St Clement Church Community Michael and All Angels Service
Good morning to you all as we celebrate the feast of Michael and All Angels. We will be holding our Eucharist service in church, if you’re unable to be with us in person, I hope you join us with this service of the Word. May Christ’s love sustain you always. With much love and prayers,
Rev Di and family xx
Let us pray;
Father in heaven, by his blood your Christ has ransomed us to you and has made us a kingdom and priests to you, our God. As the angels minister to you in heaven, strengthen your Church to serve you here on earth. Amen.
Hymn: 'Angel voices ever singing'
Our prayers of Penitence
We have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, to God, the judge of all, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. Let us therefore confess our failings to the Lord:
When our deeds do not match our words:
Lord, have mercy.
When we let evil go unchallenged, and are afraid to speak the truth:
Christ, have mercy.
When we are preoccupied with ourselves, and give little attention to others:
Lord, have mercy.
May our almighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon and forgiveness of all our failings, time for amendment of our lives and the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let us pray our Collect for the feast of Michael and All Angels
Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted the ministries of angels and mortals in a wonderful order: Grant that as your holy angels always serve you in heaven, so, at your command, may they help and defend us on earth;
Through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
Genesis 28. 10-17 Revelation 12. 7-12
Hymn: ‘Father Hear the Prayer we Offer'
Gospel: John (1. 47-end)
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Response: ‘Praise to you, O, Christ’)
Reflection
I begin with a true story us lowly theology students studied whilst at college;
One hundred years ago, Ernest Shackleton and two colleagues reached Stromness, a whaling station on the north coast of South Georgia. They’d been walking for 36 hours, in life-threatening conditions, in an attempt to reach help for the rest of their party: three of their crew were stuck on the south side of the island, with the remainder stranded on Elephant Island. To reach the whaling station, the three men had to cross the island’s mountainous interior with just a rope and an axe, in a journey that few had attempted before or since. By reaching Stromness they managed to save all the men left from the ill-fated transantarctic Expedition. They didn’t talk about it at the time, but weeks later all three men reported an uncanny experience during their trek: a feeling that ‘often there were four, not three’ men on their journey.
The “fourth” that accompanied them had the silent presence of a real person, someone walking with them by their side, as far as the whaling station but no further. Shackleton was apparently deeply affected by the experience, but would say little about it in subsequent years, considering it something ‘which can never be spoken of’.
But encounters such as these are common in extreme survival situations: guardian angels, guides, or even Christ-like figures have often been reported.
We know them now as ‘third man’ experiences, following a line in TS Eliot’s poem, The Wasteland: ‘Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together. But when I look ahead up the white road, there is always another one walking beside you’.
Today we celebrate three prominent angels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael – these three biblically named angels are depicted as the beloved messengers of God. Michael (which means ‘who is like God?’) is perhaps best known for his victory over the dragon, which is told in the Revelation to St John, and often regarded as the protector of Christians from the devil, especially those at the hour of death.
Gabriel (which means ‘the strength of God’) is the one who in St Luke’s Gospel is sent by God to Mary to announce the birth of Christ. Raphael (which means ‘the healing of God’) is the one in the Book of Tobit who restores sight to Tobit’s eyes.
Whilst studying the reality of angels at college, I remember one of our tutors saying: ‘Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly’, while presumably teaching us at the same time, that devils and demons fell from grace because of the weight of their pride, and greed and anger.
The most important God-given task of the guardian angels is to help lead each one of us to the passion of Christ and to his cross, and we know this is spiritually important, because it’s only through embracing the cross that we find our way to heaven.
So, how does a guardian angel do this? Maybe by pricking our conscience so that we are able, when we’re pointed in the right way, to recognise and follow the will of God. Angels encourage us to be thankful for what we’ve got, and encourage us to see small acts of mercy and kindness as reflections of our living God.
They are messengers, signposts, to help us each in our vocation - to become all that God intends us to be in Christ. How often have we said to someone who has helped us; ‘you are an angel!’ We’re so grateful and pleased when someone puts themselves out for us and has really helped. Angels, I believe, do such things in gentle and unobtrusive ways.
All through the Bible, angels are shown to reveal messages from God, and part of the glory of who we are, is that we too are called to share God’s message of love and salvation to those around us.
When we share our faith with others wonderful things can happen. The distance between heaven and earth blurs, and God is revealed to us. ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man’.
By being who we are, and by being faithful to Christ, by holding Christ’s beauty in the world, by seeing everything in terms of our relationship with God, we bring closer that divide between earth and heaven.
