29
September. St.
Michael and All Angels. Book of Common
Prayer.
The
Collect.
O EVERLASTING
God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men in a
wonderful order; Mercifully grant, that as thy holy Angels alway do thee
service in heaven, so by thy appointment they may succour and defend us on
earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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For old
Prayer Book Churchmen at Morning and Evening Prayers, the lections for 29 Sept
are:
Genesis 32: Esau comes
to meet Jacob and Jacob’s wrestles with God
Acts 12.5-18: Peter freed from prison by an Angel of the Lord
Daniel 10.4: Daniel’s
vision of the “Glorious Man” in a vision
Rev.14.14: Glorious angels involved in the earth’s final
harvest
For Holy Communion:
Eph. 4.17-32: (1) The sovereignly elect and regeneration
new man in Christ and (2) “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit”
Matt.9.1-8: Jesus Alone Directly, Immediately and with
any other Mediators (other Jewish priests or high priests) Forgives and Heals a
Paralytic Man
A note on
Michael and All Angels from:
St. Michael and All
Angels. This Festival (kept in the Eastern Church on November
8th) is naturally of ancient observance. For, although the nature of angels is
but little revealed to us, their ministration is clearly described, first, to
the chosen family and to the chosen nation in the Old Testament, and then to
Our Lord Himself, and to the Church and to individual souls for His sake, in
the New. While, therefore, worship of them is an idolatry (Col. ii. 18), which they indignantly
refuse (Rev. xxii. 8, 9), yet thankfulness and
reverence for them as "fellow servants," higher in the one Communion
of Saints, whose service is the pattern of our own, are most natural and
seemly. St. Michael is described in the Old Testament (Dan. x. 13, 21; xii. 1; comp. Jude 9) as the guardian angel of the Jewish
people; in the New Testament he is the great archangel, the type of the warrior
angel, fighting for God and His Church against the power of the devil. Beyond
this, though fancy has created a mass of legend, we cannot be said to know
anything of him. -- September 29th.
This day reminds us of the
dreary emptiness of secular Western assumptions about ontology and reality, to
wit, no providence, no spiritual beings, and a broken god.
Angels: (Zechariah)
Desultory notes and musings:
- Innumerable
- Intelligent
- Moral agents
- Not ordinarily visible but have, variously, appeared to humans (Gen. 18.2-19.22; Jn. 20.36,36)
- Move from one finite, specific place to another finite, specific place
- Probation, like humans. Some angels were “elect and holy” and other fell; they were confirmed in their status\
- Heaven is their dwelling (Mt. 18.10; 22.30; Rev. 5.11)
- Offer constant worship (Ps. 103. 20, 21; 148.2)
- Go out at God’s command to serve God’s people (Heb.1. 14)
- Again, there is “election” of “holy” angels (Mt. 25.31; Mk. 8.38; Lk. 9.26; Acts 10.22; 1 Tim. 5.21; Rev. 14.10)
- Protect believers (Ps. 34.7; 91.11)
- Protect, especially, little believers and children (Mt. 18.10)
- Constantly watch the church (1 Cor. 11.10)
- Special ministry indicated with the death of saints (Lk. 16.22)
- Despite what is given in the Scripture, we never worship them and we never invoke or pray to them; rather, we pray ONLY to and in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
- The Angel of the LORD is often identified as God and yet, like Jn. 1.1ff, distinguished from God. (Gen. 16.7-13; 18.1-33; 22.11-18; 24. 7, 40; 31.11-13; 32.24-30; 48. 15-16; Ex. 3.2-6; 14.19; 23.30-23; 32.34-33.5; Num. 22.22-35; Josh. 5.13-15; Judg. 2.1-5; 6.11-23; 9.13-23
- The Angel of the LORD is God’s special Messenger. He is often viewed as the “Pre-incarnate appearance of God the Son.” That is this scribe’s view amongst many Churchmen in the catholic (=Reformed) faith.
- Angels appear at all major turning points in redemptive history: Creation, Patriarchs, Exodus, Sinai, Exile, Restoration from Exile, and the Birth, Resurrection and Ascension of God the Son. Angels will appear in glory at the Second Coming.
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