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A reflection and prayer to start the day with the Revd Dr Craig Gardiner, a tutor at Cardiff Baptist College.

Good morning. This week we brought down the last box of Christmas decorations from the loft, to finish our festive decorating. Tucked in behind it was a set of sparkly angel wings held together with elastic. I remember when our children were young enough to wear them in the school nativity, and light enough for me to lift them in the air pretending they could fly.

Those days are gone now, but angels seem to have stayed around. At Christmas time there are angel lights and decorations for the tree. There are angels in the nativity, saying ‘Don’t be afraid’ to Mary and Joseph and the priest called Zechariah, and ‘sing, choirs of angels’, they’re with the shepherds on the hill as well.

We might imagine them to be quite cutesy, child friendly beings with an eternally welcoming smile, or if we take the scriptures more literally, they might be seen as more austere and frightening in appearance. Would we know one if we saw them?

Perhaps we would, and maybe we would even be afraid, but I’ve always been more fascinated with that part of the Bible that talks about ‘entertaining angels unawares’, meeting them without ever recognising who they are. These angels are probably not heavenly beings at all, but down-to-earth human strangers who come seeking our help. They are easy to miss, to ignore or even to blame for all our problems, but these angels bring with them a rare opportunity for us to welcome someone for the first time, a time to share with them something of what we have and who we are. These are precious moments, perhaps even more so because they bring the chance for us to say to another person: ‘Do not be afraid - I’m here’.

God of the angels,
Generous to all,
Help us to hospitable and welcome and celebrate strangers
with a meal or a room, or whatever is needed,
So that all who are anxious today
May no longer be afraid.
Amen