In my experience, talk of the heavenly realm of angels is something I hear more often outside of church than inside. I wonder why that is? Do the common folk have a greater understanding and appreciation of angels than do experts like me? Tonight I have the opportunity to put that right. We are celebrating the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. 

This is where I ask if you can name them all. There is St. Gabriel, who brought the news to Mary that she would conceive and bear the Son of God. You might know St. Raphael, who plays an important role in the book of Tobit. 

And then there is St. Michael, who is usually depicted in art as a great soldier piercing a dragon with his spear. The dragon is the symbol of Satan, who is another angel - the fallen one, called Lucifer. This reminds us that angels, as well as being messengers of good news, are also involved in the battle between good and evil.

I learned about angels in a church in Brighton, England, dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. It was my spiritual home for over 20 years. I learned a great deal besides. I learned about the sacraments and the beauty of worship. Above all I learned about Jesus Christ, through scripture and sermon, prayer and praise. I am exceedingly grateful for the formative years I spent there.

I want to make gratitude the theme of my sermon this evening. That seems a fitting sentiment for a life lived but not ended. Someone said to me yesterday that I am at an age where there is more to see in the rear view mirror than through the front windscreen. That’s true up to a point, although the last twenty years of my life seem to have contained twice as much as the first forty years. 

I am grateful for all of it - including the bad bits. Can one be grateful for one’s mistakes, missteps, errors and failures? The answer is yes, although one wishes that one could learn life’s lessons without them. But the fact is, none of us is perfect; imperfection is built into our very being, and it is this imperfection which prevents us - thank God - from becoming God ourselves.

The real God often brings us down to raise us up - or, more accurately, we bring ourselves down only to find God reaching down to pull us up from the ditch. That image, by the way, was one of the key revelations of Julian Of Norwich. God reaches down to us, in our failure and our misery, and tells us to get up again, a little bruised and a little wiser. The fact is, God never abandons us. He is like a loving parent who rescues his child from danger. However bad or regrettable or humiliating our situation, God is never far away. 

When I do sink down to the depths - which has become less often the older I grow -  I need only to think of Jesus on the cross and remember that the love and forgiveness of God in Jesus is overwhelming and overcomes all barriers. Not only does God save us, he fights for us against the powers of evil which sometimes oppress us.

Even the darkness is not darkness when you are with me Lord. The older I grow, the less I am afraid. I place my whole trust in God. While there is much to learn about the meaning of the gospels and who God is, my life rests on a simple acceptance of God’s love and providence for me. Personally, I have known times of both poverty and wealth, work and idleness, crisis and peace. Through it all, the love of God has been constant. Sometimes it was hard for me to believe it - hard to accept that I mattered to him at all - but looking back it is as clear as day.

Now here is a secret I want to share with you. It is one of the things I am especially grateful for. Once I was fully involved in that other realm - the hidden one - where the angels dwell, and where the love of God was so powerful that I wanted nothing else. When you are loved by God in that way, it changes you forever. In that experience, God took my faith and replaced it with absolute certainty. It was a great blessing and led me to ordained ministry. When someone has been that generous, all you want to do is to be generous in return. Love is the power that creates and recreates.

It was surprising then that, having pledged myself completely to God, he should arrange for me to meet Ruth. It was a highly impractical romance. We lived an ocean apart and if either of us were sensible we would have called the whole thing off. But this is where I learnt how faith and love are linked. To cut a long story short, I made that leap across the pond and we were married nearly ten years ago. Love makes you do crazy things. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me, in fact. I am grateful to Ruth and grateful for our marriage.

By the way, in that hidden realm I discovered that the devil is very interested in us and in disrupting our plans and corrupting our souls. I’ll never forget the parting sermon from the Rector at St. Michael and All Angels nearly thirty years ago, warning us to be on our guard against the wiles of the devil. In a faith-filled church, as ours was, the devil will find ways to make mischief. 

I could say more - a great deal more - about all of that. But today I want to focus on the blessings of life. There is a long list of things I want to be grateful for - we might be here until midnight. For my family, both here and in the UK and in New Zealand. For the privilege of serving in God’s church and for the many people I have had the honor and joy to meet. To be consistent, I must also be grateful for the angry people I have met - I’m sure they would have wanted anyone else in their church but me. As an interim rector going into wounded churches, you meet quite a few of them. 

Since going official with my retirement plans, I have been asking people for advice on how to do it. Someone said it was like being 19 again, but with money. Another said that I will spend more on food and drink. More than one person said to take a breath, “don’t sweat it” and to enjoy the time. I am hoping to take that breath, and listen to what God has to say. I realize that priests retiring are like Frank Sinatra - they do it more than once. I could sit in my rocking chair with pipe and slippers, but I think I would soon get bored. I will remain a servant of God until I die. My life stopped being my own a while ago.

As for St Michael and All Angels, the word “retirement” is not in their dictionary. The work of fighting for the good of the world and resisting the devil is ongoing. The presence of angels should give us comfort and reassurance. We are not to be afraid, since we are surrounded by a great cloud of angels and witnesses testifying to the life-giving, life-saving love of God. 

I want to conclude my sermon by reciting the last verse of our gradual hymn, “Ye holy angels bright.” They were written by the seventeenth century cleric, Richard Baxter. To the advice about retirement that I have already received, I will add these words.

My soul, bear thou thy part,
triumph in God above,
and with a well-tuned heart
sing thou the songs of love;
let all thy days
till life shall end,
whate'er he send,
be filled with praise.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Father David Beresford