Ezekiel 37: 15-28; 1 John 2: 22-29
May I speak in the name
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may these words be a blessing to all who
hear them. Amen
First of all, it is good to be back with you preaching
here at Whaddon. Although I have taken a couple of services in Whaddon recently
I have not had the opportunity to preach.
Some may say that isn’t a bad thing!
I thought therefore that it would be interesting to
have a look at St. Michael and the role he has in the church. He is the dedicated saint for the church in
Bemerton Heath here in Salisbury and again the patron saint for Coventry
Cathedral. In fact I can think of dozens
of instances where the name of St. Michael has been used – cathedrals,
churches, schools, islands, mounts, and even underwear! As I started my research it became evident
that St. Michael was not a man, like most saints we hear of, but the name given
in the bible to that Archangel who is regarded as the leader of the heavenly
military forces protecting heaven from the assaults of Satan.
There are three clear references to Archangel Michael
in the Bible – two in the Old Testament - the Book of Daniel (10:13 and 12) and
one in the New Testament (Revelation12:7).
In the Book of Daniel Michael is described as the great prince, the
angel who will rise up and help the Jews be restored to Jerusalem and later he
is described as the one who will lead the heavenly host against Satan in the
dispute over Moses body. In the New
Testament, Michael is seen as the leader who will slay the dragon in Chapter
12.7. There are also passing references
to the great prince and angel elsewhere in the bible – such references being
attributed to the Michael.
In the dictionary of Saints complied by Philip Noble,
St. Michael is first described as being the patron saint of grocers, mariners,
policemen, paratroopers and sickness!
The name in Hebrew means “One who is like God” which was the attributed
war cry of the good angels in battles fought in heaven against Satan and his
followers. Since the earliest times of
the Apostles the Christian church has called upon Michael for aid at times of
despair – when the church leaders have been beset by problems thought of as
emanating from the evil influences of Satan – and it is interesting to find
that Michael transcends all three Judeo religions – Jewish, Christian and Islam
– and that he is observed as a leader of those forces from heaven designed to
protect the true believer.
I think it good
and appropriate, at this particular service where we unite those of the Roman
Catholic faith with those of the Anglican Catholic faith – and I use the term
catholic purposefully for the Anglicans – that we are indeed all part of one
large Christian family whose roots are to be found in the Old Testament as well
as the New – roots which we share with the Jewish and Islamic faiths.
It seems at this time that there is increased bigotry
and hatred amongst completing faiths – bigotry and hatred even between
different branches of the same faith – Orthodox and Reformed Jews, Sunnis and
Shias and in our own Christian faith – Orthodox and Catholics, Catholics and
Protestants, Evangelical and Traditional, Conformists and non-Conformists and
so on. Why should this be? We all have one clear and unfailing faith
based on the two great commandments left to us by Jesus – To love God with all
our might and to love each other as we would have those others love us.
In my time I have passed through many phases in my
faith. I started off as a traditional
Book of Common Prayer Anglican – familiar with Mattins, Holy Communion and
Evening Prayer – all from the little black book. Then I went to university and was introduced
to “born again” Evangelical Christianity which I have to confess I found a
little uncomfortable – I didn’t fall over, didn’t speak in tongues and didn’t
have a born again birthday. In fact I felt that I was a bit of a fraud calling
myself a Christian and did query whether I actually had a faith at all. Everybody else seemed to have it all so sorted.
In fact it did lead to me entering the wilderness years as far as faith was
concerned. Later, I picked it up again
when I discovered the new easy to understand and more informal Common Worship
which we are using tonight. I felt able
to return to the fold with comfortable liturgy – which ultimately led me to
train for ministry. But one thing which
did keep me on the straight and narrow was the thought that Christ’s teaching
were, above all practical and simple and perhaps we often make too much of the
ritual and rubric and forget the fundamental principles taught to us by Christ
himself. Today I simply describe myself
as a Christian when asked about my faith – encompassing and embracing all
types.
In the course of this last month I have attended a
Roman Catholic baptism, a Roman Catholic Eucharist, a free church Evangelical
service with communion, an informal Anglican family service, an Anglican
Eucharist and yesterday an all singing all dancing licensing service in the
Cathedral with all the pomp and ceremony that entailed. I have loved each and every one of them
because in each I have had an opportunity to praise and worship the one true
living God.
In my time I have also attended a Mosque and a couple
of synagogues. I have enjoyed and
respected the devotions of the members of those congregations.
I am not a pluralist but I do believe that we all
worship the same God. We may disagree
about the divinity of Jesus, we may disagree about transubstantiation and we
may certainly argue about the Trinity but, at the end of the day, each of the
religions has a common grounding and we should tolerate the views of others
even when we fervently disagree.
I started by saying that tomorrow is Michael’s
day. In our two readings Ezekiel, in the
first, talks about the joining together of the northern and southern parts of
Israel and in the second reading John reminds us about what is important for
our faith. I echo both of these thought
by saying that as united Christians we can better fight off, like Michael,
those attacks which plague us by the forces of evil which have none of our
faith. Those who worship gods quite different to the true and living God,
Yahweh or Allah. It is good that we as
Catholics and Anglicans can worship here together tonight. Whaddon and Alderbury have much to be proud in
having these services which I know go further - into house groups and other
community activities.
Let the spirit of St. Michael and All the Angels
persevere to fight off those influences which would seek to destroy our
ecumenical Christian faith.
Amen
