Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023
The Rev. Aaron Jenkyn
WHERE MIGHT GOD BE CALLING YOU?
Revelation 12:7-12
War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 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.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Messiah,
for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,
who accuses them day and night before our God.
But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.
Rejoice then, you heavens
and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!”
This week we celebrate the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. In some Christian traditions, the Archangel Michael is considered as the greatest of all the angels; being particularly honored for defeating the dragon in the war in heaven as told in the book of Revelations. Now, I am usually all for stories of dragon slaying, but I have to admit that for the longest of time I struggled with this particular story.
I first came to know of St. Michael and his angels from a prayer that was recited by a group of women after every Mass in the Catholic Church that I attended as a young adult. Some of you may know it, some of you may even pray it, “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil” it begins – and it ends with a prayer to cast into hell satan and all the evil spirits that prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. I would recite these words, with these women of all ages, their little ones running around laughing and playing amongst the pews. This was a group gathered together in thanksgiving, bonded by belief, strong in faith, and yet the words that we were praying just didn’t reconcile with my experience of community or how I saw God working in the world. At the time, I couldn’t bring myself to see the world as a battlefield, I still can’t, and so for better or worse, I decided to write St. Michael out of my heart. I told myself I was the sort of person who didn’t believe in dragons or angels, or scary monsters prowling about the world seeking the ruin of souls. And I carried on like this for a number of years.
But God has a funny sense of humor, and St. Michael found his way back into my life in the days of parenting preschoolers. As a homeschooling family we loosely followed the Waldorf tradition and one of the highlights of the Waldorf educational year is Michaelmas (pronounced Mickel-mas) or the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.
This celebration at the start of the school year has its roots in the harvest festivals of yesteryear. Michaelmas comes at a time of new beginnings, when we celebrate the changing of the seasons, the coming of cool fall days, and abundant harvests. It is a time we set aside to recognize that the days are growing shorter, and darkness is upon us. Throughout these festivities there is a focus on the defeat of sin and Satan, symbolized by the slaying of dragons, and yet the festivities are not dark and scary, they are joy filled and hopeful. Through storytelling and song, arts and crafts, the community comes together to recount the story of the Archangel Michael and to tell tales of mythical creatures and battles of epic proportion. These exaggerated tales are meant to capture our attention and kindle a fire of courage within us. They give us strength to uphold what is right and true and help us to know what it is that we are fighting for.
The story of St. Michael and the festivities of Michaelmas speaks to children in a deeply symbolic way, feeding their innate need for truth and justice and helping them to imagine themselves as the dragon slayer. But as I have gotten older, I have found that I need to hear these stories too -- don’t you? Just like my children, I need to know what the dragon looks like so that I can slay it. And just like my children, I need to know that I am not alone in this fight.
What I have come to know about slaying dragons is this: Often, the dragons we fear the most are not prowling about the world but are buried deep within our hearts. You see, the dragon is not an external reality, but rather lives within each of us. The story of taming the dragon symbolizes the inner courage it takes to face our human challenges– challenges like fear and uncertainty, self-doubt and anger, shame, and blame.
The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels helps us to remember that the light we need to slay the dragon is already within us, that God is here and now. These stories, and the coming together to celebrate them, also serves to remind us that we can’t do this alone. We come to see that angels exist amongst us.
It has been a number of years since I have celebrated Michaelmas with my kids, but this week, I sat under a tree and told a friend about this story, about St. Michael the dragon slaying saint and his team of angels. It wasn’t planned, we didn’t have fancy cakes or dragon kites like we would have at a proper festival, but there under that tree, as I shared this story, I was able to sense my fears, and to name the dragons prowling about my heart, in a way I hadn’t been able to before. As I sat there, talking on this crisp fall day, I could feel the courage in me growing, kindled by both the telling and by the companionship of the one listening.
On this Michaelmas day, may you find the courage to face your inner dragon, and may you know that you are not alone on this journey. Amen.
