Evensong, St Michael’s. 30^th Sept 07: Festival of St Michael.

Texts

Daniel 10.4-end

Revelation 5. All 

Theme: St Michael and ET

Introduction: “ET”

I am going to talk about ET (extraterrestrial visitors)!

Well maybe you’ve never thought of St Michael and angels as ET but lets start thinking about this.

During the 20^th Century the scientific community began to be involved in an interesting question. Is the earth the only place in the universe where highly intelligent life has evolved?  Are we alone in the universe?  There are potentially billions of planets in which life could have evolved. And on some at least some of them life might have evolved to have intelligent creatures capable of social community and communication like ourselves.

Popular science-fiction has taken this interest to give stories of various visitors from outer-space (like Dr Who, ET and Independence Day).  Other popular films and TV series have included Star-Trek and the spin off films and series that see human beings encounter t other intelligent life as they voyage in far reaches of our galaxy.

Back in the known world is also interesting that many religious traditions already have stories of non-human intelligent beings conversing with humans, making visits to give messages, protectors and instigators of conflict. In fact some would say that these stories are proof of our being visited by ET/Out-of space-Aliens . 

Well I’m not sure about that but it is in the matter of religious traditions and scriptures that we meet with non-human intelligent creatures called “Angels” in the bible and the Koran. Non-human Intelligent beings that visit the earth and have been part of the stories of salvation.

But who are the angels and what do they do?

Who are they?

Well that can be a matter of speculation. We do know that some can appear to look like humans but some have multiple wings like the seraphim and appear in other forms. Although there have been some fictional stories of humans becoming angels after death, and they may appear in human likeness , the biblical picture of angels is that they are not simply the spirits of dead humans. They are from another part of God’s creation, dwelling in the dimension called heaven.

We today may think of heaven as not just a place physically “up there” but another realm/dimension invisibly alongside and touching our known universe. Angels live there and visit this world and interact with it visibly or invisibly.

What do they do?

Three main activities we read about in the bible..

1.     Messengers, conveying God’s will to individuals.,both in Old Testament and New Testament angels appear to people to give messages.

Examples

In Genesis three angels appear as men and talk with Abraham about Sarah’s forthcoming pregnancy.

In our passage from Daniel an angel speaks to him explain the visions he is being given.

In the NT the angel Gabriel talks to Mary about being chosen to be the mother of God’s Son

Angels announce the good news of the Saviour’s birth to shepherds

Angels are present to tell the women about Jesus’ resurrection

Many more but that’s just a few.

2.     Worshipers, leading the non-human creation in praise of God.

Several psalms call upon the angels to lead the praises of God and recognise that they do so.

In the NT lesson from Revelation there is a multitude that praises God and the Lamb (Jesus) for the salvation that he has prepared. It included a passage made famous at the end of Handel’s “Messiah”.

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

To receive power and riches and wisdom and strength

And honour and glory and blessing”

It is a recognition that what Jesus has done for human salvation on earth is part of a much wider salvation for the whole universe. The angels are involved with Christ’s salvation. They praise him for what he has done for us and the whole cosmic purpose of God.

Sydney Carter wrote a hymn that reflects on the question of societies upon other planets that would also need God among them to lead them to salvation.

“Every star shall sing a carol

Every creature high or low

Come and praise the King of Heaven

By whatever name you know..

Who can tell what other cradle

High above the Milky Way

Sill may rock the King of Heaven

On another Christmas day”

It is an intriguing thought. If God is the God of all and if there are other societies on other worlds needing salvation God would have to go to them too, in their likeness. So what God has done on planet earth is part of the ongoing salvation of the whole cosmos and the full realisation of all things new in all time , space and other unknown dimensions.

Their third role is as Protectors (guardians) of individuals and nations.

Jesus spoke of children having their Guardian Angels who forever look upon the glory of God. But this simply picks up an earlier tradition, again found in the OT. Our first lesson from Daniel reveals something of the Guardian role. Daniel has been upset about his people being captive in Babylon and has been fasting and praying for their liberation. He receives a vision in which someone (elsewhere identified as Gabriel) comes to console him. Gabriel had been trying to get to Daniel but had been prevented by someone called “the Prince of Persia”. But Michael “one of the chief Princes” came to help Gabriel to assist him so that he could carry his message to Daniel.

