Do any of you know who Clarence Odbody was? How many of you have seen It’s a Wonderful Life? Clarence Odbody is by far the oldest character in the film, having been born in 1654. He had died long before anyone else in the film had been born and now is a Guardian Angel Second Class who hasn’t yet earned his wings. Joseph, supposedly St. Joseph, has sent Clarence to assist George Bailey, who is about to commit suicide over the loss of $8000 which his uncle Billy had misplaced, and which was necessary in order for him to keep his business going, a Savings and Loan. Joseph tells Clarence that if he can save George and convince him that in fact his life has truly made a difference he may earn his wings after over 200 years of trying.
As George is about to jump off a bridge, Clarence beats him to it, and George jumps in not to commit suicide but to save Clarence. To make a long story short, Clarence shows George what his community would have been like had he not been born, and through that convinces George that he has had a profound effect on his community. George ends up being very grateful for his life, and at one point, once he gets home, a bell on the Christmas tree rings and you know Clarence has received his wings.
It’s a Wonderful Life is a heartwarming story with a great message. There’s one mistake in it, however, and I hope this doesn’t spoil it for anyone. When people die, they don’t become angels—ever. St. Joseph isn’t an angel. And if a man with the name of Clarence Odbody ever did exist, he never became an Angel Second Class, a Guardian Angel, or finally a full-fledged angel with wings. People are people. When they die, if they go to heaven, they remain people. And angels are angels. They are a part of God’s creation just as we are a part of God’s creation.
After mass one Sunday, years ago, someone said to me, “Fr. Robinson, you spoke of Satan today as if he really exists. Do you really believe there is such a thing as the devil? I have always assumed that the devil was the product of superstitious minds, that he really doesn’t exist; you know, kind of like angels.”
Wow! She said a mouthful! I answered her by saying that yes, not only do I believe there is one called Satan, but also I believe there are countless spiritual beings which we call angels. That dear lady left with even more to think about than before she asked the question! Some people accuse clergy of talking too much about “pie in the sky” kinds of things, and I suppose talking about angels will only reinforce that image; yet to ignore angels is to discount a great deal of Scripture as well as to deprive ourselves of knowledge concerning part of God’s creation.
Today, the 29th of September, is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Most Episcopalians do not even know that this feast day exists, because it rarely falls on a Sunday, and even when it does fall on a Sunday we ordinarily would not observe it because it doesn’t take precedence over a Sunday, as the Prayer Book puts it. We are observing this great feast today just to call attention to it and to the spiritual realities which it celebrates.
The Feast of S. Michael dates back to the 5th century and in the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549 it was expanded to include all angels. In England it is known as Michaelmas, and there and in many European countries Michaelmas is a major holiday. St. Michael the Archangel is a frequent subject in Christian art, and in many ancient churches he figures almost as prominently as the Blessed Virgin Mary in mosaics, painting, and sculptures. In our own church, while we don’t have a depiction of St. Michael, 8 of our stained glass windows have depictions of angels, the reredos over the chapel altar pictures two angels, and the icon over the high altar arch depicts four angels.
At every celebration of the Holy Eucharist angels and archangels are mentioned as part of the heavenly host whose purpose is to worship God. We actually sing or say a hymn at every mass that is a hymn sung by the angels: “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might; heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.” When we say or sing a Gloria at the beginning of the mass, that ancient hymn begins with words sung by a multitude of angels at the birth of Jesus: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.”
Holy Scripture gives us the names of four archangels: Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, and Uriel. Each of the four names ends with the letters E L, el, which in Hebrew is another name for God. Thus, Gabriel means Messenger of God, Raphael means Healing God, Michael means Who is like God, and Uriel means God is my Light.
It was an angel who ordered Abraham, at the last minute, to refrain from sacrificing his only son, Isaac. An angel revealed to Moses the special nature of the burning bush. An angel told of the coming birth of Ishmael and Samson, escorted the Israelites through the wilderness, fed Elijah in the desert, and inflicted disaster on the invaders of Jerusalem.
An angel, Gabriel, foretold the birth of John the Baptist and spoke to the Blessed Virgin Mary of God’s intention to make her the mother of the Lord. An angel warned Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt. Angels ministered to Jesus after his temptations in the wilderness, encouraged him on the Mount of Olives, rolled away the stone from his tomb after his resurrection, and released Peter from prison. And of course, in today’s Epistle, we heard of war arising in heaven, and Michael and his angels defeating Satan and throwing him and his angels down to earth.
The purpose of faith is to draw us closer to God. We are part of God’s creation, we are loved by him, and our purpose is to love God in return. Yet our tendency is to get so caught up in ourselves that we forget about God and we forget about leading our lives in a godly way. Another way to put that is we become earthbound, focusing not on things eternal, but on things temporal.
Our faith helps to draw us back to God and to focus on things heavenly, and by heavenly I don’t mean “pie in the sky.” I mean things that last; things that are eternal. They are really very basic: love of God and love of one’s neighbor, striving to live a virtuous life; doing that all within the context of our busy lives, in which so much happens to draw us away from God.
The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels reminds us in yet another way of that part of life which cannot be seen, yet is very real. It reminds us that there are spiritual beings in creation part of whose purpose is to help us, so that we might draw closer to God. And you know, because they are not seen most of the time by most of us, we don’t give them much thought. So being an angel is a pretty thankless job, I suspect. This feast day is a time to thank God for his angels, and to thank the angels themselves. Clarence Odbody was mistakenly depicted as an angel, but the content of his message to George Bailey certainly was angelic, for it is a wonderful life.
Sermon preached by The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels
29 September 2013