On the feast of St Michael and All Angels
September 28th 2024
Revelation 12: 7-17, John 1:47-end
I wonder what you think of when we speak about angels.
If we asked most people they would think white dresses, floaty, tinsel on their heads and pretty wings. The only angel most people would name is the Angel Gabriel because that’s who we all wanted to be in the Christmas nativity play. I was an angel once – the greatest achievement of primary school!
I’m sure many of us have seen angels depicted in church ceilings, or in church windows. I remember showing children round a church and them saying, “Oh, look at the fairies in the window”. Angels are often thought of as mythical creatures on a par with gnomes and goblins.
But, other than this, do we think about them at all? Probably not much if we’re honest. It can feel a bit uncomfortable to our rational minds to think of another spiritual realm, one where there are angels and demons. It can seem that there is enough drama in this realm without considering another one!
But Angels are important in all the three religions of the book, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Bible is full of stories of angels.
There are more in the Old Testament than the new, but certainly angels are present all throughout scripture. The first mention of angels is in Genesis 3 when God threw Adam and Eve out of Eden guarding it with angels:
“Cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3.24)
The first angel to speak to someone spoke to the slave girl Hagar who had been cast out by Abraham and Sarah – the angel gave her a message to return, with a message of hope.
In the book of Exodus, Moses, after being given the Ten Commandments, was sent an angel to go ahead of him and guard him – (Exodus 23.20).
From Genesis onwards we hear of angels as messengers of God. This is what angel means – messenger.
Angels bring hope, they warn of danger, they guard against enemies.
Sometimes they are depicted as a host, as a company – the cherubim and seraphim, with an order, a rank: with cherubim and seraphim being the highest, and then dominions, virtues, powers, archangels and angels under them.
Occasionally they are given names with a specific message or task. In the Book of Daniel we hear of St Michael, given the task of protecting all Israel. (Daniel 10. 21)
When we reach the time of Jesus, things have changed very little. Most Jews believed in angels as representatives and messengers from God, though not all of them. The Saducees who, if you remember, were the group who didn’t believe in the resurrection, didn’t believe in them. In the book of Acts, Luke writes “For the Saducees say there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge them all” (Acts 23:8).
But on the whole, angels were believed in – certainly, Jesus believed in them. In the gospel reading he tells Nathaniel that he would see ‘heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man’ (John 1. 51).
The Biblical angel is in fact nothing like our Christmas fairy angel! They are generally depicted as a warrior, sword in hand battling the evils of the devil and all his demons.
We hear this image of the warrior angel Michael in the wonderful picture language of Revelation where he fights with the dragon. One of the most striking depictions around here is the North Transept of Christ Church with St Michael and his sword, surrounded by all the angels, seeing off the devil dragon and his minions out of heaven. In the Bible Angels are seen as part of the divine order of things and integral in the spiritual battle against evil.
So, what are we to think of angels today?
Thinking about angels is important because they remind us that there is a spiritual world which we hardly ever notice. Angels remind us that the here and now isn’t all there is. Angels represent the breaking through of the eternal into the temporal, the heavenly into the worldly. The bringing together of heaven and earth.
Angels have always been symbolic of God’s desire to reach out, to keep in touch, to bring his presence into our every day, ordinary human existence. For me, they are a reminder that we believe in a God of Surprises, a God who can’t be shut up in a box, who can’t be contained, a God who breaks through our complacency, and seeks to lead us in new directions.
They are a reminder there is a battle going on, and that ultimately that battle has been won, even though in our suffering world it might not seem like it sometimes.
But the traditional calling of angels can also act as a good role model for us as Christians today.
Angels were understood to be both members of the court of heaven, and as messengers who convey the truth and presence of God to others.
Here are two tasks which, as Christians, you and I are called to share in.
As members of the court of heaven, angels were beings who worshipped. Remember the words we use every time the Eucharist is celebrated: “therefore, with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name”.
This should be our song too; like the angels, we should be first and foremost those who offer worship to God. This doesn’t necessarily mean we have to sing hymns all day long. I’m not sure it would do a great deal for Christian mission in Iffley if we did!
But making worship a priority in our lives means being aware of, and recognising God’s presence at every point of our lives – in tears and laughter, at the bus stop, in the supermarket, in church, in bed.
So we are to be a worshipping people, gathering together to pray and to celebrate, but also to be alive to the reality of God active in the world.
And the second element is that of the messenger. Proclaiming the good news of Jesus.
Between us, we must talk to hundreds and hundreds of people, every week. How often do we take the opportunity to share our faith with those we meet. All of us have a calling to live our lives in such a way that people know we are Christians, can see why we are Christians, and want to know what it is that makes us tick.
Like the angels of God, we have a message to share with the world. If you are grateful for what God has done for you, why keep it a secret?
Our calling is clear. We are to be open to God breaking into our lives, dispelling the darkness, bringing light and life. We are to be worshippers of God, recognising his glory in all that lies around us, and seeking to offer him our prayers and praises. We are to be messengers of God, sharing his truth and his love with a world that desperately needs to hear it.
Our offertory hymn will be a carol! ‘It Came upon a midnight Clear’; too good to leave until Christmas. I will end with the final verse:
For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendours fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.