THERE are lots of people clicking away with knitting needles in the Malvern churches to produce small, knitted angels that will be given out in the town the week before Christmas. They are a free gift that people can take and hang on their Christmas trees with an attached message of peace and love this Christmas.

Angels have always been part of the nativity story and children will be excitedly dressing up with wings and tinsel to take part in various nativity plays in community halls, churches and schools. They seem to understand that to be an angel is something special, exciting and out of the ordinary. It is not every day that you get to wear wings or indeed meet an angel!

But how seriously do we take angels? A recent survey by the Bible Society found that 31 per cent of people in Britain believe in angels. Some people can recall an experience when they have felt they have been in the presence of an angel, have received a message from an angel, or someone has been an angel to them. Biblically, angels are divine messengers of God, however we understand them today. They make appearances in the nativity story bringing messages to Mary, her cousin’s family, to her fiancée Joseph and to shepherds in the fields. Without angels, events could have taken a very different path.

Often the opening words of an angel are: “Do not be afraid.”

Angels come unexpectedly and bring a message from God that asks people to overcome their fear, listen and respond. Are there times when we need to listen to the words: ‘Do not be afraid’ and respond to God’s message of love for us?

Rev ALISON RICHARDS

Methodist Minister for Lansdowne Crescent, Somers Park Avenue and Upper Welland Methodist Churches, Malvern