Sermon: St. Michael and All Angels

 

Sermon for St. Michael and All Angels

St. Philip’s In The Hills Parish, Tucson, AZ

The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse, 

Healing Service, Tuesday September 30, 2014

Lectionary readings for the day, click here.

Open our lips, O Lord,

that our mouths might proclaim your praise. Amen.

Today we commemorate Michaelmas:

the Feast Day of St. Michael and All Angels. 

The word “angel” means, literally, a messenger. 

Messengers can be visible or invisible, human or non-human. 

We gather today to seek healing –

for ourselves and our family

and for many people who seek God’s love,

We gather today to recognize those

healthful spirits that are

depicted in Christian art

·        with wings to represent their capacity to freely through space,

·        with swords to represent their strength,

·        with bright vestments or halos to represent their dazzle.

Angels serve in two main ways:

1^st as messengers who serve and praise God and

2^nd as signs of God’s power and will.

See, angels reveal God’s grace

in unexpected times and places.

And Michael is the penultimate messenger who “wards off evil and delivers peace at the end of this life’s mortal struggle.”[1]

So I wonder, who are the angels in your life

        Who may have “warded off evil” or simply

        Delivered peace to you in your mortal struggle?

Who are the angels who have, in your past,

who have evoked in you Jacob’s response,

“Surely God is in this place!”

*wait and discuss*

------------------------------------------

Today’s gospel is from the “call” story of

Philip, Andrew, Peter and Nathanael –

A story in which Jesus invokes angels that

draw us into the mystery

at the heart of Christianity –

that of the simultaneous humanity

and divinity of Jesus.

When Jesus sees Nathanael across the way,

under his breath, Jesus says,

“here is truly an Israelite

in whom there is no deceit.”

Or, in many translations, no “guile” –

no cunning, no craftiness, no slyness. 

Jesus sees only the good in Nathanael.

And, Jesus sees only the good in us. 

But, Nathanael wears his

mistrust, doubt and wariness,

like a protective vest;

“Where did you get to know me?”

(sounds like a human response to me!)

Jesus replies,

“I saw you under the fig tree.” 

Jesus “saw” him even before Philip called him. 

Jesus really “saw” him.

And Jesus sees us, loves us and calls us,

even before we arrived here in this sanctuary.

That’s pretty surprising.  Have you ever had someone introduce themselves to you by saying, “I heard about you from…” or

“Aren’t you the one who lives next door to…”?

Well, Jesus’ remark

surprises even Nathanael,

which is why he responds with

that wild profusion of messianic titles,

“You are the Son of God! 

You are the King of Israel!”

echoing Jacob’s comment,

“Surely God is in this place!”

Jesus says something surprising to us, too:

That the mystery and sureness of God’s love

Sometimes arrives on the wings of angels.

I think that sometimes it is easier

to imagine certain people in my life as angels. 

As messengers.  As gifts of love.

Who are those people in your life now?

*wait and discuss*

------------------------------------------

Jesus invites Nathanael – and us, to go deeper –

to go beyond a “belief”

and to see greater things than these…

to imagine the heavens opening

and the angels of God

ascending and descending…

We can’t help but make a connection

between this image of angels

ascending and descending

and Jacob’s vision of

the ladder of angels at Bethel

Jesus reveals himself as the ultimate ladder

stretching between heaven and earth,

with angels ascending and descending.

Jesus connects the finite and infinite, time and eternity. 

The angels are messengers of God’s love,

Invoked at every Eucharistic feast:

“Therefore we praise you,

joining our voices with

Angels and Archangels

and with all the company of heaven,

who forever sing this hymn

to proclaim the glory of your Name”

With all the angels who are present

in the Holy Communion, every time,

we are all

utterly transformed by the encounter. 

So today, how is Michael and all the angels –

past, present, and yet to come,

inviting you to find healing and wholeness?

Today’s good news is that

in every single moment,

God and God’s angels are present…

Today, the angels reveal God’s grace

in unexpected times and places. 

Today, God invites us to recognize

all the many angels

who accompany us

on our life journey towards Love.

Amen

---

[1] Holy Women, Holy Men, p. 612

Sermon: Harry Thacker Burleigh

 

Sermon for September 11, 2014 ~ 11:00 HE I

Feast Day of Harry Thacker Burleigh

St. Philip’s In The Hills Parish, Tucson, AZ

The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse

For online access to the readings click here

I speak to you in the name of One God:

Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit. Amen

Today is the feast day of Harry Thacker Burleigh.

What do you know about this American singer, composer and arranger? 

We hear that he was

·        Born in Erie PA in 1866, raised by his G’pa

o   What else was happening in 1866 in US?

·        Enrolled in the National Conservatory of Music in 1892, studied voice and music theory

·        Worked for the composer Dvorak

o   who was captivated by American music – both African American and Native American. 

o   Burleigh was a copier and later influenced Dvorak’s symphony #9 with themes from spirituals.

·        Sang on staff at St. George’s Episcopal Church while in school

o   which caused some consternation until JP Morgan stood up for him and supported him.

·        Later he sang in the choir, as he composed and arranged the negro spirituals that his grandfather had taught him.

·        Some of his more notable works include

o   Swing Lo, Sweet Chariot

o   Go Down Moses

o   Balm in Gilead

o   My Lord, what a mornin’

o   Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen

o   Sometimes I feel like a motherless child

God blessed Burleigh with many gifts

·        a natural, clear voice

·        a solid memory to hold his grandfather’s songs in his heart

·        a capacity to set poetry to music

·        an integration of it all into then-new “genre” “negro spirituals” for solo and piano

These gifts that God gave Burleigh, he gave to his community and they continue to inspire us even today.

In Burleigh’s life, we can recognize some unlikely grace –

in his connection to Dvorak and mutual influencing,

in his support by JP Morgan as a definite minority in his church, and

in his success in life even as he was raised by an uneducated former slave.

Today’s Gospel speaks directly to unlikely grace in the connect of Mary’s visiting Elizabeth during their pregnancies.

“Blessed is she who believe that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken” for “the child leaped in my womb” when Elizabeth heard the sound of Mary’s greeting”

Which makes me wonder – where do we see unlikely grace in our lives?

That’s a big question.  Let’s start with this:

What did your grandmother or grandfather teach you?

To whom have you taught that?

When have you had a connection with someone like a boss or a teacher, in your formative years, for whom you later also were able to provide mutual guidance and sharing of gifts?

This is unlikely grace.  This is the way that our Lord leaps in our own belly when we experience grace – surprise!

So to honor Burleigh and his gift of music, let us sing hymn #529 together so that we can know the good news of Christ’s presence in the love that we share in this community. 

Amen