‘They don’t have to be men with wings’ – so says a poem on the subject of angels by the German poet Rudolph Otto Wiemer, who lived in the 20th century. Today is Michaelmas in the church calendar, named after the archangel Michael from the Bible. And at the same time, today’s Sunday is a reminder of the theme of angels in general.

Recent surveys in Germany on the subject of religion have shown that although many people have difficulties with the church and the belief in God, they still believe in angels.This is why the topic of angels is an important one for the church, as it seems to create something of a bridge in communication between believers and non-believers. If the idea of angels also seems to be helpful for people who are critical of religion, there is certainly a good reason for this. The idea of angels simply stands for something positive.

Angels help and protect. They embody the good in a world that is all too often dominated by negative headlines: War and violence, injustice, hunger and hardship, illness and death. The phrase ‘I had a guardian angel’ exists in German as well as in English, in Welsh and probably in many other languages.

In my pastoral work, I have often met people who have also told me about an ‘angelic experience’. I am actually very cautious about generalising such rather subjective experiences of faith. But such an experience, even if it is purely subjective, has an effect. If someone says that they felt there was someone next to them who accompanied or protected them at a certain moment, then that is a wonderful experience. Even if it cannot simply be cited as objective proof that there are spiritual beings sent by God who can accompany us humans in difficult situations.

But I only want to mention this in passing today. Today, on Michaelmas, I don’t want to lead us into a discussion about whether such experiences of angels are only subjective or also objectively true, whether angels actually exist as spiritual beings independently of my individual perception. ‘They don’t have to be men with wings’ – this statement is what matters to me today. Angels don’t have to be male and they don’t have to be winged beings either.

The Bible’s information on angels is also not clear on this. In Christian iconography, the depiction of angels with wings has only developed over the centuries. And the people who have told me about a personal experience of angels have not told me about small, chubby-cheeked, golden-haired and wing-flapping beings, as they became fashionable in Baroque art.

What is an angel? The original Greek word angelos means messenger. Angels are therefore initially simply messengers of God. They convey God’s message to us humans. For us Christians, this message is the good news of a merciful God who lovingly accepts all humans as his children and wants to make us ambassadors of his universal love. Or in other terms: angels are beings that radiate God.

If they don’t have to be men with wings, then angels can also be people who radiate God. I like this description. People who radiate God. I recently read it in a book about the Taizé community. It’s an expression used by Roger Schutz or Frère Roger the founder of this community in France. Taizé is an ecumenical community in Burgundy which was founded there in the 1940s by Brother Roger and a few confreres. Since then, a small brotherhood has grown into a large ecumenical centre. Every year, thousands of young people meet there to live Christian community, share their daily lives for a week, pray, sing and discuss together.

I went there this August with a group from England. It wasn’t the first time for me. But I experienced another intensive week and we all came back enriched. When I was thinking about the topic of angels in preparation for our ecumenical trilingual service at Michaelmas, I thought of Brother Roger, the founder of the Taizé community. Many people probably know the songs from Taizé: Laudate omnes gentes, Ubi caritas, Bless the Lord my soul. But Taizé is so much more than the music, although the music is a wonderful way to pass on the Christian message. Above all, Taizé is a living place of reconciliation. Reconciliation between us Christians with so many different traditions and denominations. But also reconciliation between us people from all parts of the world.

Brother Roger dedicated his life entirely to this work of reconciliation. This man, Roger Schutz, made the message of God’s love clear with his life. He was a man who radiated God. He called on his confreres to do this in the original rules of the Taizé Community, which is where this phrase comes from: Let us be people who radiate God. And what may even sound presumptuous – radiating God – was meant quite simply and plainly in his case: namely to reflect as a human being something of the love of God, who accepts us all as his beloved children.

Of course, one must always be careful when judging a human life. Where there is a lot of light, there are often shadows, as they say in German. But in Frère Roger’s case, I am sure that there was much more light in his life. This is supported by the fact that his work for reconciliation and his vision of Christian unity continue to have a strong impact. Taizé is not only a beacon of ecumenism. Taizé has also made a decisive contribution to reconciliation between the French and Germans, between all the nations of Europe.

This work of reconciliation is as important today as ever at a time when nationalism is on the rise again in many European countries and when Christian ecumenism seems to be losing momentum and general interest. We therefore urgently need God’s human messengers to encourage us towards reconciliation and unity – men and women with spiritual wings so to speak. Amen.

The whole poem by Rudolph Otto Wiemer in English translation:

They don’t have to be men with wings,
the angels.
They walk quietly, they don’t have to shout,
they are often old and ugly and small,
the angels.
They have no sword, no white robe,
the angels.
Perhaps there is one who shakes your hand,
or he lives next door to you, wall to wall,
the angel.
He has brought bread to the hungry,
the angel.
He made the bed for the sick,
and listens when you call him in the night,
the angel.
He stands in the way and says: No,
the angel.
Tall as a post and hard as a stone –
They don’t have to be men with wings,
the angels.