The Feast of St Michael and All Angels,        The Rev'd David C Cobb

transferred to Sunday, Oct 1, 2006

Genesis 28:10-17,  Revelation 12:7-12, 

St John 1:47-51 

Whatever truth lies behind the charge that humans make god in their own image, we have even more drastically tamed angels.  Ornaments or decorations, at best something like a social worker of the universe-with hardly the strength to sing out a convincing Sanctus or a to hoist a sword against the ancient dragon.  Gift shop figurines and religions art- too often not really either - angels in our imagination are pale and shadowy-not at all the sort of creatures you'd trust to cover your back in a cosmic struggle.  

And to complete our diorama, we have made heaven a pastel and listless place-well suited to pale angels-little movement and no conflict-if angels are ornamental, the heaven we imagine for them has little more energy and attraction than a tastefully decorated funeral home.   

John's great vision breaks our plaster angels apart and opens a more vital heaven to our view.  And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels... Tragically-and here the word is no overstatement-some angels rage against God. They strike out against the Source of all life- theirs included-they strike out against the Word that gives shape and idenitity to every creature-to them as much as to us-and against the Spirit the Lord and Giver of Life flowing through all creation.   The fight against God and against God's intentions.   

Bad move.  It isn't going to turn out well for them.  And yet, we know too well where this starts.  When we have enough and resent what we don't have. When we are not content to be loved but want to control, when we refuse to acknowledge limits and claim absolute knowledge, when we refuse to see the other as a beloved child of God-then we are waging war against God and against God's intentions.  And it wont end well for us either.  

Michael and the angels who worship and serve God arise- and their obedience-their delight and awe are sufficient to fill heaven until there is no place left for the bitter accusing anger and folded arms of Satan, the accuser--  the dragon and his angles fought and prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven...  

If we would make heaven a pallid and muffled place, unable to recognize what a point of energy and light and movement God's presence is-if we make heaven a dismal reflection of reality-we too readily make earth a battlefield. Disagreements-or even the differences that God intends spark conflict-we live with shame and doubt-and so are frightened and nothing is as vicious as fear.  The accuser has done a good job-whispering in first one ear and then the other.   It is just the way the world is-and so we tolerate or expect homes and neighborhood, churches or nations to be torn apart and something we count precious to be worth another death, another heart broken and another village destroyed.  Its just the way things are here- where the Accuser, our ancient enemy has been given space and time.   

No-this is not what earth was meant to be and it is not how God calls us to live. We have no business playing on the side of the dark angels.  We have no business giving in to despair that silences praise or pride that turns a back towards God.   

And so we come back to this place-here in the center of a world torn by the enemy and here where we can bring our fears and angers-here we can lay down our arms and admit-I am not god.  That humility allows us the grace of confession and the promise of absolution. That humility allows us the freedom of courage and the delight of compassion.  I am mortal-and fallible. I am not god, nor am I meant to be.  That is the beginning of the end of the angel's rebellion; that is the beginning of Michael's victory.   

Vulnerable and mortal-yet a creature formed by God and reflecting in some small way God's own image-Nathaniel is astonished that Jesus knows him, Jacob off in the empty desert and running  away from home- does not expect ladder that can reach from his dark dreams into God's brilliant presence. But the truth is this-God knows and loves us-this place-and the path you followed to arrive here and the place to which you will return - here is the gate of heaven.   

Jesus himself stands to bridge the distance-unlike the angels who have their own work and roles to fulfill-Jesus uses our flesh and blood to be the response of obedience and our voice to be the words of trust that leaves no room for the enemy.  It is startling and unimaginable that heaven could be a place where war breaks out-it is startling and a grace beyond our imagining that Jesus could create peace within our hearts, between us and God and among us.   

When Nathaniel jumps so quickly to belief-Jesus warns him to slow down- to wait and see what God yet will do.  Whatever we know of Jesus-whatever we believe today- there is still more to see as we recognize what God is doing and saying.   

Michael and the holy angels fill heaven with the voice of worship and with their loving obedience towards the one who gives them life.  Jesus opens this place and our lives to an obedience that is his and that is his gift to us.  Jesus teaches us to pray and call God father and lets our imagination catch the glory that fills heaven and earth.  And then prayer and praise shape a life that reflects that glory in ordinary acts, in habits of holiness and compassion.   

War breaks out in heaven-because God wills creatures - angels and mortals to respond freely and from their own choice.  Maybe we want vapid heavens and phantom angels so our own choices and actions don't seem so crucial.  But heaven and earth are created by God to be the sort of real substantial places where rational creatures-mortals and angels choose, act, speak, and decide.  War is possible there-even as it is not necessary here.   And war against God is ended when humility lets us be the creatures God intended without resentment or anger-and war is ended when the voice of praise and delight leave no room for pride or despair.  Michael and the angels have conquered - you and I will conquer  by the blood of the Lamb-Jesus' life of perfect and whole hearted response to God that is given to us in baptism- they have conquered by the word of their testimony-your prayer and your praise-your delight in God's world and even the curiosity that leads you to trace God's hand-that is victory.  The war ends in Jesus' perfect response to God and in us as we stand within him.  The war ends when we echo the songs angels sing - not only with our lips, but in our lives, as the prayer has it.  The war ends when Jesus names us, when our stony bed becomes the place where we dream God's dream- the war ends now-here, no matter how stony our bed-because this is the gate of heaven