Sermon: St Michael and All Angels - Eucharist

Preacher:

Date:

Sunday 29th September 2013

Service:

Cathedral Eucharist

Readings:

Revelation 12: 7-12

John 1: 47-51

Listen:

Download Recording (MP3, 14.1M)

It was an imaginative or foolhardy ordinand who chose to play Robbie Williams’ rock ballad, Angels in the college chapel on the feast of St Michael and All Angels. However, his lyrics might say a lot about the hold that angels have on our cultural, social and emotional hinterland.

‘cause I have been told
That salvation lets their wings unfold
So when I’m lying on my bed
Thoughts running through my head
And I feel that love is dead
I’m loving angels instead.

Robbie’s angel offers protection; the assurance that of not being forsaken; a blessing of love in weakness and pain.  It is a song full of longing; it presumes that angelic affection is more constant than human love.

Angels wing their way in and out of our lives.  We speak of angels in our attitude to hospitality and kindness to strangers; to acts of generosity – whether intentional or spontaneous.   We speak of guardian angels and of being angels.  In the town of Guildford there are Street Angels – volunteers who offer love and care when men and women are vulnerable and in need:  late at night, after a few drinks, cut off from friends.  We probably never see them.

It’s unlikely that we’ll catch sight of the Freshers’ Angels either,unless we find ourselves on the University Campus. The Students’ Union organise a programme whereby current students, easily recognisable in their Angels t-shirts, help people park, unload their stuff and get it to their room. In minutes the car is empty and the process of unpacking and settling in can begin.

Amidst the money worries, academic pressures, exciting opportunities and longing to fit in, a Freshers’ Angel can make all the difference: a friendly face, someone who remembers how draining it is to be new, a fellow student.  We shouldn’t underestimate either, the role we play in welcoming people into our life or worship and fellowship.  At this time of year, we particularly seek to welcome students; but being an inclusive body also means being attentive to all in our midst.

Protection and acts of kindness; affection and ensuring safety: all these things are angelic traits.  As we celebrate the feast of Saint Michael and all the angels, those characteristics are refined.  As we look through the lens of Scriptures, we come to angels as beings who are at God’s command; they bring both strength and comfort; they direct our attention to heaven when we’re sceptical, struggling and conflicted.

We make links between angels and human acts of compassion in part because the biblical allusions.  Scripture also opens up a more expansive vision, enabling us to think about God’s ways with the world; and our participation in God’s purposes.  Angels inspire us with heavenly worship and earthly service.

Angels fascinate us.  They inhabit the heavenly realms, yet are conduits of God’s will.  They ascend and descend between earth and heaven.  We speak of angels when we glimpse heaven on earth; when humanity embodies God’s purposes of love, reconciliation and hospitality.

Angels act as messengers not only of God’s will; but also as signs of God’s presence.  They worship God in heaven, but not in the same way as we do here on earth. We struggle to discern God’s will; his praise is on our lips one moment, our minds on something else the next.  They reveal God’s presence and proclaim his glory in a world where his truth is not fully apprehended. We are called to that work too, yet our own agendas and interests can send us off track.  This is why we set aside time privately and when gathered together week by week, to refocus our bodies, hearts, souls and minds on God.  The words we say, the postures we adopt, the praises we sing, the gifts we taste and touch all align ourselves with God; preparing ourselves for his service.

Just as we have different gifts and personalities, which contribute to our ministry and fellowship, so too do angels have distinct characters and roles.  Angels communicate God’s presence.  It is Gabriel who acts as the herald of heaven; the one who reveals the mystery of the incarnation.  His words resonate within us perhaps when we hear the bell ring the Angelus, as we recall his greeting Hail Mary full of grace; blessed is the fruit of your womb. Words of proclamation also resound in this place of worship as we sing Glory to God in the highest, peace to all people on earth.

We sing not just words proclaiming God on earth; but praising his name in heaven.  Holy holy holy, Lord God Almighty.  The book of Revelation draws us into a vivid and bewildering vision. It is full of light and radiance, jewels and rivers, incense and praise.  It sets out challenges to earthy churches and assures of a time when God will be all in all.  It establishes the hope of no more pain, or tears or death.  The one who is Alpha and Omega will draw all things to himself; and yet the peaceable Kingdom that is promised is heralded by one final battle.  Today’s reading depicts Michael and his angels casting out Satan – the representation of all rebellion against God.  In opposition, Michael fights for God’s purposes.  He is the peacemaker, banishing strife and conflict. 

Angels bring messages from God: including words of acceptance, strength and healing.  It is Raphael the restorer who embodies that dimension of the angelic purpose.  It is perhaps at points in our life when we are tempted to forget God, and become too self-reliant, that angels break into our perceptions of reality.  They bring sudden and unexpected incursions of God’s healing, reconciliation and love.  Perhaps their presence in our biblical narrative assures us when faith feels like a struggle. They mediate between earth and heaven both at those thin places when heaven seems present and at those places of agony where heaven seems absent.  They are there at Jesus birth, alongside him in temptation; at the empty tomb angels point from grief and loss to resurrection life.

Jesus uses language of angels in his parables and in his depiction of God’s Kingdom.  Such words kindled the imagination of his hearers; and perhaps they also restore our vision, when we long for peace, good news and healing; when we long to know and express God’s presence.  Jesus uses angelic imagery – the motif of that thin space between earth and heaven – when he encounters Nathaniel.

Despite is preconceptions, Nathaniel finds himself drawn to Jesus.  Rather than having his human prejudices confirmed, he recognises God with us.  He is shocked to discover the depth of Jesus’ knowledge of him; yet as he sat under the fig tree, a place of peace and teaching, he is invited and he responds.  He moves from scepticism to a declaration of faith Rabbi you are the Son of God. 

But that is just a beginning.  To follow Jesus is to embrace the connection between God and creation; to seek to make that manifest day by day.  We are to witness to Jesus God with us; the one who brings healing, peace and grace to our humanity; who opens to us the things of heaven and redeems the things of earth. 

Our vocation as a Cathedral is defined not just by our dedication to the Holy Spirit – with the energy that that evokes and with a manifesto of gifts, and fruit and virtues; but also by the angelic. 

A 15 foot gilded angel stands on the top of our tour: rooted on earth, pointing heavenward. Carved angels adorn the building and perhaps we only see them when we look up; etched angels stand on our west doors and perhaps we only see them when we look out.

You will see angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

Our calling is to celebrate when we glimpse God at work in our locality, and not despise it.  Our calling is to declare the truth of God in our world when justice demands it, and not to resist it.  Our calling is to be God’s ambassadors of reconciliation, and not to count the cost.

Our 2020 vision puts that into an ambitious and exciting strategy: which is about people, sustainability, transformation and the generous love of God.  All those aspirations are couched in prayer; for we will see greater things than this. That is the Kingdom of God.

Today, angels remind us of our reliance on grace; that God is our source of strength, especially when we face adversity.  They remind us that our vision is to proclaim the love of God, to seek his peace and healing.  As our worship ends, may our service begin.