Still believing in angels!

The other night i had a friend who told me he still believed in angels. And that every time he hears a great song, he believes in heaven again, and a spiritual dimension down here as well.

This fellow was native american, and felt the loss, especially in the church of a larger view of what life is-the magic, he called it. People don’t believe in magic and angels anymore, and it is killing them, and making their lives boring, and leading to more wars.

Why do we have to wait til just before death to believe in a spiritual reality again?, he asked me. Great question. And some of that must be that we lose that child like imagination as we become adults. Or for christians perhaps we’ve come to believe that art isn’t helpful to our missions. That is somehow superfluous and a luxury, when all the while it is a core part of who God made us.

We stop being creative, and therefore we lose part of our humanity and sight. As Madeleine Engle wrote. “We lose creative sight, and so no longer can see life, one another, ourselves or God accurately. Christ came to enter and transform and integrate, the whole person, including our imaginations. And that changes everything. Even how we interpret ourselves! Art also teaches us true empathy for others-without that, how can we love our neighbors in meaningful ways?!”

My answer to my friend was: I still believe in angels, because I see them all the time!

That should be normal for us, especially you Christians, he replied! I concur.
When our imaginations are awakened and baptized in Christ, it will be the norm.

Maybe “feeding the poor” involves us overcoming a poverty of the imagination as well! So we can better be His Images while here! His poetry He is trying to pronounce! Maybe we misrepresent the gospel and God by having a dull imagination! After all, our creativity is part of what Jesus died for and wants to heal! His creativity is entirely integrated with who He is, as ours also should be becoming! Maybe, in short, like Jesus, we should still be seeing angels!