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: Ladders and Grace

Sermon for July 20, 2014

Proper 11, Year A, 6^th Sunday After Pentecost

The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse

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

For readings click here

Lord, Open our lips

That our mouth shall proclaim your praise.  Amen

Years ago, at the small Episcopal church I attended,

the priest invited parishioners

to share their experience of God

during their recent “pilgrimage.”

That was, for these pilgrims in Colorado,

a 7-day, 400 mile bike ride called “Ride the Rockies.” 

One woman said that she saw the face of God

in the columbine flower at the top of Monarch Pass. 

A man told how he experienced divine kindness

in the generous free food at the rest stops. 

Another stood with tears in his eyes with gratitude

for the angel EMT who helped him after his fall

on the back side of Trail Ridge Road. 

These remarks, surprisingly,

touched my heart and connected

my childhood experience of earthy grace

to the wonders of divine heaven.

These remarks were a ladder that appeared to me

when I thought God was not part of my life.

At that time, I was a “none” –

one who checked the “no religious affiliation” box

on the census.

But that day, these remarks were my ladder. 

Like Jacob, I thought, “Surely, God is in this place!”

We hear about Jacob in today’s OT reading.

Jacob.

That no-good younger brother of Esau & son of Isaac.

Jacob.

The one who bilked his brother out of the birthright

and tricked him out of his father’s blessing.

Jacob. 

Who named God from a distance,

like when his father asked,

“…How is it that you have found [this savory food and game] so quickly?”

Jacob answered,

“Because the Lord your God granted me success.”

Jacob, a “none,”

had been sent north by his mom

to find a wife from his uncle’s side of the family.

“Don’t pick a Canaanite wife,” his father yelled.

And “don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out!” could have been his parting good-byes. 

Jacob gladly left, running away

from his brother’s rage and his father’s dismay.  

Jacob left so quickly that he didn’t even take a bedroll. 

At sunset, sensing that no one followed him,

he finally “arrived at a certain place” & rested. 

Pulling up a stone for a pillow

(since he didn’t have one),

he fell into that kind of sleep with which

some people are gifted: deep exhaustive sleep.

Oblivious-to-the-elements kind of sleep.

Drooling on the pillow kind of sleep.

He must have twitched

when the ladder appeared in the screen of his mind, with the bottom rungs on earth

and the top rungs in heaven. 

Perhaps his closed eyes moved quickly

as he watched the divine messengers

going up from earth to heaven

and coming down again. 

Jacob watched as from a balcony,

which is how he had lived his life. Distant, judging.

As far as Jacob was concerned,

it was survival of the fittest.

He didn’t know of God’s faithfulness. 

He didn’t concern himself with religious matters. 

He didn’t know God. He was a “none.” 

The ladder was just a dream, at the time.

I wonder… if

Sometimes, we too don’t know of God’s presence. 

We, too, have been known

to forget about God’s faithfulness. 

We, sometimes, believe it is survival of the fittest. 

Maybe our health is declining

and we feel bereft of any relief from God. 

Our loved one’s loss brings tears to our eyes

at the strangest times for the smallest reasons. 

Our recent fight with a friend

has left us feeling isolated and alone. 

How can we find God in the midst of waging wars,

plane crashes and suffering neighbors? 

How does God find us when there are

so many who are in need? 

Our own city has a suffering population of teens

who seek a better life,

living couch-to-couch and friend-to-friend,

with little assistance from government.

One local teen said,

“Looking back, basically all my life was a struggle.

          …that was all I ever knew.

Most of these [struggles] were due to

my mother’s drug and alcohol addiction.

[So] I was focused on surviving

and not much else.” 

Our country’s borders have migrant children

who seek a better life:

fleeing violence and instability in their family

and communities.

The book Enrique’s Journey

recounts the unforgettable quest

of a 16-year old Honduran boy

looking for his mother,

after she is forced to leave her starving family

to find work in the United States.

