Sunday 5 March 2017

Pause In Lent #1 - Entertaining Angels

This is the first Sunday of Lent, and my first PiL of the year [find out about these here]

I was thinking about angels this week - I brought back from Albania a little angel made in crochet by one of the ladies. The angel was made using three of the leftover bunting-triangles the lady at the workshop had been making in the red/white/blue of the Philippines flag [with embroidered gold suns]
She [the angel, not the lady] has an intriguing expression. 
On the plane coming back, my friend and I were discussing this - she suggested it might be an idea to unpick and re-embroider the eyebrows so the angel looks...happier.
She does look rather stern, doesn't she? But maybe this Albanian Angel is upset about the state of the world, or the poverty and problems still prevalent in Albania?

She is looking down anxiously, or maybe angrily...
But then I put her on the cupboard and bent down to take a photo from a different angle.
Look! from below, she is almost smiling, and looking hopeful. 
This made me think of two things - firstly, that we are too quick to judge someone by their expression - and maybe  if we saw things from a different perspective we would understand them better.
Perhaps the OAP at the bus stop is looking grumpy because her feet hurt. Maybe that young Mum is not yawning with boredom, but with unmitigated tiredness because the baby keeps her awake every night. Perhaps that teenager's aggressive attitude is a defence mechanism because he is lacking in confidence.
I conclude that my angel is concerned- but hopeful!
The second thing about angels came from Bob's sermon last Sunday. We are studying Abraham, and we got to Genesis 18 where the patriarch shows hospitality to three visitors. Bob pointed us to Hebrews 13;2 - Don’t forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!   Bob reminded us again of Nicholas Winton and the WW2 refugees- and Lord Dubs' scheme which was intended to provide hope and homes for unaccompanied child refugees now.  Here's what we can do to help...



1 comment:

  1. I love your take on this! I wish I could hear the words below!

    ReplyDelete

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