I stumbled on the idea of writing letters from an archangel advising a young guardian, in an introduction to C. S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters. I wanted to find a way of looking at our human problems from a divine perspective. It has been a marvelous experience of standing back and imagining that I can see the world through angel eyes. It is an impossible task, of course, but the amazing result for me has been a sense of objectivity and goodwill.
The intended purpose of the letters is to take seriously the idea of God's complete love. This idea is the center of Christianity. It is Jesus' message, and it is St. Paul's "good news."
We live in an age when institutions of religion are taking a beating from the media, from popular fiction in books and cinema, from those who proclaim cheap or distorted theology, and from our obsessive desire for wealth, power, and material things. The idea of an ideal church is still our hope: a community of people gathered out of a love of God and a concern for each other, to serve their community and their world. These letters offer advice in creating such an ideal church.
