e-piphanies

In Celebration of Michaelmas

Today, September 29, is Michaelmas, The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Since this year the observance falls on a Sunday, the feast is transferred to Monday for public worship. I consider Michael to be my guardian angel, although I've been told that isn't possible. However, if you've ever been visited by an archangel, you know. Here's an icon of the Archangel Michael my wife Gay Pogue wrote for me.

I’ve been intrigued by angels for many years. On numerous occasions, I’ve wondered if what I’ve experienced was because of the presence and ministration of an angel. I
once asked my friend Rabbi Jimmy Kessler of Galveston to talk to me about the view of angels in Judaism. He told me many interesting things but the one that stays with me involves the role of angels in the providence of God. He said, “The rabbis said that God has assigned an angel to every living thing, even each blade of grass. The angel’s job is to stand beside every blade of grass and say, ‘Grow! Grow! Grow!’”

In celebration of Michaelmas, I wanted to share my appreciation of and curiosity about angels, so today I’m posting an article and some hymns for your consideration. I hope you’ll benefit from them and become acquainted with the angels in your life.

 

Article by James Kiefer

Hymn – “Ye Holy Angels Bright”

Click HERE for Text.

Hymn – “Christ, the Fair Glory”

Click HERE for Text.

Hymn – “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones”

Click HERE for Text.

For he shall give his angels charge over you,
   to keep you in all your ways.
They shall bear you in their hands,
   lest you dash your foot against a stone.    - Psalm 91:11-12

Blessings,

 

 

 

 

The Very Reverend Ron Pogue

What are we that God is mindful of us?

The Rev. G. Runge Nease was my Pastor during my spiritually formative teen years. He often recited verses from Psalm 8 as the Opening Sentence for worship, reminding us that God is always mindful of us and that we are created a little lower than the Holy Angels. I can hear his voice even now six decades later proclaiming, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy Name in all the earth..."

 

We may - and often do - forget God, but God never forgets us, is always mindful of us, reaches out to us in Love Divine. I often pray this collect on Thursdays and imagine I'm walking with those disciples along the Road to Emmaus on that first Easter Day. The Risen Christ was their companion on that journey but they didn't recognize him.

 

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our
being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by
your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our
life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are
ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

 

Pastor Nease planted the seed of understanding in me that continues to reassure me every step along the way and every hour of every day, God is mindful of me, even when I am not mindful of God. My ultimate worth to my Creator is like that of the Angels.

 

Here's the Psalm 8 sung in magnificent Anglican chant.

Psalm 8

 

Domine, Dominus noster

 

1. O LORD our Governor, how excellent is thy Name in all the world: thou that hast set thy glory above the heavens!

2. Out of the mouth of very babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies: that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3. For I will consider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained.

4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him: and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5. Thou madest him lower than the angels: to crown him with glory and worship.

6. Thou makest him to have dominion of the works of thy hands: and thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet;

7. All sheep and oxen: yea, and the beasts of the field;

8. The fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea: and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the seas.

9. O Lord our Governor: how excellent is thy Name in all the world.

 

Blessings,

 

Ron+