Quick, what’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word angel, wings, white robes, male/female, the California baseball team?  How does American culture think about angels? What are some of the symbols that we use today to represent angels?

Little children are told, “You’re guardian Angel is watching over you.”

If someone does something good for us, “You’re such an angel.”

When we get the parking spot closest to the front door of the mall the day after Thanksgiving we say, “See I told you I had a parking angel.”

It’s obvious that culture is all over the board on the subject of angels.  Art varies from a warrior to a glamorous winged person who gently glides into our bedroom.  Music is at both ends of the spectrum as well.  According to Aerosmith an angel is a beautiful lover, Big and Rich have determined that some are so Hell bent that the angels can’t catch them, our world is so awful that Train is calling all angels for help, Sarah McLaughlin promises that angels will deliver us from the memories of our silent reverie, and Alabama chose not to get so heavy by simply stating that there are angels among us.  The real question is where do they come from and exactly what is their purpose?