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The Forward Day by Day Meditation for September 30, 2013

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MONDAY, September 30 Saint Michael and All Angels (tr)

Genesis 28:10-17. And [Jacob] dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

In her novel A Wind in the Door, Madeleine L’Engle introduces a “cherubim” (described as plural because “I am practically plural. The little boy thought I was a drive of dragons, didn't he?”), a strange being with a multitude of wings and eyes. This cherubim looks nothing like an oil painting or a Christmas tree-topper or a Valentine’s Day card. This creature is fantastical, improbable, and at first almost frightening—but also ultimately wise, protective, and utterly self-sacrificing.

L’Engle’s angels are strange and wild, inhabiting the far borders of imagination. When I read about biblical angels and messengers of God, I can’t help but think that her angels seem truer to the biblical experience than the domesticated cultural images. Angels, so often appearing in dreams and visions, excite my imagination, and this imagination draws me closer to inhabiting the mystery of God. It is with joy, then, that I can join my voice “with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven” on this feast day and always.

PRAY for the Dioceses of Spokane (Province VIII) and Springfield (Province V, The Episcopal Church)

Today the Church remembers Saint Michael and All Angels.

Ps 103 or 103:19-22; Revelation 12:7-12; John 1:47-51