Reflections on ‘The Angel of the North’
The ‘Angel’ has been described as a symbol of renewal or regeneration, appropriate to a region which has undergone massive social and economic change.
Perhaps it also speaks of mankind’s desire and attempt to rise above our earthly circumstances - our longing to be ‘up there’, to sprout wings and fly above the earth like a bird or a plane. Or could it be a symbolic linking of earth and sky, bridging the two realities of known and unknown, seen and unseen?
Since the dawn of time, mankind has looked up at the sky and dreamed of flying like the birds - to rise above our earthly situation and limitations, escaping from the mundane and enjoying the freedom of the skies. Remember the myth of Icarus, who tried to fly with wings made of feathers? He flew too close to the sun, the wax holding the feathers melted and he tumbled back to earth.
Thanks to the invention of the aeroplane, ours is the first generation on earth for whom flying could become a common experience. For the price of an airfare we may escape from the earth and fly above the clouds for a few hours. We can do it, thanks to human ingenuity and effort.
But of course we cannot really escape from the realities of the human condition. Something within the human spirit always seeks to reach out for something higher, to rise up above our ordinary circumstances for something special. Something to bridge the gap between earth and sky in a spiritual sense: between mortality and eternity.
There is an old saying: ‘Art is lasting, but life is short’. Is there some way we mere mortals can touch infinity, perhaps even to reach God, whatever that might mean….?
I doubt that any person can find true satisfaction until he/she finds him/herself at one with the God who created us. And that is mankind’s greatest dilemma:
“Infinite God - finite people. Holy God - sinful creatures. The gulf is indeed great. It is further complicated in that God is also invisible. How on earth do we get to know, to understand and enter into a relationship with that which is invisible, unless the invisible makes itself known, a self-revelation?
That self-disclosure of God is at the very heart of Christian faith.”
(Andy and Jane Fitzgibbon, writing in ‘Prophetic Lifestyle and the Celtic Way’, 1997)
The Bible makes it clear that God is not detached and remote from his creation, but is a very real, moral and relational Being who chooses to make himself known to us. For example, in Romans 1 verses19 and 20 we read:
“…what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
But there is a problem: most of us do not really want to face up to the implications of this! That passage in Romans continues…
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”
The fruits of such a rejection of God are to be seen all around us - alienation, materialism, moral confusion and injustice.
Could it be that the Angel of the North has something to say about this too?
“It is a witness to life at the end of the 20th century”, says Lord Gowrie, chairman of the Arts Council: “The car is a human body isolated in a bubble, not communicating with anyone else. The Angel is trying to ask ‘is that all we can be?’”
Ultimately, it seems to be expressing an even more profound and challenging truth: Despite all mankind’s ingenuity and creative efforts, the best we can do to address our inner spiritual needs is bolt on a pair of man-made aeroplane wings. Thus we have a picture of our human efforts at religion, through which we have created for ourselves great buildings, works of art, complex rituals and systems of social control. Some might say we have created monsters... incapable of bringing true spiritual life, liberty and fellowship with God.
Fortunately, there is an answer to this dilemma.
Angels with a Message
Angel of the North Homepage