Sermon for the 29th of September - Feast of St Michael and All Angels

Lectionary Readings for St. Michael and All Angels

Genesis 28: 10-17

Jacob left Beer-Sheba and went towards Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood beside him and said, ‘I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place – and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

Revelation 12: 7-12

And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!’

 John 1: 47-end

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

Sermon for Michaelmas and All Angels

I was thinking of my younger son, whom I named Michael, as I wrote this sermon. His generation will probably let this custom lapse in its entirety. But I was remembering how I used, patiently, to choose various packs of Christmas cards each year, to unwrap, pen in hand, thinking of each person as I wrote on each card an individual message at that time of year, longer or shorter as the case may have been. Part of the challenge of this process, and the fun of it, was to try to match the kind of design on the front of the card to the recipient. I liked to get packs containing a variety of images. Some were classical Nativity scenes--great paintings from museums of the world. Others were simpler, bolder, more contemporary. But for that category of my rather eclectic circle of friends to whom I wanted to send some kind of greeting at that time of year, there were some of whose Christian conviction I was unsure. In this case, as I am sure you must also have experienced, one falls back on some kind of symbol that is rather vague and inoffensive, something "neutral." I would studiously avoid the Christmas Tree with Presents Underneath or Santa on Roof with Reindeer design. So! What could be more beautifully suited to this purpose than the symbol of an angel?

Angels: pretty, pastel-coloured, androgynous, sweetly smiling with harp or lute in hand, causing offence to no one. Interpreted in any number of ways, as the recipient chooses.

Angels have remained a constant subject of interpretation and fascination for all the centuries of human existence, I think, even before the nativity of Jesus Christ our Lord.

But what is an angel? Should they matter to us? And what do Anglicans think about angels?

The only angels named in the Bible are Gabriel and Michael.

Gabriel is described as being sent by God to Daniel, Zechariah, and Mary. This angel carries God's own words to his favoured ones.

Michael we have come to think of an archangel, prince of the angels, protector and leader of the forces arrayed against evil.

The notion of an archangel comes from Judaism and from the apocryphal books of the Bible. In the Bible itself the vision of Daniel in chapters 10-12 is of a princely angel Michael, protector of the Jewish people, engaged in a struggle against other angelic princes representing other nations as they battle on the earth, a motif of the mythology common to the ancient Near East. Michael is referred to in that vision as the great prince, the protector of your people.

Another vision, the astonishing vision of the book of Revelation, describes Michael in his warring role in chapter 12.

Some have taken the verse from Isaiah 14:12 as naming a fallen angel, How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! but this verse actually refers to a Babylonian ruler---a tyrant over all the lands around---perhaps Sennacherib, perhaps Nebuchadnezzar. We do not know.

An angel named Raphael appears as the companion of Tobit in the apocryphal book of that name, though not in the canonical books of the Bible.

The great work on angels that has coloured our imaginations in the Western World is not the Bible, but John Milton's great epic, the first Christian epic, Paradise Lost.

The extraordinary imagination of Milton in his blindness conceived of a tragic figure, a fallen angel, Lucifer, who declares, famously: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven! Pride and envy, the besetting human sins still with us, cause his downfall and condemnation to Hell. It is the Archangel Michael who shows a vision to Adam and Eve, literal characters: not only that they will be cast out of paradise by their own wilful disobedience, no longer walking with God in harmony in the Garden of Eden---separated now from Him, but of the eventual redemption of the world by Christ.

So, Angels. Why are we fascinated by angels? Is it because God seems too distant from us? The ancient Hebrews were forbidden to make graven images of God; perhaps because we feel we cannot picture God clearly enough we fall back upon lesser spirits. These we can relate to, talk to, draw on Christmas cards.

Through the centuries all kinds of doctrines about angels have grown up, none of them Biblical or necessary to salvation, but of interest as we reflect upon the way we relate to God.

How do we pray to God, speak to God? How do we feel God's presence in our lives? Does a belief in the existence of intermediary beings of some spiritual sort help us to feel that God is more reachable?

As Christians, we embrace the doctrine that Jesus is the single great mediator of our salvation, the one who by his loving sacrifice for us brought us back to God. Who restored us to relationship with this God who looks on in sorrow and sadness at the mess we make of things here on this earth. It is necessary, as a Christian, to hold this truth about Jesus, that he is the only Divine One who has entered into human life to become one of us, to know what we feel and what we suffer and to show us how to live for others, to the greatest and ultimate sacrifice of one's self.

Jesus is the great intercessor, through whom we can pray to the Father.

As to angels? Well, Anglicans don't have a doctrine of angels. They are not outlawed, they are just accommodated within a rather large and generous range of all kinds of secondary beliefs about all kinds of secondary matters.

If you like to think of having a guardian angel, do keep on! If you feel God's presence in an angelic spirit inhabiting Nature as you walk through a mountain pass, continue! If you have perceived God speaking to you in angelic form a truth about your own life, and it is not encouraging you to do harm to yourself or others, please proceed!

A belief in astrology or crystals is probably less helpful, but that is my personal point of view.

Perhaps we can do no better than call to mind the verse from the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, chapter 1 verse 14:

Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Whatever angels help us toward, if it is a fruit of God's good intention for us, is good.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control are the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians: these are a good enough naming for me!

I named my younger son Michael because I love the image of the Archangel Michael assisting the powers of good against the powers of evil. The Trinity College Cambridge chapel, where I spent many contemplative hours, displays a prominent St. Michael Binding Satan, by an Anglo-American artist, Benjamin West, above the altar. Wherever I go, now, I encounter images of the Archangel Michael everywhere--- art museums, churches, unexpected places................................. When I see one, I stand in front of it,

contemplate all that it represents, take a photo, and send it to Michael my son, to share it with him.

This evening, we sit among St. Michael and many other angels. They are all around us, and above us. Look up to the eight brightly-coloured angels bearing the light that shines down on us in the nave! How beautiful they are. For me, they radiate not only beauty, but benevolent watchfulness, peace, and love.

Who knows what angelic beings we do not see?

In this world of darkness and endless strife, we need all the help we can get.

Who are we to limit the ways that God can appear to us in our everyday human life?

May we feel the presence of God ever more fully as we go along the path of life. For granting this blessing, and all blessings, we give thanks.

Amen!