Heavenly Father, as the angels praise you in heaven so may we praise you on here earth and as they attend to your every word so help us as we open our hearts and minds to your Word together, in the name of the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.
So here we are, surrounded by flowers, rainbows and angels! Its been an exciting time – many months of planning have gone into this Flower Festival, many people have been involved in the preparation and setting up and of course a lot of hard work especially in these last few days. But for it to come to fruition, for the vision to take off, it needs some magic, some risk-taking, some surprises and unforeseen problems of course, and at the end of the day, it needs God in the mix!
Our Flower Team have done so much and I think you’ll agree, the vision, planning and results are amazing. But they are the first to say that it has needed everyone to make it happen – and first and foremost – it has needed God.
Without God, we wouldn’t even have started out on this journey, and without God, we wouldn’t have what you see around you now. And more than that- without God, the amazing things that happen when we do all put ourselves on this line, beyond our comfort zones, would never take place at all.
We are in the season of angels – today is the Feast of Michaelmas – when we celebrate all the angels and archangels – and angels are always very much around when God is in the mix. You may already have had a chance to see the angels in the Lady Chapel which were made by our Youth Group when we met last week.
Now I don’t know about you, but I am very keen on angels, perhaps not least because of Michael – who of course is my patron saint – not a bad saint to be named after. He’s strong and brave, the sword-wielding defender of the throne of God. He’s basically the top angel! A bit like James Bond with wings. And then there’s Gabriel – at the annunciation kneeling before Mary with the astounding news which begins the whole amazing impossible possibility of the incarnation. When angels are around it seems, things happen, things begin to change, it gets exciting and sparks often fly!
Following on from the story of Noah, the flood and the rainbow is the story of Abraham and Sarah, and how one day, three angels come of out the desert to tell them that they will have a longed-for son – the beginning of the story of the Great Family in which Jacob, who we hear about in our first reading today, will play such an important part. But who or what are angels? Are angels simply God’s messengers? Are they from God, or of God, or perhaps in some way they are God? The name Michael actually means ‘who is like God.’ Angels remind us of how God so often gets into the middle of our human lives, often when we are least expecting it – in bursts an angel with news from God that is both glorious and also unsettling.
Angels bring God’s power and intent right into our world. Full of light and glory, they are scary – that’s why the first thing angels so often say is ‘Do not be afraid’ And more than anything, when angels are around, we are not in control – God is – and that can be terrifying in a world where we are always trying to control and manage the risks. Angels show us that nothing is impossible with God, the news they bring is of the extraordinary things that God is already doing, of the wonder and glory of heaven already present on earth, just under the surface of our lives, woven into the everyday, the presence of God.
Angels remind us of God’s promise to be with us always – that earth and heaven are now brought so close together through Jesus, who is higher than the angels, who is God with us in every way, then, now and for ever. Jesus, in the gospel reading we heard from John, is in the early days of his ministry – the beginning of a new phase in his life and a momentous new beginning in the history of God’s relationship with his people.
Nathanael, after a sceptical start, is one of those few who begin to see just who this person might be. Jesus tells him ‘Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’ Jesus is now the ladder of Jacob’s dream from the Old Testament reading, the one who unites heaven and earth. Jesus, who was there at the beginning of time when the angels were created to be messengers and bearers of light, whose resurrection is announced in the garden by angels at his tomb, and who is proclaimed by angels in heaven where he sits at God’s right hand.
Today we are surrounded by signs of God’s wondrous creation, flowers arranged by people who make up God’s family in this place, the stories of our lives and the stories of our faith. God’s promise of hope in the rainbow to Noah, is also a promise to us now. And the song of the angels ‘Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all the earth’ is good news of great joy for all people even in the midst of war between nations. Michael, the Archangel, contends for us and God commands all his angels to keep us and protect us.
Today we celebrate the angels, and the rainbow – a reminder that God is here in our midst, that his angels protect us, that his promise of hope in the rainbow is forever and that this place, where we gather, is none other than the house of God, and the very gate of heaven. Amen.