Angels Among Us: Serving Seafarers with God’s Love

Sermon for the feast of St Michael and all Angels

I have spent quite a lot of this past week asking people what their thoughts are about angels. One said to me “ I spent much of my youth collecting Angel book marks – it was very popular”. A second said to me that in the Philippines they have major festivals for the Angels, and many towns and cities have dedicated fiestas just to celebrate the Angels. When I told the wonderful youth choir we have today that they all have a guardian angel standing just behind them – some reached back to feel!

So what do you think about Angels, and their place in our Christian life? Well I guess it depends on who you think the Angels are and what their role is. The Greek word ANGELOS means messenger, and certainly this is a major role which the Angels have played in our scriptures. Gabriel was particularly busy at the time of the birth of Jesus, needing to pop in and have a conversation with Maria, another with Zacharaiah, then to Joseph, and then the wise men, and then back to Joseph. And who knows, it could well have been Gabriel which gave the message to the Shepherds.

We also read in the bible of Archangel Michael, who lead the heavenly angels in their fight against the fallen angel Lucifer, who was cast out of heaven with his fallen angels, now described as demons. That is rather frightening, an Angel who no longer focuses on God is termed a demon. Important for us to remember!

And then in the book of Tobit we read of the Archangel Raphael, he who’s name means God heals. And then in 1 Enoch we find four further Archangels mentioned, Uriel, Raguel, Remiel and Sariel. But it is not only these seven who are working over time, rather in Matthew’s gospel Jesus tells us that we have guardian angels. And in the letter to the Hebrews we are told that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

But Gabriel was not alone when speaking to the Shepherd. He is joined by the uncountable heavenly host, singing “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth”.

So we now know Angels give messages, they defend God and guard us, they bring healing, and they are amongst us without us knowing it.

Could we take some of this work? When I turn to you and say, full of conviction. GOD LOVES YOU, it is not a message which comes from me, it is God speaking through me, and I carry God’s message. And nothing I say could be more true.

If I lift my voice and sing God’s praises, then I join the Angels, and if I work in love, to help someone understand God better, then I do the work of the Angels. Its good to know we do not have to do these things alone, and that we have the Angels there to help us.

But here is another way you might be able to help. The Anglican Seafarer’s church is quite correctly called “The Flying Angels”, and today I would want you to be Angels with me. At long long last we have been able to establish good contact with the crew on the two vessels lying outside Trelleborg. Last week we were able to send them a few games to play. Now I want to collect books for them. If any of you have books in English which you are happy to donate to the Seafarers Church, I would be most grateful to pass them on. Let me also say that if you happen to have books in Indonesian, Chinese or Russian, these would also be much appreciated. Many of the current crew are now from Georgia, so Russian works well for them as well.

We know the Angels serve and praise God. Let us join in their work, as we to serve humanity with God’s love, and lift our voices to praise the living God.

Amen