Now this story reveals a number of things..

The “princes” are not earthly people but imply some beings who have control over the nations. It was actually part of Persian religious beliefs that each nation had a kind of unseen supernatural guardian that governed their affairs. Gabriel had been stopped by this being who was lord over Persia. Michael is depicted as a “chief prince”.  Implying considerable more authority and power and overcomes the Persian prince. In this Michael is seen as the supernatural defender of Israel, and hence the defender of all God’s people.  He is chief and captain of God’s armies of angels.  In this role Michael also occurs in the Book of Revelation.

 He defends the infant church against the Dragon that is trying to destroy them. Michael dressed in armour and battling with the dragon is how he is often depicted in religious art.

The fact that there is a “prince of Persia” trying to delay Gabriel on his errand as messenger also points to the fact of some angels who are in rebellion against God and that not all angels do His will. There is a greater heavenly battle between forces of goodness and evil than simply human sinfulness on earth.

As I mentioned a few minutes ago, I would expect that if mankind does eventually voyage to other planets and finds extra-terrestrial intelligent life, they would encounter varied morality there too. Some “aliens” might be nice and others nasty. There would be other societies of creatures in need of salvation.

So human goodness and sinfulness has to be seen against a much wider background of free will, love and obedience in the whole universe and sin and evil among a whole host of creatures we do not know. The sources of evil are broader and greater than we might see.

But the source of support is greater too. Michael and all the angels around God’s throne all point to the sign that we do not face our battles alone. Unseen agencies are acting on our behalf. Our battle with sin and evil in the world is supported by the unseen host. We are involved not simply with human actions, sin and salvation but also the total defeat of everything that mars life everywhere. All intelligent creatures that have the ability to chose can chose good or bad.

Our faith and commitment to Jesus is backed up and supported by numerous others, including this unseen host. Our lives lived out faithfully as His people are part of the universal dual with all that spoils life.

Our prayers too are part of the universal battle between sinfulness and the salvation of the whole universe.  It maybe that when we pray we are linking up with the whole purpose of God, acted out in the lives and ministry of the unseen angels. When we pray for other parts of the world in trouble we are cheering on and supporting the actions of unseen friends who are wrestling like we are with evils and troubles in the world. Maybe our individual prayers are answered by the unseen action of angels we are not aware of. Your prayers heard by your guardian angels, whose ministry to you stems from that Salvation given by Jesus. When we ask for God’s help we have unseen friends around us we do not know.

Conclusion

There is a great deal of interest in the possibility of life on other planets far away and whether there is intelligent life and societies elsewhere in the universe.

The conclusive evidence is still lacking.

But some intelligent beings we do know about are the religious traditions about the angels and heavenly messengers from another realm. St Michael’s day helps us to see our own lives and the salvation brought by Jesus in a cosmic setting.

Not just about the saving of a few human beings on one little chunk of rock in one obscure region of one galaxy. There is a whole cosmic battle ground and unseen life beyond all that we know.

There is a huge multitude of worshipping creatures who praise Jesus for what he has done for human salvation and how it affects the whole cosmos. And they also are involved with us in the battle against all kinds of evil everywhere is it found. They are the free serving agents of God’s will who battle against other forces of evil that affect this world.

Our prayers are heard by them and may be the means of being answered.

We never face our own battles with adversity alone.

I want to end with another story from the Old Testament.

From 2 Kings.

The armies of Aram were attacking Israel but keep facing defeat because Elisha warned the king of Israel where they are going to attack. The King of Aram asks his generals why his army keeps failing. He is told “Elisha the prophet in Israel tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom”

The Aramean army sets out again and finds Elisha at the city of Dothan and surrounds the city. When Elisha and his servant awake they see the army camped outside the city laying siege. Elisha’ servant is worried as you would expect. But not Elisha. He tells his servant not to be afraid and prays “open his eyes, Lord”. The Lord opens the servant’s eyes to see the surrounding hills covered in horses and chariots of fire, a heavenly host to defend the city.

From time to time maybe our own eyes need to be opened to see who stands with us.

So Lord, open our eyes!

Amen