We have many angels of various shapes and sizes on our Christmas Tree. They are very significant in the Christmas story. It actually started when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her what was going to happen. Later, when the Christ Child was born, it was a host of Angels who announced to the shepherds in the surrounding hills that a very special child, a saviour, was born.
In both cases, the angels had to calm the fears of the mere mortals who were receiving a direct message from God. Today, we see the pretty and innocuos representations hanging on our trees or sitting on our mantles, and we forget that these are awesome beings, God's holy messengers. We do them a disservice by reducing them to crystal figurines, and plastic dolls with protruding lights. If we were to see one tonight, we too, like the shepherds, would be falling on our faces, frightened half to death, perhaps feeling for a certainty that we were about to die.
Our God, who is beyond words, created these beings, and so we must only imagine what he himself must be like. And, to think that He came as a helpless new born baby, lying in a bed of straw, should humble us to the core. By coming as a harmless baby at that point in time, He was telling us, like the angels told Mary and the shepherds, "Do not be afraid". It was not an act of intimidation, but one of pure love.
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