St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church
Angels Among Us
St. Michael’s Day 2007
Just look at all the bright-eyed angels our children have made for St. Michael’s Day! Imagine being one of those angels, alighting the ladder heading up to heaven and giving us one last glance over the shoulder as he departs. Or imagine being one of those angels heading down the ladder to earth, squinting and sizing us up.
These angels have seen it all over the millennia—remember, they’re immortal and don’t get born and die like we do, they just go on and on until the end of time. Why, to the angels it seems like only yesterday that Jacob was double-crossing his brother and deceiving his father and running for his life. And so the angels held their breath in wonder as he fled…what would he do next?
While the sun slipped behind the hills of Beersheba they watched Jacob stumble into the darkness until he dropped, rolling his head onto a stone and losing consciousness. It was then—when his scheming, maneuvering, racing mind finally slowed down—it was then that even this scoundrel Jacob managed to glimpse the angels, and hear the voice of God.
When he came to the next morning he lay alone in the desert dawn, and the world was again silent. But as he stretched and shook off sleep he gradually came to his senses: Surely God was already in this place, even though he had not known it! Awesome…the very place he found himself was actually a gateway to heaven!
Well, it was all in a day’s work for the angels. They resumed treading up and down and up and down between heaven and earth, until one day on the heaven side of things they happened to catch that great struggle between Michael and the monster. The monster was a big-time pushy liar like Jacob, only more so. Like bullies everywhere he had a knack for bringing out the worst in others, and he pulled together a gang. The angels watched in horror as these troublemakers swarmed toward God’s throne. They held their breath in wonder…what would the monster do next?
Suddenly the mighty Archangel Michael arrived, leading rank upon rank of angels who were stalwartly, unswervingly, absolutely loyal to God. So many angels filled the temple that the monster just got muscled out, lost his balance, and tumbled toward the earth.
At that the angels on the ladder heard God make a bracing pronouncement: the monster’s time was short, his days were numbered. But like bullies everywhere defeat would make him madder. And so the guardian angels, the ones who serve God night and day by helping people like us, they resolved to take up the struggle themselves. And to this day, even when you and I are busy scheming and maneuvering and racing wound like Jacob, even when we remain stubbornly blind to the angels’ approach and deaf to their voices, and even when we do everything we can to keep ourselves out of touch with their presence, and to ruin our taste for things heavenly, even then they keep hovering ‘round us and nudging us forward.
It’s said that angels are especially attracted to churches where hymns of praise to God are sung…it’s music to their ears! They come a’flying to hear us sing “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth,” because it takes them back to the night when Jesus was born, and they got so excited at the audacity of what God was doing that they burst through the veil hiding heaven from earth, and started singing that song themselves. With that the cat was out of the bag—now mere mortals were in on their chant and could sing it for themselves—and being less proud and proprietary than we are, the angels just decided to sing along whenever we do.
They also hover ‘round to hear “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts!” That song was also theirs first, before it was ours—until the day that the prophet Isaiah had an out-of-body experience that carried him up into heaven. When it was done and his soul caught up with his body again, he spilled the beans. Again the angels, being less proud and proprietary than we are, decided to just sing along with that one too.
It goes without saying that they love joining in Eucharist and baptism, when blessing in Christ’s name not only draws believers together, but draws legions of risen mortals from all the ages, who rejoice in our living celebration. Wow!
Today, if I’m not mistaken, the angels pause and eye us from the ladder. They’ve been listening to us tell the story about Jacob coming to his senses, and they’ve watched the pageant about Michael’s struggle with the monster, and the guardian angels among them have vowed to help and guide us on our way.
As some angels head up the ladder to heaven they give us one last glance over their shoulders before they depart. As some head down to earth they squint and size us up.
These angels are ever in touch with spiritual presence, and always cultivating their taste for things holy—even when we are not. They see everything, and they hear everything.
Now poised on the ladder they watch and wait, they wonder and hope they will hear us say,
“Surely God is in this place, and now we know it. This church is awesome, a true gateway to heaven.”