ST. MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS EPISCOPAL CHURCH
  • ABOUT US
    • WHO WE ARE
    • 2023 Annual Meeting
    • Leadership
    • Newcomers
    • Pastoral Care
    • Faces of Our Community
    • Contact
  • Transition
  • Worship & Prayer
    • Download Service Bulletins
    • Daily Prayer Services - The Daily Office
    • Sermons
    • Art, Music, & Literature
  • FORMATION
    • Adult Formation
    • Retreats
    • Family & Youth
  • Outreach & Social Justice
    • Casa San Miguel Food Pantry
    • The Landing
    • LGBTQ+
    • Immigration Ministry
    • Navajoland Partnership
    • Senior Ministry
    • ALL ANGELS EPISCOPAL DAY SCHOOL
  • Give
    • Annual Pledge
    • Stewardship
    • Gifts & Memorials

live at five Letter

9/25/2014

0 Comments

 
Dear Five O' Clock Friends,

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.  We will hear the story of the dream that came to Jacob the night he laid his head upon a rock.  A dream of a ladder reaching up to or down from heaven and angels climbing up and down that ladder.  In his dream, Jacob saw God standing beside him promising him to be with him and keep him safe.  This Sunday, we'll hear about another dream, another vision--John's vision of a great heavenly battle between the angels of God, led by Michael the Archangel, and a great dragon known as Satan.  A battle that ends with the dragon tossed out of the heavens.  

I always have trouble with that second story.  It seems so far-fetched. Until I remember that story's context.  John, who recorded that vision, lived in a time of great violence and uncertainty.  Christians of his day faced brutal persecution.  The forces of the Roman Empire were aligned against them. John was exiled to an island where, in the midst of his despair, he had a vision of a different world--a world in which the powers of good prevail.  

It's hard for me to wrap my mind around that story.  It's hard for me to picture Michael and his angels.  I have to step back from the well-known images of Michael--images one often finds on icons and imagine what protecting angels might look like, what weapons they might carry, what shields might protect them from deadly wounds.  Then I wonder to myself, "When have met Michael or Michela?"  Then I remember.  I remember protecting angels in my life.  Women and men who have stood between me and grave danger.  Women and men who have shielded me from harm.

We all have our Michaels and Michelas; we all have people who have shielded us from danger.  And likely we have all been Michaels or Michelas to others.

Take time this week to remember and give thanks for the Michaels and Michaelas in your life.  Take time this week to watch for the angelos of God in your midst.


See you Sunday--along with all the other angels in our midst.

 Susan+

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    The Rev. Susan Allison-Hatch serves as the lead priest for the Live at Five community.

    Picture

    Archives

    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Questions about the life and ministry of St. Michael's?
Contact Us!
Click here for information on
​legacy giving.
Picture

505.345.8147                601 Montaño Road NW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87107                  office@all-angels.com

  • ABOUT US
    • WHO WE ARE
    • 2023 Annual Meeting
    • Leadership
    • Newcomers
    • Pastoral Care
    • Faces of Our Community
    • Contact
  • Transition
  • Worship & Prayer
    • Download Service Bulletins
    • Daily Prayer Services - The Daily Office
    • Sermons
    • Art, Music, & Literature
  • FORMATION
    • Adult Formation
    • Retreats
    • Family & Youth
  • Outreach & Social Justice
    • Casa San Miguel Food Pantry
    • The Landing
    • LGBTQ+
    • Immigration Ministry
    • Navajoland Partnership
    • Senior Ministry
    • ALL ANGELS EPISCOPAL DAY SCHOOL
  • Give
    • Annual Pledge
    • Stewardship
    • Gifts & Memorials