Braving unimaginable peril,

often clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains,

Enrique travels through hostile worlds full of

thugs, bandits, and corrupt cops.

Like Enrique, these children at the borders

are scared and alone.

They are desperate for someone

to accompany them and care for them

as they seek a future that will be brighter

than their past. 

At a Diocesan meeting yesterday, a priest shared

he visited a group of these children

– sang songs, visited with them –

including 32 infants with their teen mothers.

Some have been sent by their parents;

some have chosen to leave. 

These children are leaving their homelands,

not out of a desire for wealth, but for life.

Jacob, too, left his homeland,

not out of a desire for wealth but for life. 

Jacob, who didn’t know God or God’s faithfulness,

suddenly, in that certain place,

got a full dose of God’s own, unconditional self. 

Jacob realized,

as he watched the ladder in his dream,

that The Lord stood beside him.  *pause*

Not in the background.

Not in the “heavens.”

Beside him.  *pause*

Jacob knew God’s presence in that place.

God spoke to him. 

And Jacob was afraid,

for he was expecting to be chewed out. *pause*

But God said something altogether different. 

God promised land to Jacob and his offspring.

God promised that his offspring

would be like the dust,

spread throughout the land

(and don’t we know about dust, in Tucson?)

God promised that Jacob’s descendants

would become a great nation

and a blessing to all other nations on earth.

But, wait, there’s more! 

God promised to be with him

and to keep him wherever he went.

*pause*

As theologian Frederick Buechner so eloquently said,

“It wasn't holy hell that God gave him, …,

but holy heaven,

not to mention the marvelous lesson

thrown in for good measure.

The lesson was, needless to say,

that even for a dyed-in-the-wool,

double-barreled con artist like Jacob

there are

a few things in this world you can't get

but can only be given,

and one of these things is love in general,

and another is the love of God in particular.”[1]

*pause*

When Jacob woke up, he realized the dream’s import. 

The ladder was the bridge between

Jacob’s earthly existence and God’s divine realm. 

Now, Jacob’s life changed. 

For in that moment, in that certain place,  

God bound God’s own self, unconditionally,

to Jacob and his offspring –

both personally and forever. 

“Surely,” Jacob responded,

“the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!”

*pause*

So we, who sometimes don’t know God

or don’t remember God’s faithfulness,

we are assured and encouraged through this universal story.

Every day,

God binds God’s own self, unconditionally, to us. 

Every day, God pours out what

we can’t get in the world

but can only be given… 

And that is love in general

and the love of God in particular. 

Regardless of our remembering or not knowing – whether we are a “none” or a religious or a just a regular Jacob.

See, God doesn't love people because of who they are,

but because of who God is.

*pause*

God invites us to dream –

to dream of a world that has never been seen

but has always been promised.[2] 

God invites us

to open our arms and eyes and hearts

to the blessings we have been given

and to pass those blessings on

to our neighbors in need

to make God’s dream come true.

God invites us

to respond to all the children –

by helping to find shelter,

by advocating for them with congress,

by seeking out local service opportunities

such as Casa Mariposa or

Youth On Their Own,

or by donating to Episcopal Relief & Development.

God binds God’s own self, unconditionally,

 in love, in faithfulness, in promise, in blessing,

          with grace.

Free grace.

It was by grace that it was Jacob of all people,

who became not only the father

of the twelve tribes of Israel, [3]

but the great-great-etc…

grandfather of Jesus of Nazareth,

The Ladder who bridged earth to heaven. 

It was by grace

that Jesus of Nazareth was born into this world at all. 

And that is good news, indeed.

Can you see the ladder set up on earth,

reaching to heaven?

Can you see the angels

ascending and descending?

Can you feel God standing beside you?

Surely God is in this place! Now we know it.

Amen

---

[1] Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who, (San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1979), p.57

[2] Inspired by The Rt. Rev. G. Porter Taylor, To Dream as God Dreams, (The Green Berry Press, Athens GA, 2000), p.100

[3] Portions inspired by Beuchner, p.58