Today we celebrate Michael, to my knowledge the only non-human named saint. More than Michael, this day has become a day to honor all angels.
Who or what are these angels?
The word angel in Hebrew and Greek means “Messenger.” In scripture, angels are messengers of God. They bring messages from God.
An angel of God appeared to Moses in a flame of the burning bush. The angel Gabriel spoke to Mary announcing that she would give birth to the Savior. An angel appeared before the shepherds announcing the Savior’s birth. Angels appeared at the empty tomb in dazzling apparel announcing the resurrection of Christ.
Sometimes their messages are warnings, like the angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream and, telling him to take the holy family to Egypt to save their child’s life.
Sometimes their message comes in the form of a question. When Jesus ascended into heaven, a couple of angels ask why the apostles are gazing in the sky. Jesus, they said, will come back.
Many, many times the message of angels tells us to relinquish fear. “Fear not,” say the angels, or “do not be afraid.” Their words of assurance come from God and point to God’s care and protection.
Angels also sing, like the band of angels lighting up the dark sky singing “Glory to God in the highest!”
Angels are messengers, servants of God who appear to humans as messengers from heaven.
There’s one more item in their job description. Angels fight. Like St. Michael, the Archangel, angels are often depicted as those who are at war with evil and as we heard in today’s reading from Revelation. Michael and his band of angels slay the dragon, the very sign of evil.
No wonder such angels are deemed protectors.
What do these angels look like?
I don’t think we really know, except for other sisters and brothers in Christ who wear human flesh. I can think of hundreds of flesh and blood messengers who in word and deed have announced the presence of Christ.
When it comes to other beings outside of earth, who knows? The things of God are a mystery of things seen and unseen. In the Christian imagination, angels have wings. They fly! Based on good biblical knowledge, they are pictured as sort of “other-worldly” radiating light and in the case of Michael, he is pictured slaying the dragon or pictured often with a sword.
When it comes to that which we cannot see, our imaginations run wild. Using our imaginations to picture the unseen serves us well and opens up the possibility of using our imaginations further to explore and describe the mystery of God. Angels as they appear in the Bible may be depicted in a number of ways. Holy imagination is a good thing.
Besides holy imagination, angels appear, also, in popular imagination. There is a lot of angel merchandise for sale. Such items make a profit! Many of these angels appear as cute and cuddly, chunky cherubs, or magnificent figures radiating all kinds of color.
Angels serve as Christmas tree ornaments, crystals, glass, sun catchers, and jewelry. We often speak of guardian angels and these show up too in one way or another. I recently saw online, a carved angel with words painted on the front: “I am your guardian and angel brining you peace and joy.”
Do these popular images of angels square with the biblical images? Not always. If fact, I would say most of the time they do not, but there is something I have begun to appreciate about this quest for angels. Once I would have been more cynical but what I see in the yearning for angels is a desire to be in touch with the unseen world. People pine for truth and meaning in their lives and I think all kinds of spiritual practices are seeking a source of meaning outside of what we can see, because, face it – what we often see isn’t very life-giving. Gun violence, wars, greed, hunger, disasters, and disease. So, we wonder “is this as good as it gets?”
Behind and beneath Angel Mania is a yearning for the supernatural, a longing for that which cannot be explained or seen, a longing to be in touch something real beyond the normal perceptions, not only in an afterlife but now. Now. There is a hungering for mystery. A hunger for God.
Angels as good luck charms or guardians for personal happiness really have little to do with the Gospel and seem to be more about us than God, but maybe in respecting this yearning and hunger for mystery, the church can take a deep dive into scripture and tradition in prayer and song and share our witness around these things. The yearning for mystery is large and the witness of the church here can fill a deep void.
Instead of using our imaginations around angels or heavenly beings as mere projections of ourselves and our personal desires, Christians are free to bear witness to angels as bearers of God’s word, agents of the holy.
Angels are depicted in so many ways in the Bible but if there is a common thread it is this: they are not about themselves. They point always to God and minister on behalf of God. Angels have a laser focus on Jesus Christ.
I hope we are beyond the “age of reason” and the need to have everything explained. It is time, high time, to dwell deeper into mystery, to go deep into signs and symbols and deepen the encounter with God in the liturgy. As today’s Prayer of the Day states, “God has ordered the ministries of angels and mortals.” God entrusts ministry to us and God entrusts ministry to those who can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
By remembering this might we be saved from the notion that it’s all up to us? And might we be saved from the trap of spiritual pride like the disciples in today’s Gospel reading who brag about the power that has been given to them and that even the demons submit to them. Jesus advises them that they need not get carried away with the authority they’ve been given. It isn’t about them. Don’t rejoice about these things. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Rejoice that you belong to God.
It’s kind of cool to explore again Luther’s Small Catechism in the adult class after worship. I am again reminded of Luther’s dogged determination to always have our focus on Christ. Always and that’s apparent in the prayer at the end of the Catechism. It also appears in the prayer services of both the green and red hymnals.
“We give you thanks, O God, through Jesus Christ, that you have this day so graciously protected us. By your great mercy defend us from all the perils and angels of this night. Into your hands we commend our bodies and souls, and all that is ours. Let your holy angels have charge of us that the wicked one have no power over us.”
Though we may like peace and joy in our lives, as some guardian angels promise, the truth is that our lives are complex and nuanced and filled with challenges, anxieties, and a never ending struggle with forces that defy God.
I love this prayer because it names this reality and prays that the angels protect us from evil.
Not a bad reminder, especially as a prayer before we go to sleep.
Today, take special notice of the preface. That’s the preface to the Sanctus, the song “Holy, holy, holy Lord …” Listen as the presider chants these words – “And so with the church on earth AND the hosts of heaven,” or, as we sing during Easter and will sing today, “With angels and archangels …”
Here we are today joining a song that is sung that never ends. No, it isn’t just the folks we see here today who are worshipping. We are surrounded by angels. In fact we join their song, their hymn of praise. Heaven and earth are joined together. Rejoice in this and know that God is still at work. It is most often hidden from our eyes, but God with all the hosts of heaven are signing and witnessing and protecting us. And as angels often say: “Do not be afraid.”
There’s a whole lot more going on here this morning with what is seen and unseen. More than meets the eye. Compliments of the holy and loving God.
Amen.