Feast of the Archangels
September 29, 2016
Very Rev. Denis Robinson
I will begin with a
little confession.
I have always had a
morbid fear of angels.
Molty, mealy,
feathery, sweet, bright, trumpeting, sticky
So, today’s feast
comes as something of a mixed blessing.
When I was a child
my parents told me that at the end of time the angel would sound the trumpet
and Jesus would come back to earth to apply justice to my backside. At least,
that is the way I heard it.
Then there was … the
picture. I had this picture in my room of two children on a rickety bridge
being watched over by this amazonal angel that was about 200 feet tall with a
thousand foot wingspan. I could see her from my bed and if there was a storm,
the lightening flashed her alive for me.
The angel reminded
me of my Aunt Louella. Like all of my father’s siblings, she was huge. Picture
Hassler in a dress with a two foot beehive. Not pretty, I know. She was also
loud and I found it ironic that everyone in the family called her by her
nickname, which was Cricket.
My aunt Louella was
what angels were like for me. And of course we have ample support for this
formidable, bellicose image from the Book of Revelation.
War broke out in heaven;
Michael and his angels battled against the dragon.
The dragon and its angels fought back,
but they did not prevail
and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
This is what angels do. This is how they are.
Perhaps we prefer Milton’s image from Paradise Lost:
The sound of blustering winds, which all night long
Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull
Seafaring men o'erwatched, whose bark by chance
Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay
After the tempest. Such applause was heard
As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased,
Advising peace: for such another field
They dreaded worse than Hell; so much the fear
Of thunder and the sword of Michael
Angels are
formidable. At least that’s what I have always thought.
But there is
something more. If we look into the Scriptures we also find the angels in a
more domestic mode.
Here is Raphael in
friendly companionship with Tobias, walking along, encouraging, planning,
plotting and winning.
Here is Gabriel,
showing up in the intimate setting of Mary’s room to announce Good News to a
little girl about the most significant event in the history of the human race.
And here is Michael.
Well, perhaps we shall leave him as he is.
The angels show us
something important. They show us God’s companionship.
They show us that we
are watched over and protected
They show us that
that thousand foot wingspan guarantees that we are cared for in the storms of
the night. They are God’s guarantee we are not alone.
We know the reality
of the darkness, whether that is our self-confidence, our guilt, our leftover
pain of the past, our utter sense of worthlessness, our simply having no one,
our loss, our illness. WE KNOW.
But we also know
that into the deepening shadows of our childhood rooms, that angel comes. Angel
means messenger and a messenger is only as great as the message. What is the
message?
God knows and God
cares. God knows all our secrets and our fears. God knows every wrong thing we
ever did and every anonymous good. God knows how alone we can feel even in the
crowdedness of busy lives. God knows what weighs upon our hearts as we lie in
our beds, pulling the covers over our heads. God knows our cowering and
cowardice. God knows and God cares and thus, the angel comes.
Perhaps in a
reassuring hand on our shoulder.
Perhaps in the
comforting words of a friend
Perhaps in a
listening ear
Perhaps in a random
smile on the street.
As we cross the
rickety bridges of life
They are there with
their thousand foot wingspan
They are ascending
and descending upon us
Drawing us up into
the awesome mystery of God
A mystery unfolded
for us on this altar
A grandeur unveiled
for us in this community.
The angels we
celebrate today. We know their names. But look around, there are other
messengers here with other names.
Here in this place
where seraphim and cherubim unceasingly do cry
Holy, Holy, Holy … Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
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