The Lessons…
From Genesis…
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham, and your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring, and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in the place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
From Revelation…
War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, which is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. Rejoice them, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
From the Gospel of John…
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said to him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
A reflection on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel…
Every few weeks I get together with some of my clergy colleagues in Los Angeles for a group Bible study. We also spend time checking in with one another and comparing notes about church life. Several of my colleagues have young children and so I often hear stories about these children and their quirky spiritual lives. There are reports of the latest escapades of these children with their imaginary friends; reports their rebelliousness, and of course, reports of the latest back to school nightmare. This week one my colleagues asked us if we knew anyone who does spiritual direction specifically with children. Spiritual direction is an ancient practice of the Christian tradition that typically involves the person seeking spiritual companionship sitting in conversation a spiritual companion or director. The director practices deep listening and helps the directee reflect on the different threads of his or her spiritual experience. If any of your might be interested in spiritual direction, do let me know, as the many religious communities and retreat centers in our area are wonderful places to find such spiritual companions. So back to my friend’s son who is constantly experimenting with his super powers and super hearing.This boy said that he could hear a baby crying in Africa. He thought the baby was being kidnapped and that's why she was crying. What was interesting to my friend was that her son wasn't upset, he just thought someone would help the baby since he could hear her crying. He kept calling her Africa, like that was her name. My friend thought that he was on to something, even though part of it was pretend.
Yesterday, the church celebrated the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. St. Michael is the patron saint of our church and so this morning we carry on the celebration of this fierce figure. The passage we just read in Revelation of Michael and the angels fighting and defeating the dragon-slash-powers-of-evil strikes me as a scene that gets acted out regularly in childhood imaginative play. Now I know that you thinking: “this is our first week back at university – thinking about childhood play is the last thing on my mind.” Or: “I’m well into retirement, thinking about how I played as a child seems so far from where I am today.” But stop for a moment and think about your wildest play sessions as a child – the imaginary friends, the moments when you possessed magical super powers (or super hearing!), the times you morphed into any number of creatures. The psychologists talk about the imaginary friends or super powers as a way children wrestle with their fears or the uncomfortable places of their lives. These friends and powers in essence, allow children to live into their fears and discomforts. They get to skirt around the edges until it feels safe enough to take it on by themselves. The vivid stories of Michael and the angels function very much in the same way.
A colleague of mine who has spent her ministry as a priest tirelessly working in many contexts to clear the way for justice writes about recently receiving a card from a parishioner featuring the archangel Michael, with a note inside reading: "Michael subdues the dragon allowing its evil to transform...Your willingness to call things out and take them on makes room for the spirit to transform lives." That's a pretty powerful statement, not to mention a beautiful testament to my colleague -- and it's Michael's colorful intensity that reaches through even to sensible adults -- moving them to engage playfully and creatively, so to be empowered by the boldness and fierce determination of this extraordinary saint,
As one commentator writes about this feast day, “A story from the book of Genesis recounting a fugitive’s dream of angels descending and ascending upon a ladder extended from the lower reaches of heaven’s vault, and an incredible account from the book of the Revelation chronicling a war that no one saw, save the reaches of the mind, are not grounded in their own experience. They do not have the ring of substantiated proof. They are, to be perfectly blunt, make believe. Make believe. It is a childhood expression, another name for pretending, a practice that has taken on a negative connotation despite its wholesome functions. We no longer appreciate the necessity and the wisdom of pretending. We have lost our imagination. That is why we need a strange festival of angels and archangels. It is a reminder of our need to pretend, to make believe.” (Sam Portaro, Lesser Feasts & Fasts, p174)
The myth of Michael and all angels is woven into the fabric of many biblical texts. In the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament he appears in the Book of Daniel and is identified as the protector of Israel. In Joshua, Michael the Archangel is known as the heavenly messenger of supernatural and holy origin, likely sent by God. Rabbinic tradition paints Michael as advocate of Israel, sometimes fighting with princes of other nations or Israel’s accusers. In Christian tradition as well, Michael is seen as the champion of his people, bringing victory in times of war and health in the face of illness. In Constantinople, he first gained repute for being a physician and healer. In Rome, legend has it that Michael answered the Pope’s prayer that the plague cease and was said to have hovered over the mausoleum with his sword in hand. This prompted all the sick to commemorate his feast day every year by sleeping the night in the church in hopes of catching a glimpse of his apparition. It is St. Michael’s victory over the dragon-devil that we read from Revelation that is perhaps best known among today’s Christians. In our calendar, the feast of St. Michael is celebrated on the day English universities traditionally began their term, all of which makes St. Michael very apropos to our community.
I thank God that we’re not named after a lame saint, because there certainly are those lame saints out there! We’ve got the patron saint of grocers, mariners, paratroopers, police and sickness; a saint who even has ties to the university! But the flip side of all this is that we’ve got a great and tall order to fill if we are to truly identify ourselves in the tradition of St. Michael the archangel. It’s quite fitting a pairing, given the powers and principalities of the university and the poverty of our neighbors that find heaped on our doorstep. Yes, the beasts lurk not far away and must be tamed and transformed into something that constantly lifts up humanity. I joke that by the end of the university’s 25-year expansion plan, St. Michael’s will find itself situated at the center of campus. The challenge will be to have dedicated those 25 years to taming and transforming the dragons about us.
On Monday, I headed over to campus in the afternoon for the Convocation address to the class of 2011. I got there a tad late, but nonetheless made my way to the front half of the chairs set up by the lagoon, only to finally find seated with an obscured view of the platform. As the festivities continued, I was reminded of how such university gatherings usually always come off to me as “uncomfortable” ritual. And as I was thinking about this, someone from the platform started to explain the meaning of the word ‘convocation’ – with – vocation – a calling together of a body of people for a special purpose, that of seeking vocation. And he continued on, imploring the gathered students to use these four years to seek out their vocation – not prepare themselves for a job – but to find their vocation. And he added a bit about how originally, convocation was the task of the clerics, who gathered in their garb and guided young academics through the journey of finding their vocation. I looked around and couldn’t find another chaplain and rabbi in sight!
Vocations are born out of dreams like Jacob’s. They come to us through our conversation with our spiritual companions in life. They are shaped through our childhood and adulthood play. They emerge through our engagement with the world. They take shape in moments of quiet and moments of heated debate. They are heard in between the crashes of waves or in the stillness of chapels.
Every few weeks I meet someone or receive an email from someone who called St. Michael’s home while studying at UCSB. Inevitably the message from these people is all the same: St. Michael’s profoundly changed my life. This week the email message read: “I graduated from UCSB in 1967, attended St. Michael's during my undergraduate days and have very fond memories of that place and the vicars who served it. I was browsing the net and wanted to reconnect with these mighty memories and wish you all a blessed Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Your congregation had a profound impact on my own formation. Blessings in the Lord. Tim”
St. Michael’s may be a place where people pitch their tent for a few years before moving on. But in those few years (or in a handful of cases, long years), the community is a place that inevitably affects those who call it home in profound, life-changing ways. And so let us continue to look to Michael the archangel for our guidance. As people of God gathered under this tent, may we carry his fierceness, his sense of justice and his boldness in all that we do and all that we are becoming.
A blessed Feast of St. Michael and All Angels! A blessed beginning of the school year to you.
Amen.
St. Michael's, Isla Vista Year C, Feast of Saint Michael 30 September 2007
The Rev. Nicole Janelle