Dear Friends,

Last Sunday we had a contemplation and discussion about the Archangel Michael and his task in the past and also today. An important question that arose was about the image of Michael in battle, fighting with a sharp sword, and the relevance of such a violent image today. In art, many depictions of Michael have him fully dressed in battle attire with weapons and armor. The songs  that I remember singing for Michaelmas as a child with vigor and volume give me pause today. “Marching into battle with sword and with shield…” If we apply that attitude to an enemy outside of us, be it people who we judge as doing bad things or the earthly instruments that are corrupting humanity, we are not tuned to the true Michaelic spirit. 

In the prayer we hear at the beginning and end of our Sunday service during this festival season, Michael is described as freeing the human heart from the forces that enslave our true selves to fallen materialism. If we just focus our attention on that little battlefield, one that we know so well, we place the images of Michael as warrior into the right light. When elements such as jealousy, mistrust, anger or fear occupy the territory of our heart it is completely justified to forcefully fight for a free space inside of us.

There is another place in that same prayer (epistle) with an unusual description of the way in which Michael appears before us today: he stands “in these world-days.” This mysterious turn of phrase, and really the mood of the whole epistle, elevates our inner activity onto a larger—higher—stage. the little personal battlefield takes on a cosmic dimension. Even though my individual battle with the forces of darkness might feel quite a private affair, Michael illuminates the significance of this struggle. Maybe that is the real spiritual front of our time, more real and more important than the stories and narratives we are flooded with on a daily basis. And most encouraging: it is a front where we can engage!

Oliver Steinrueck