A
confession: I do not like ladders. There are ladders that rise through several
floors of the Minster tower to the flagpole on the very top, from where I
imagine there is a view. But I have no desire to ascend and see it for myself.
Whenever there are lightbulbs that need replacing in this building, Gordon the
caretaker climbs the ladder, while I hold its base secure. That way, if Gordon
should fall, we both get broken. I understand that this is called Health &
Safety.
Ladders
feature in two of our three readings this morning. The first concerns Jacob.
Later on, many years from now he will wrestle all night long with God and
receive a new name. As ‘Israel’ he will join the ranks of the patriarchs and become
the father of the people of Israel, those descendants promised to his own
grandfather, Abraham. But for now, Jacob is a young man, alone in the world,
running for his life. Fear and exhaustion wrestle within him, and at the point
where exhaustion wins, he takes a rock for a pillow and sleeps beneath the
stars. And in a dream, he sees what he had failed to notice awake, a ladder
reaching up to the heavens. And all night long the angels of God were ascending
and descending it.
The
word translated angel also means messenger or ambassador. These, then, are
those beings carrying messages to (ascending) and from (descending) God. But
they are more than a glorified postal service. These are representatives, with
their own God-given power and authority on earth and in the heavens. This is,
as Jacob realises, both the household of God and the gateway between two
worlds. And there is a homeless man, sleeping rough, at the epicentre of it
all.
And
there, Yahweh, the god who had wandered with Jacob’s father and grandfather,
promised to wander with him too, far from home and back again. And to raise
from him a family that would spread out to the west and the east and the north
and the south, and back again. So, from this gate of heaven we see movement out
and back operating on both a vertical
dimension and a horizontal dimension.
Not just angels but also human beings, appointed to be messengers and
ambassadors, carrying blessing. Oh, and by the way, what that horizontal
dimension looks like for us as Durham Diocese is that ‘from the Tyne to the
Tees and the dales to the sea’ [that is, to the north, and south, and west, and
east] [we are sent to be] ‘blessing our communities, for the transformation of
us all’.
Our
second reading came from Revelation,
from another dream of heaven and earth connected, given to an old man called
John, who, as a young man, had been one of the first people to follow Jesus. As
with Jacob, his eyes are opened; and he is shown the spiritual reality of war
in heaven. Michael and his angels warring against Satan and his angels. Those
heavenly hosts faithful to Yahweh, and those in rebellion against Yahweh. There
is no ladder as such here, but the
image comes to mind of ancient warfare, of a besieging army raising ladders
against a city’s walls and the defending army on the parapets, pushing the
ladders away. And Satan is thrown down, falls to the earth, and all his angels
with him.
As
in our first reading, there is both an angelic aspect and a human aspect to what
is going on. The angels fight, while the faithful humans participate by the
word of their testimony, countering the accusations of the Satan by proclaiming
that, in Jesus, the saving power and reign of God has been re-established on
earth.
The
day Jesus met Nathanael, he told him that, like the run-away Jacob, he would
see for himself the angels of God ascending and descending. But here, again,
Nathanael is not called to a passive role. Rather, he is called to follow
Jesus, and to be sent out into the world by him. (The first thing Jesus does is
bring Nathanael back home, to his hometown of Cana, to attend a wedding. It is
almost as if it were a down-payment, a promise that wherever we wander
together, I am with you and will keep you, and will bring you back home.)
Today
we mark the Feast of St Michael and All Angels — or, at least, all faithful
angels. And, as many of you will know, this Minster church is dedicated to St
Michael and All Angels. Along with Gabriel and very few others, Michael is an
unusual saint, in that he is an angelic being and not a human being. But in
recognising his affinity with men and women, perhaps we are encouraged to
recognise our affinity with the angels, for we, too, are called to be messengers
and ambassadors, bringing the concerns of the war-ravaged world before God and
the hope of salvation — that is, of the victory of Jesus (the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world) over evil — to all peoples.
How
might we respond to what we have heard? Let me suggest four different ways we
might do so.
First, a
visual aid: as you wait to receive the bread and wine, or a blessing, and
after you have done so, why not gaze upon the East Window, with its depiction
of Michael defeating the dragon, and of the angels surrounding the throne of
heaven where Jesus is seated, and allow yourself to be caught-up in the worship-life
of heaven?
Second, a thresh-hold to cross: how would the homeless men and women
sleeping in the Minster doorways know that they have not simply found a stone
pillow for the night, but stumbled-upon the house of God and the gate of
heaven? (Please note: we need an agreed community response to this question,
not a haphazard one.)
Third, a compass to wander with: how might we re-orient ourselves towards
God in the days we are scattered, sent-out to be a blessing? Here, I’d like to
suggest a simple meditative prayer, prayed silently in rhythm with our breath. As
you inhale, pray ‘house of God’ and as you exhale, ‘gate of heaven’: [inhaling]
‘house of God’ [exhaling] ‘gate of heaven’ [inhaling] ‘house of God’ [exhaling]
‘gate of heaven’. Prayerfully turn the words over and over, imagining yourself received
by God with each inhale and sent out into the world by God with each exhale.
Fourth, testimonies to hear: our Iranian sisters and brothers have fled
home in search of a place to rebuild their lives. What have they discovered
about God, on this spot in the middle of Sunderland, and in other even less
likely spaces? What might we learn from them?
It was an incredible privilege to witness twenty-four people confirm their
desire to follow Jesus on Thursday evening just gone. God has sent them to us,
but, what messages has God sent them with, that we need to hear?
You
have each been given a summary of these possible responses. Please take it away
with you, engage with the responses, on your own or in your households, as we
live-out our calling to be shaped into the likeness of Jesus Christ in the
footsteps of St Michael and All Angels. Amen.
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