Rev’d Peter Balabanski
Michaelmas – Ezek 1 4-12, Ps 138, Rev 12 7-12a, John 1 45-51
I felt a bit puzzled about where to begin with connecting the Season of Creation (SoC) and the feast of Michael and All Angels. But then I remembered a popular saying that ancient Jewish sages wrote in the Midrash. They said, There is not a single blade of grass on earth below that does not have an angel in the heavens above that strikes it and says to it: ‘Grow! (Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 10:6; Zohar, part I, 251a – https://www.sefaria.org/Bereshit_Rabbah.10.6?lang=bi) If a blade of grass gets such angelic attention, it bodes well for the rest of us!
I’m a literalist when it comes to angels. I think they’re with us and they’re active. Our Guardian Angels work to help us grow deeper into God, who is both the source of our being, and our destination. I believe that for us and for any living creatures, to be whole, to thrive and to grow, we have to be connected with God who is the source of our being. Plants in the soil are icons of that spiritual reality for me. They grow from the source of their being who they find in the Earth, in water as a gift from the Heavens, and, as they grow towards the source of their being, in Sunlight.
I believe all of life’s connection with God is both a biological and a spiritual reality. We are physically connected to God through the created order which sustains our bodies every moment. We’re also connected by it spiritually to God. And angels play an active role in sustaining that connection. They act as spiritual messengers and much more. Angels work to connect us with the source of our being – the source of all life and growth – and to prepare us for the next steps on our journeys.
This is not to overlook our principal way of knowing and connecting with God through the Bible. The readings and hymns at Michaelmas can make us feel like tourists in an ancient, exotic world, untouched by the passage of time. [OED ‘obs!’] These readings and hymns seek to express this divine connection both literally and through myth – and there’s the same truth in both. It’s a connection with a reality greater than just ourselves – a connection through and alongside creation, and aided by angels and archangels – a connection with the divine source of our being. I think you’ll grant that this must call for extraordinary language and imagery.
So today, we travel in a realm of cosmology and imagery that we people in the so-called developed world find alien and bewildering. We’ve just seen Ezekiel’s vision of angels who follow the movement of the Spirit around a fiery throne. Each of them, with their four faces, represents both human and non-human life in the divine presence. I can understand how Ezekiel would sit as though stunned among his people for seven days after having this vision.3.15
In this Season of Creation (SoC), I notice that the ratio of human to non-human life in Ezekiel’s vision sets humans among, rather than above, the lion, the ox and the eagle. We caught that same sense three weeks ago in Gen 2 as the various animals and birds, along with the woman, were created as partners to Adam rather than underlings. In Ezekiel’s vision, the angels represent non-human life in God’s presence alongside human life; not beneath us! That’s a SoC principle to embrace!
It all sounds glorious and positive, a living triad; God and earth-creatures and angels all getting along swimmingly. But we know that’s not the reality. Our planet is taking a hiding from one species. And it’s so severe that it seems Earth’s part in this living triad is in danger of collapse. How can this be happening on our watch?
Whether we think of this triad as something literal, or as a myth given to help us name the tragedy that’s unfolding doesn’t really figure. The tragedy is unfolding with such power and speed that nothing and no-one seems able to stand in its way. This week we see even the UNO is helpless. Malign forces are at work ruthlessly careless of the suffering and destruction they cause. AI is their latest embodiment. We fear that our time is getting shorter, and we’re already grieving for our children and grandchildren and the fellow creatures that we’re passing such a world on to.
Revelation says this is a cosmic battle that Christ wins. The forces of self-interest, deceit, accusation and rage, represented by the dragon and its messengers, are cast out by the power of self-sacrifice, community and faithful courage, represented by Michael and his angels and those redeemed by Christ’s blood. But Revelation also tells us that although victory has been won in Heaven, the battle is still being fought on Earth. We Christians are citizens of the already but not yet. Greedy self-interest, vengeful rage, false accusation and deceit are the enemy’s weapons that Earth now faces. We see these forces at work in exploitative systems and in the callous power-plays of would-be dictators; all brazenly on show at the UNO this past week.
So we struggle for ourselves and our neighbours, human and non-human, and indeed for life on Earth itself, which is under direct threat. We are aided by angels and archangels in this battle which is as much spiritual as it is physical. So on the one side, our calling is to become daily more like Christ; a self-giving, faithful people committed to his kindness, justice and truth in love. The natural outworking of that on the physical side is that we humbly live out our first calling which is to serve and preserve the Earth which has been given to all creatures. Because it’s here that we find God, in whom we live and move and have our being. Amen.