Yesterday was Michaelmas, or the Feast of Holy Michael and All Angels, in the church calendar. As an active celebration, Michaelmas has declined considerably since a few centuries ago. On this day the church has historically remembered and celebrated the presence of angels and archangels, as God’s agents in creation, and makes a particular point of rejoicing over Satan’s expulsion from heaven. 

For some of us, I am sure this day is a window into the weirdness of our faith. It confronts the mechanistic and materialistic presuppositions we have about reality. At the very least, the day is an invitation to remember and consider the Bible’s repeated mention of the invisible yet very real spiritual forces at play in the world and in our lives. There is more going on than meets the eye. It’s also an invitation to celebrate Jesus’ victory over powers and principalities, seen and unseen. Above all, our Good Shepherd reigns and rules. 

This Sunday marks the beginning of our “Thanks Be To God”campaign which will spotlight our church community's very tangible and practical opportunities and needs. Over the coming weeks there will be communication about things related to property, finance, and physical possibilities; all very important. 

Yet the campaign also involves elements at a deeper level. For our community, it is an opportunity to draw near to Jesus, to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, to confront strongholds in our lives and communal life. Together we will take steps of faith and obedience that we trust will bear tangible fruit in the future and will conform our lives to Christ’s in a deeper and richer way in the present. By God’s grace, may this campaign be spiritually significant for us as a community of Jesus followers. 

Would you join me in praying toward this end? Would you join us all in asking the Lord, “Heavenly Father, how are you inviting me to participate?” As we collective pray together as the church and take on this posture of availability before God, we can be confident that by the Holy Spirit we are being built up, visibly and invisibly, as Jesus intends, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s purposes for us. Thanks be to God, indeed! 

From the Book of Common Prayer, a collect for the Feast of Holy Michael and All Angels:

Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

In Christ, 

Peter 

Ps. In addition to kicking off the “Thanks Be To God” Campaign with a focus on thanksgiving and gratitude this Sunday, we’ll also be welcoming a herd of goats to the adjacent and overgrown lots to the west of the property. There will be an opportunity to see and send off the goats to their work following worship! In addition to goats, we are thrilled that this Sunday we'll be joined in worship by Bishop Flavio Adair Torres Soares from Brazil who is here for the Diaspora Conference next week.