Mary & Christ Child, painting on glass, Kay Gibbons.
Nothing is impossible for God,a Poetic Reflection on Christmas by Jenny Dawkins
Heaven springs a leak over ordinary earth.
It starts over Nazareth a droplet of light holds its breath and falls into an ordinary home. At a young woman’s Yes, a secret starburst.
Shadows, shaken, take one step back.
Passers-by miss the glow But in her belly the promise has taken hold.
She grows luminous in this pregnancy Though some days she wishes otherwise the iridescence in her is irrepressible. When she sings the town hears sunrise.
Nine months later, Another angel drops liquidly onto a hillside.
The very grass becomes golden. Shepherds cheeks redden in the face of this midnight dawn.
An announcement defies the dark: Come and meet Light. Come and see Hope. Come and know Love. You need not be afraid.
And suddenly, heaven gushes light and song and joy over this ordinary earth.
It is unstoppable.
Shepherds run and splash through puddles shouting, “Come and See!”
Though the world is dark a new day has been born, and what was once, will become forever. and what was glimpsed will one day be seen in full.
Every ordinary place alive with this bright reality. every hillside drenched in glory.
For with God, nothing will be impossible.
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Jenny Dawkins (Revd). Vicar of Christ Church, Gipsy Hill, London. Poem reproduced by permission. for more from Jenny see her Instagram page ~ gipsyhilljen.
St. Michael ~ detail~ Statue carved by Josefina de Vasconcellos ~ first exhibited in Manchester Cathedral in the winter of 1991 ~ now it is on permanent display in Cartmel Priory, in the Lake District. photo by Mr. G.
Therefore with Angels and Archangels …
At almost every Eucharist Christians pray: “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name.” The picture is of our being part of a great company, invisible but near, who worship Almighty God without ceasing. At this point in the Eucharist we are at what the Celts call a ‘thin place’ when the barrier between earth and heaven is opened to those who have faith to see it. That can be very helpful when we are missing departed loved ones but we are also reminded that our worship is caught up in a greater praise. We, as it were, plug in to a current of worship which is forever flowing and for ever being proclaimed. But for many, angels belong to myth and one wonders what is going through many Christian minds when they reach that point in the Eucharist. Despite the fact that Holy Scripture is crammed with references to angels and they play a significant part in the Christmas and Easter stories, it is easy to dismiss them. It is also rather arrogant because it assumes that God who is the great creator of everything on earth, is incapable of creating any other order of being than we can actually see. Yet we continue to explore space for other forms of life—assuming, naturally, that what we will find will be ‘human’ life! As we seem to be making quite a mess of our own planet it might be better if we hoped any life form found might not be human! The writer of Psalm 8 praises creation and puts humanity in its place: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have ordained, What are mortals that you should be mindful of them; mere human beings, that you should seek them out? You have made them little lower than the angels and crown them with glory and honour.
Though human beings have dominion (or stewardship) of creation on earth we are ‘lower than’ angels. They have a special place in God’s scheme of things—as Defenders in the cosmic battle between good and evil; as messengers of God’s word to humanity as in the Annunciation; as healers and as guardians. Jesus himself spoke of angels in this way saying that God’s little ones have their Guardian angels and he, himself, knew of their ministrations at the end of his wilderness experience. If Jesus believes in angels, who are we to dispute their existence and their part in God’s plan?
Icon, St Colmba takes leave of his horse. copyright, Monastery of St. Macarius the Great
One of the stories about Columba is that he had a much loved horse. On the day that St. Columba was going to die, his horse approached him and knew he was about to lose his dear friend and so the horse begins to weep and they share some time of grief together. This story was told by Adamnan, 9th Abbot of Iona, in his Life of St. Columba
Taking Leave.
It had been hard to say goodbye to Erin. With heavy heart Columba followed the voice of God calling him through the words of Finnian the wise. It was long ago now when the seas, rushing to and fro, took him and companions to a place of new beginnings. It was a penance. As he crossed the dark waters he inhabited a dark place of his soul and wept. Beloved Erin, out of view but still deep settled in his heart.
That had been long ago now. On this blessed isle, watched over by angels, the Good News of Christ had been taken to foreign parts. Gospel seed scattered and rooted in heart after heart, blossoming in soul upon soul. Holy men of Iona, led by the sinner saint, opened souls to become guest-houses of the Spirit,; opened eyes to see visions of eternity; opened lives to pilgrimage with Christ on a joyful pathway of faith, building cairns of joy and forgiveness. Waymarks by which to experience the generous, freely-given love of God.
