Mtr Kelli Joyce

Dear Friends in Christ,

Happy Feast of St. Michael and All Angels!

I'll admit: I think angels are extremely cool. They're one of those things you know you'll never really understand, but you're compelled by anyway. They appear throughout scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, as messengers and agents of the Most High God. They speak to humans on God's behalf, and have power beyond what we can imagine. According to the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, human beings are, as a group, "a little lower than the angels." And still, Jesus chose to become human. The creator of the angels chose to become a lower than the angels.

Now that Jesus has been raised, and has been exalted to sit at his Father's right hand, he continues to command his angels concerning us. We may not see them, but they exist, and they act at God's command, in service of God's will - God's will for the good of humanity and of all creation. "Are not all angels spirits in the divine service," the author of Hebrews says, "sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?"

Sometimes we may be reluctant to say much about about angels, because they can't be proven by empirical means. But I assure you: angels are real. The witness of scripture and the witness of countless generations of our forebears in the faith attest to them. This is why, in our service of Compline (night prayer), we are repeatedly invited to pray to God for the protection of the angels. "Visit this place, O Lord, and drive far from it all snares of the enemy; let your holy angels dwell with us to preserve us in peace; and let your blessing be upon us always; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen," says one prayer. Another - perhaps my favorite prayer in the whole prayerbook - goes like this: "Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen."

May God's holy and mighty angels guard and keep you this day, and may you be drawn to serve and worship God with their level of zeal!

In peace,
Mtr Kelli