Unseen Realities, Part 1: ‘So Great a Cloud’

In today’s world, we talk a lot about “the cloud.” We save our music in the cloud. We store documents in the cloud. Our messages sometimes get lost in the cloud. But today, I want to talk to you about another kind of cloud—one that may seem as hard to understand as the one in cyberspace.

One of the underpinnings of our faith is the belief that we are not alone. As believers in Christ, we take seriously the terribly countercultural idea that we live in a world surrounded and filled with, as our liturgy says, “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.”

You see, we believe angels are around here doing things. And a part of what even the architecture of a church is meant to convey is the visual expression of a spiritual truth, one we don’t necessarily see with the naked eye. And so inside every church, you’ll find stained glass, paintings, and other art that depicts people who have gone before us, “therefore, surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1).

Angels and Archangels

And angels are a part of what’s included in that art. It’s meant, in fact, to remind people when they come into the church that this is a part of the eternal picture of what the world looks like. It’s a part of what we mean in the Creed when we say, “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.”

What do we mean, “invisible”? Well, that has to do with things like “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.”

Luke Timothy Johnson, the author of a very good book on the Creed, talks about it “expressing the mystery that lies within and beyond the nearly material.” In other words, you and I, if we believe what we say in the Creed, understand – as we go about our day – that it’s not always about what we can see with the naked eye.

In fact, we are surrounded and perhaps even influenced by eternal conflicts between the spirit of light and the spirit of darkness. And more importantly than that, we are guided and assisted by the very ministry of angels themselves. I would not immediately dismiss, in other words, people who tell angel stories.

Show—and Tell?

Now, sure. Any of us can wind up being delusional. But the fact of the matter is that most of our schooling, in terms of the way we judge the nature of reality, causes us to be suspicious of people who talk about things you can’t see with the naked eye. We want empirical evidence. And I’m sympathetic to that kind of thinking, because it’s possible to be religiously delusional. Sometimes, the most dangerous thing that can be said is, “Well, the Lord told me to tell you.”

Unless that comes from somebody you trust, I would encourage you to run in the other direction. Not that God cannot and does not speak prophetically through the mouths of people. He does that, in fact. But it’s still dicey, and the scriptures are very clear about the fact that prophetic words should be judged. In other words, just because “I heard God say to me,” as I might say—that may or may not be true.

And so I go to other people and say, “As I pray, this is what comes to me. What do you think?” And hopefully, if they’re people who love and care about me, they’ll say, “Well, let’s look at the Scripture together, and let’s see if we can discern what God might be saying.” The Bible uses the word “test” for people who have those sorts of prophetic words. But the point is they’re not impossible and, in fact, could be a part of the flow of a church’s life.

Packed With the Supernatural

So yes, we live in a world, in other words, that is—though we don’t often see it—packed with the supernatural. And occasionally it breaks through in a way that sometimes we notice, and sometimes we don’t. I think when we finally get to heaven and the books are open, we’ll find out how we were utterly rescued at the last minute in a car accident or (you fill in the blank), and that it had everything to do with direct and angelic intervention. I’ve had a couple of incidents in my own life which I thought, “Mmmm. That might have been an angel.” Yes, I’m wary of people who tell stories, but I also want to pay attention, because it could be that what they talk about is true.

But again, this is countercultural thinking. Most people don’t believe in the “great cloud of witnesses.” And even those who follow Christ don’t necessarily pay attention to the unseen world. But scripture makes it clear that unseen realities are greater, wider, and deeper than the real.

In my next post, we’ll meet a man whom Jesus invited to see the unseen.

What’s your reality? Is it only that which you can see, taste, feel, or touch? Or have you had an experience with “angels and archangels and all the company of heaven”? Share this blog and your response on Twitter and include my username, @revgregbrewer.

(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on September 25, 2016, at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Orlando, Fla.)

Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.