Columba gathered now at the final waymark. It was over now for him, though his saintly tale would go on inspiring many. But now, on the hill where they dwelt, the angels waited. Soon it would be time.
And then she came, as he rested by the millstone. A flurry of white, like the milk she often carried from cowshed to refectory table. She knelt in quiet homage, laying her head on his bosom. This pack horse had, by Columba’s love discovered a greater love God had for all creatures.
Sighing deeply, she knew that her master would soon leave. Wailing, she sang her funeral dirge, whilst the dear brother attending sought to chase her away. Columba stayed his hand. “Let her be. She is fond of me. Let her grieve and pour out her great need. The Creator has revealed to her what you have yet to perceive.” Raising frail hand, he blessed her. Sadly, but comforted, she left him, seeing perhaps,in the corner of her tearful eyes, myriad angels waiting to take him, no longer to Erin but with great joy, to eternity.
This photo by my friend Helen Smith is of the centrepiece for a Festival of Angels at St. Michael’s Church, Grimsargh, on the outskirts of Preston. The Angel, which appeared throughout the Church, was designed by the Art Teacher at Grimsargh School, and made by the children.
A thing or two about Angels
Many years ago, I was told a story about the saintly Bishop King of Lincoln. He never forgot that Ordination laid upon him the ministry of pastoral care. Though, as a bishop he led a busy life, he would love to visit people. One such person, whom he visited every week was an old lady who lived in a remote part of a wood. He also visited prisoners in the local gaol and one day, he was talking to one of them who confessed that he once lay in wait in the woodland with the intention of robbing the bishop. “You normally travelled alone” said the man, “but on this occasion you had someone with you.” The bishop was perplexed for he had always gone alone but then he beamed, “Ah! that would be my guardian angel.”
And he meant it!
The role of angels as ‘guardians’ of human beings is rooted in Scripture. In Matthew 18: 10 Jesus speaks of the angels watching over God’s ‘little ones’. In Psalm 91 we are told “He will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.” and in the beautiful service of Compline (the late night prayer service of the Church) is the invocation:
The angels of God guard us through the night, and quieten the powers of darkness.’
The role of angels taking care of us may seem fanciful to many but I point sceptics to that moment when Jesus had been tempted by the devil. After a gruelling forty day fast, our Lord was weakened and it took all his strength to resist the devil. When the devil left him, St. Matthew tells us: suddenly angels came and waited on him. They were there all along!
Why that doesn’t surprise me is that I have experienced the ministry of angels often in my life. For example, over the past two or so years I have spent a lot of time in hospital. On one occasion I was feeling scared and apprehensive about some treatment I was about to have. I was in a room on my own and as I tried to pray, I sensed an overwhelming presence of someone else there with me in a corner of the room. I just knew that an angelic presence was quietly but most definitely watching over me. This was not a product of my imagination. It made all the difference to how I was and how I faced things. I was not alone but more importantly, the angel’s message was that I was being held and loved.
There is a sense that we never really walk alone in this world. God is always watching over us. Sometimes, when we are up against it and we feel that we really cannot carry on much longer, something happens that lifts the burden a little. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is respite from the storm that rages around and within us. We are not on our own any more.
I know people love that story about ‘Footprints’ in the sand where the two sets of prints become one and when the man meets Jesus he castigates him for leaving him. Jesus replies that he never left him. The single prints were when Jesus was carrying him.
We don’t always appreciate how much God ministers to us and we are prone to believe he is absent during some particularly difficult period of our life. I dare say Jesus felt that sometimes —as we know from his cry on the Cross—my God, why have you forsaken me! But Jesus knew the truth. The humanity of Jesus cried out but the divine heart knew that His Father was always near him. I know that God never really abandons me though I am often conscious that I have often abandoned him!
So why do I need a Guardian Angel? I suppose the easy answer might be that I find it a comfort. The real answer is because God chooses this as a way to care for me (and you) and that’s what the Bible tells me.
I just know its true – and my guardian angel agrees with me!
[Mr. G]
If you want to know what a Guardian Angel might look like, one of the children at Grimsargh School has helpfully provided you with a clue. (Photo by Helen )
Psalm 103: 21-22
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word. Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Mr G's Ponderings 