2nd 3rd or 4th
Michaelmas
Revelation 12: 1-17
And a momentous image was
unveiled in the world of spirit: a woman, clothed with the radiant power of the
sun, the moon under her feet, her head adorned with the crown of the twelve
stars of heaven. And she is with child and cries out in the labor and pain of
giving birth.
And at the same time a second image was revealed in
the heavens: a great fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its
head it has seven crowns and its tail is sweeping a third of all the stars in
heaven and dashing them onto the earth. And the dragon is standing before the
woman about to give birth, so that when she bears the child he can eat it up.
And she bore a child, a son ”who would shepherd all nations with a rod of iron.”
And the woman’s child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman
fled into the wilderness where she has a place that God keeps ready there, so
that they can take care of her for days numbering one thousand two hundred
sixty.
And a war flared up in the spirit world. Michael
and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought in the midst of
his own angels, but he was not strong enough, and there was no longer
any place for them in heaven. Down came the dragon, the giant, the serpent, the
evil one called both Satan and the devil, deceiver of all the world. Onto the
earth he came hurtling down, and all his angels with him.
And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying:
Now can begin the working which proceeds from our God—
The power to heal the world,
The power to transform all being,
The power to draw everything into godly being.
Arisen is the spirit leadership of his Christ.
Overthrown is the accuser of our brothers,
He who accused them night and day before the countenance of God.
They have overcome him through the blood and the sacrificial power of
the Lamb
And by the divine Word to which they bore witness.
They did not love their own lives too dearly, and they did not fear
death.
Therefore, rejoice you heavens
And all who lodge therein!
But woe to the earth and the sea:
For the Adversary has come down to you,
And he seethes with measureless fury,
For he knows that his time is short.
And when the dragon recognized that he had been
cast onto the earth, he began to persecute the woman who had borne the son.
Then the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly
into the desert to her appointed place, where she is to be nourished for a
cycle of time, for cycles of time, and for half a cycle of time, far from the
face of the serpent.
And the serpent opened his mouth and spewed out a
river of water after the
woman so she would be swept off her feet by the
river. But then the earth came to the woman’s assistance; it opened its mouth
and swallowed the river which the dragon spewed from his mouth. And the dragon
burned with fury against the woman. He stormed away to make war on the rest of
the woman’s seed, people who keep to the divine world aims and who are united
with the destiny and witnessing of Jesus. As I saw this I was standing on the
sandy shore of the sea.
3rd Michaelmas
Revelation 12: 1- 17
In recent decades interesting work is being done in clearing
toxic waste. There are discoveries of bacteria that eat oil, for example; or
sunflowers that absorb radiation from the soil.
In today’s reading, we hear that the dragon has been thrown
out of the spiritual world and onto the earth. Some solution! –we on earth may
think; sending us your spiritual toxic waste!
Yet the angels sing of great positive possibilities within
this situation. They sing:
Now can being the working that
proceeds from our God—
the power to heal;
the power to transform all being,
the power to draw everything into
divine being. Rev 12: 10
The story of the heavenly woman and the dragon itself shows
us that great transformative forces, forces for change and healing, also exist
here on earth.
The woman is saved on the one hand by the force of the great
eagle of creative thinking, implanted in each one of us. This is the kind of
thinking that has helped us deal with earthly toxic waste. This creative
thinking also has the power to protect and nourish our souls.
Another is the living earth herself, she who absorbs and
transforms all that pours into her. Her strength in us is resilience; she protects
us from being overwhelmed.
And yet another are the heavenly hosts themselves, led by
the archangel Michael, who will join us in transforming the destructive power
of the adversary on earth. His name means, Who is like God? The answer is, we are to be. But, in respect
for our freedom, he waits for us to ask him to help us.
So in the words of the poet, we can say to ourselves:
My heart be brave, and do not
falter so,
Nor utter more that deep,
despairing wail….
Rise up, and casting off thy
hind’ring shrouds,
Cling thou to this, and ever inspiring
hope:
Tho’ thick the battle and tho’ fierce the fight,
There is a power making for the right.[1]
