Michaelmas by Fr Jack

St Michael and All Angels
& St Paul’s Ruislip Manor 90th Anniversary

Revelation 12.7-12
St John 1.47-end

-What are we to make of angels?

-And what does that mean for us as we live out our every day lives as followers of Jesus? And for us here at St Paul’s as we give thanks for 90 years of this amazing community.

-And is Robbie Williams’ song ‘Angels’ the best karaoke song ever, or is that Elton John’s ‘Your Song’. Err, sorry, no that isn’t a question I’ll be asking this evening.

So, angels. The real things. Jesus speaks about angels on a few occasions, not just in today’s Gospel, and treats them very straightforwardly as part of the universe’s workings. So there is no reason we shouldn’t too. But yes, their workings are usually beyond our field of vision and control. And no, they don’t look like cute blond fine featured youths. When their appearance is described it is usually terrifying - covered in eyes, wings all over the place (Ezekiel 10.12, Isaiah 6.2, Revelation 4, 12). No wonder Gabriel’s first words to the BVM were ‘don’t be afraid!’. Angels have no more in common with the little statues people by in garden centre gift shops, than my tragic collection of houseplants has with the amazon rainforest.

So, firstly we need to throw out a load of junk we think we think about angels, and instead go back to Scripture and sound church teaching to touch solid ground from which to build back up. Throw out Hollywood and cartoons from childhood, throw out half-baked sentimentality. And we are left with beings about which we can’t say much, but there are some things we can say. We know that angels are not human, not gendered, not like us in lots of ways. But they are created by God, and they are named for what they are - messengers, Angelos in Greek. They are not just God’s post men though, they also bear God’s mission and presence. At times, like when Jacob wrestles the angel in Genesis (32) it’s not always clear if Jacob is wrestling an angel of the Lord or the Lord Himself, so united are these messengers with the One who sends the message, the One who is the message. Jesus, in His mentions of angels appears to not only be drawing on the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) texts about angels, but also a whole rich catalogue of non-Biblical Jewish teachings about angels, some of which we have, lots of which have been lost. It’s this stuff that elaborates on the story of Lucifer, the angel who sought to become God, and thus fell from heaven. The devil is also known as the ‘Father of Lies’. Human beings go astray when we try and be our own supreme beings, our own makers and meaning setters. It was the same for Lucifer, he believed his own lies that he didn’t need God, and driven mad by this arrogance (just as can happen to us), the father of lies, fell by lies.

So, where have we got to? Angels are not sweet. They are messengers of God, who do God’s work in the universe, that we can almost never see or know, (thank goodness in a way!) but there they are doing God’s loving work amongst us. We live in a multi-decker universe, it’s just that you and I only exist on one of the decks down here at street level. That doesn’t mean those other decks aren’t doing their thing day-in day-out. And because they are God’s agents bringing about God’s loving plan for the universe, once a year at Michaelmas we pay attention and say thank you to God and the angels for all that the angelic dimensions of God’s team do and are for us.

Because they are busy! Revelation today has St Michael, God’s ‘Chief of the General Staff’ as it were, fighting the devil. There is a battle for Good vs Evil that mostly happens way above our pay grade. But as ever, as we know from Easter, this battle can only go one way. In Jesus, God has triumphed over death, and abolished hell. We know the final score, but here too the devil is rather pathetically clinging to believing his own lies.

But all of this isn’t entirely above our pay grade. And here we turn to our second question. What’s all this got to do with us? And our 90th anniversary celebrations.

Well, we too are angels in a way. We are messengers of God’s love in the world. Here in church, at home, in work and the community. Just like Gabriel and Michael and the others, we carry God’s love wherever we go. Gabriel said to Mary - do not be afraid, God has a wonderful plan for your life. Doesn’t the world need to hear that today? Do not be afraid, God has a wonderful plan for your life. We speak that love, live that message in a million different ways to every person we ever meet: do not be afraid, God has a wonderful plan for your life. We too are angels, messengers and we carry that Good News with us.

And just as angels don’t just carry messages (like postmen) but are God’s agents, doers. So are we. Each and every one of us has ministries, we are doers of God’s grace, not just speakers. And we carry God’s presence with us, just as the angels do. Every time we celebrate Holy Communion we bring God’s love into the world, a shining beacon, a nuclear power station of grace and goodness - that’s what this altar is and has been day by day and Sunday by Sunday for 90 years. A beacon, a power station of God’s love blessing and transforming Ruislip Manor, homes and schools and shops and everything, blessed for 90 years (whether they know it or not) by what God does here with people, priest, bread and wine. And when we leave this altar, every time we carry God’s love and power in our bodies out into the streets, into our homes, work and community. Angels, bearing God’s love into every corner of this parish and beyond.

So what about fighting the devil? ‘War broke out in heaven…’ how are we supposed to get stuck in with this? Well, the first thing to say is don’t be weird. Don’t watch The Exorcist too many times and start wearing a big black hat and playing tubular bells on your iPhone every time you go up the drive into the house. Jesus has told us how to fight the devil. The devils lies are all about diminishing people, dividing, crushing, twisting. God’s work is about truth, love, healing, building communities and people up. That’s what Jesus does in His ministry. That’s what we do in his name.

So Angels. Wild and wonderful. No tame pets, but mysterious and wonderful friends. And whether we know it or not, we join them in the great enterprise of sharing God’s love with the whole world, and bringing all people everywhere home to this table and to the Heavenly Banquet beyond. May St Michael, St Gabriel and all the heavenly host with whom we sing Holy Holy Holy, every time we come to Mass, be with us every step of the way. They have been for 90 years, are today, and will be tomorrow, thanks be to God.