Just like Ernest Shackleton and his two colleagues in South Georgia, we’re not alone on our journey. The holy angels help us to see that heaven and earth do meet, that God is not inaccessible, that he came down in Christ and even now is pulling us up out of darkness. We are the church here on earth, and our message of faith is a message that the angels delight in, and rejoice in hearing. Amen.
Hymn; ‘'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind'
Affirmation of our faith
Let us declare our faith in God.
We believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist.
We believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature,
died for us and rose again.
We believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world.
This is the faith of the Church. This is our faith.
We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Intercessions this week are written by Liz Davies
Father in heaven, on this, the Feast of St Michael and all angels,
we remember that Your Son promised to your children the care of the guardian angels who look upon your face. You give your angels charge over those who trust in you to guard them in all their ways.
The angels sing by day and night around your throne: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.’ With Michael, prince of angels, who contends by your side; with Gabriel, your herald, who brings good tidings; with Raphael, the protector, who ministers your healing, and with the whole company of heaven we worship you,
we give you glory, we sing your praise and exalt you for ever.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us.
Dear Lord, as we gather our thoughts in the quietness of this place, remind us that praying is also about being ready to listen. Sometimes You speak in wonders, unmistakable and clear; sometimes You speak in whispers, still and small and scarcely heard; sometimes You speak in silence breaking through our loud and noisy world. May we remember when we struggle to think of what to say in our prayers, that if we are quiet and listen, we are praying.
Everlasting Lord, we come before You with our ‘baggage,’ our worries, our anxiety, and our fears. Some of us are tired, some of us are in pain, some are sad and some are angry; and so, as we place our burdens before You, help us to learn from You and to trust in You, so that in serving You we may find the rest that You have promised.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us.
Lord, we live in a troubled and dangerous world. We pray that the leaders of all nations will base their decisions on the law of justice and moral integrity that You have planted in every human heart. May they always put the needs of their peoples and the care of Your creation first and foremost.
May all nations be willing to live in peace with their neighbours and their borders.
We pray that all organisations that use violence and warfare to undermine national securities may put down their weapons and be willing to talk negotiation and peace. May we all learn to be individuals who care for each other; who share with those less fortunate than ourselves; who offer the hand of friendship to those who are lonely; who help to calm troubled waters at times of dissent and disagreement and who are always willing to put others before ourselves.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Lord, you call us to follow and warn us of the cost of discipleship. We pray for all people who seek to follow Your way in their lives. Let Your Church speak Your Word of truth with confidence and in unity so that those who are searching and listening will be able to see and hear clearly Your message of love and peace.
We pray for your Church world-wide that it may grow as You would wish it to grow by its members showing that living their lives in your name makes for a better, more loving world. We pray for the Church in this diocese and here at St Clement, for our much-loved Reverend Di and Father David who do so much for us. May we show our true faith by living our lives as you would have us do.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us.
Lord, we bring before You all those known to us in need of special help at this time. We ask your blessing on all who are homeless, afraid, cold and hungry; those who see no end to their troubles; those for whom ‘friendship’ is but a distant dream; all those who are suffering in body, mind or spirit. May they know that You are with them always and if they put their trust in you, they will be given the strength to face whatever may be ahead.
We especially bring before You: Ken and Reverend Di, Sabie, May, Susan, Jan, Daphne and David, Dot, Pam and David, Mary, Michael and Patricia, Alison and Rob, Jeremy, Anita and Stephen, Callum and Elaine, Barbara, Roger and Helen, Lorrie, Jeanette and David, Kate, Katharine, Margaret, Sue and Martin, all those known to us and those who have no one to pray for them.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Merciful Lord, we pray for all those whose earthly journey has come to an end. Welcome them into Your Heavenly Kingdom and grant them eternal peace. Comfort and sustain all those grieving for loved ones and may they know that they are never alone, we especially remember Jan and her family this week.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Faithful Lord, be alongside us in the week ahead. May we always be willing to offer a helping hand to anyone in need, a kind word or smile to those we meet. Help us to be good-tempered and considerate, to be hard-working and diligent in all that we do; to never speak hastily and to always act kindly to those we love and especially to those we find it difficult to like.
Merciful Father: accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
Gathering our prayers and praises into one, let us pray with confidence as Jesus taught us;
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn; 'Ye Holy Angels Bright'
The Peace
Hear again the song of the angels:
‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.’
May the peace of God be always with us. Amen.
Blessing
May God keep us in the fellowship of his saints;
Christ protect us by the ministry of the angels;
The Spirit make us holy in God’s service;
And may the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among us, those whom we love,
and remain with us always.
Amen.