Long ago, Jacob confessed, “The Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Gen. 28:16). Declarations like this haunt me, in the best of ways. It makes me wonder if the world is charged with far more spiritual activity than we notice. Borrowing a word from the philosopher Charles Taylor, what if the earth is enchanted with heaven? Like Jacob, perhaps once we die we will discover that many things—visible and invisible—were ever-present and we were unaware.
The inclusion of angels throughout the biblical narrative is evidence of this, and the season of Advent can help us to reclaim the place these enchanted beings hold in our faith. Angels saturate the Christmas story and are seen as extensions of God’s indwelling presence. Angels, not humans, were first to announce the good news of Christ’s birth. And their proclamation was made to poor shepherds, not the wealthy and powerful elite. In the Bible, angels were seen as help from heaven (Psalm 91:11-12).
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