And the angels, they go up and down (With thanks to Joni Mitchell)

A sermon on the Feast of St Michael and All Angels for the congregation of St. Stephen, Summerland, Sunday, September 29th, 2024 — The Very Rev. Ken Gray

Today’s preacher is presented with an embarrassment of homiletical riches. On this, the Feast of St. Michael (Michaelmas) Revelation describes how “war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon . . . but in the end, thankfully, “the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who 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.”

Good meets evil, but good prevails “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,” that is through the acts of the martyrs. Swashbuckling stuff for sure, an appeal to healing power many would like to see in today’s tempestuous times.

Given tomorrow’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the dragon for us now, is racism, an attitude and practice still entrenched nationally, globally, and locally. Here at St. Stephen’s we continue to pray for, and work for healing and reconciliation between Indigenous and settler communities. The above notwithstanding, Revelation however is not my primary focus today.

Today I am thinking of angels. Our Gospel text shows Nathaniel coming towards Jesus for a first encounter with God, enfleshed in Jesus, the Divine. Jesus recognizes him as “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”— a fine touchstone by any measure. Nathaniel recognizes Jesus, despite not being previously introduced: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Discovery of the Divine is what we are all about—as Christians, as church, as Jesus-people (to use Archbishop Curry’s language). Jesus takes things a step further: “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Truth be told, we’ve been here before, where the Divine, God, has entered the world already inhabited by Creator. We call the event, the Genesis story, “Jacob’s Ladder.”

[Before I forget, here are a couple of Jacob’s Ladders for your sermonic entertainment—please return at the end of the service.]

Returning to my text, “Jacob left Beersheba 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.” We are in no temple or sacred space; we are simply in the midst of an ordinary life, that is “a certain place.” Here, even here, we see angels (whether we believe in them or not). “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.”

We receive these holy words today amidst the Season of Creation, that time in the Christian calendar where we celebrate God’s gift to us of love, life, and land.

“And the Lord stood beside him and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham 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.”

Once again we see the gift and the value of land, of access to land, and to stewardship of God’s gift to us of land—in Gaza, in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, throughout the Middle East, and everywhere.

“Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it!’” There’s an old Gospel song you might remember:

Surely The Presence Of The Lord Is In This Place
I Can Feel His Mighty Power And His Grace
I Can Hear The Brush Of Angel’s Wings
I See Glory On Each Face
Surely The Presence Of The Lord Is In This Place

I share these reflections today as together we behold our beautiful altar reredos, created by local fibre artist Susan Lopatecki who describes the work in these words:

The “Common Time” reredos is located directly above and behind the altar in St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Summerland. I immediately thought of the ubiquitous orchard ladders seen all over Summerland at this time of year. St. Stephen’s is nestled in orchard and wine country.

Simultaneously I thought about Jacob’s ladder, a ladder leading to heaven that was featured in a dream the biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The story of God’s encounter with Jacob meshes well with lives of resident orchardists. Everyone has “ladder stories” here, some involving first responders.

I considered the meaning and implications of “common time” and perceived it to be a time about renewal, both new life now and anticipation of future growth. The upper left corner is quiet, ready to grow. It depicts a time of regrowth and renewal with anticipation of a coming time. It is a contemplation, a time for reflection, moving from the past and looking forward to the new season.

[Our present reflection is timely as we prepare to welcome the congregation of Summerland United Church, a process, not without challenges, though of necessity, and in the end, mutual congregational flourishing].

Today I wonder what other stories and images could find a place in this tapestry, as the state of Okanagan agriculture is so precarious right now. In the face of no grape crop this year because of damage caused by a severe cold snap in January, many wineries in the Okanagan are scrambling to buy grapes from Washington state and Oregon in order to make wine, bottle it and sell it under BC’s unprecedented ‘2023 vintage replacement’ scheme.

After operating in the Okanagan Valley for nearly nine decades, the B.C. Tree Fruits Cooperative is dissolving and seeking court direction to liquidate its assets. The co-operative, which is made up of more than 230 farming families cites “extremely low estimated fruit volumes, weather effects and difficult market and financial conditions” as the reasons for dissolving the co-operative. The news comes as many Okanagan fruit farmers are facing catastrophic crop losses from extreme weather this winter that wiped out almost all of the valley’s peach, apricot and nectarine crops and severely damaged cherry orchards. Friends of ours who grow cherries locally report a 90% loss in fruit production this season.

Ladders . . . Angels . . . Cherries . . . Land . . . War . . . Dragons . . . Racism . . . Truth . . . Reconciliation . . . It’s all a bit much isn’t it. Yes I know, there are as many as three separate sermons here. Mea culpa. Those familiar with my approach to preaching, to scripture, to ethics, and to spirituality know that I like to bring things together. I maintain that I am not wrong to do this; we need leaders, structures, liturgy, the arts, technology, business and industry, we need each and all of these and more, to think deeply and act with compassion and imagination, to collaborate and innovate, to connect, and to re-create a world going horribly wrong.

May the angels lead us and guide us home. Amen.