us thoughts. Is there anything human in them? Can you become angels? Have you been angels?

George: My spirit was an angel when I was a baby.

Mr. Alcott: What change happens to an angel when it takes a body?

Charles: It becomes human.

George K: Angels are good spirits; once they were in bodies and did good with their bodies.

Lucia: Spirits in heaven, before they have had a body, are angels.

Martha: Angels are good spirits with or without bodies.

Edward B: I think our ideas of God and divine things are faint remembrances of our angelic life.

It absolutely threw me for a loop to realize that these children were every bit as profound as William Wordsworth’s “…trailing clouds of glory do we come / From God, who is our home.” It shouldn’t have surprised me, though, what with Jesus telling the grown-ups that we need to become like little children.

When we talked about angels at our family service a couple Septembers ago, it was as though our children were continuing the conversation begun back in the 1830’s. One of them said that angels are messengers of God who used to be good people when they were alive and became angels when they died. Another said that angels are beings who are sent by God to help people. A reticent child said, “I think birds are angels.” The grown-ups didn’t say much.

As we celebrate the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, don’t be shy about talking with your own children about angels. They may know more than you do.

 

A Prayer for Today

Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[Image credit: Gustave Doré [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons]


 

The “Christian angelogy” page on Wikipedia is fascinating… 

What do you – or your children – think angels are?

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Skype
  • Print

Related

Filed Under: Liturgical Year Tagged With: angels, St. Michael

About Mary Lee Wile

The Rev. Mary Lee Wile is a deacon in the Diocese of Maine. She is the author of the theological novel Ancient Rage, three program books: I will with God’s help, Christ’s Own Forever, This Bread & This Cup, and two children’s books: Star of Wonder and Season of Angels, both through Forward Movement. She has written for Forward Day by Day and Daily Devo. Having served for eight years as a pediatric hospice chaplain, Mary Lee now engages in prison ministry, offers spiritual direction, serves as Chaplain to the Maine Chapter of the Society of Companions of the Holy Cross, and tends grandchildren two days a week.

Comments

  1. Rev. Jack Stanton says

    September 29, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    Please identify the art work above this article.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Encouragement in your Inbox

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts.

Join 4,239 other subscribers

The Spy Series

Grow Christians is brought to you by Forward Movement, a ministry of The Episcopal Church that seeks to inspire disciples and empower evangelists. Follow on Facebook or Twitter.

Search:

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

  • Breaking Down Barriers at Church
  • That moment you realize the voice you’re hearing isn’t God – it’s Satan
  • Fast, simple and fun: teach your kids about St. Nicholas [free printables]
  • A bright teen asked me to explain the Trinity. Here's what I said.
  • The 12 Days of Christmas

Copyright © 2019 — Forward Movement • All rights reserved.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.