The Strictly Finalists

 From Sheridan Voysey, Writer and broadcaster:

I was in London recently for a meeting. It was a cold night, pouring with rain, and I was late. I paced through Leicester Square, turned a corner… then stopped still. There they were: Angels—a dozen of them hovering above Regent Street, their giant shimmering wings stretching across the traffic. Made of thousands of pulsing lights, it’s the most jaw-dropping Christmas display I’ve seen. Hundreds of us stood there getting drenched, gazing up, whispering Wow.

To me, the power of that Christmas display isn’t just the angel’s beauty, but the sense of awe they evoke. And awe is central to the Christmas story. When the angel tells Mary she’s going to miraculously conceive, and then appears to the shepherds announcing “good news to all people”, each reacts with wonder and awe.

According to polls, one-in-three of us believe angels exist. I can’t say I’ve met one myself, but some friends might have.

One friend, with muscular dystrophy, found herself on the Tube, facing a large flight of stairs without a lift or escalator. On the verge of tears, a man with “the most amazing face” picked up her bag, took her arm, and helped her up the stairs. When she turned to thank him, he was gone.

Another friend was late for a meeting. Already stressed from a relationship breakdown, he started battling London’s traffic only to get a flat tyre. As he stood helplessly in the rain, a man stepped out of the crowd, opened the boot, jacked up the car, and changed the wheel. When my friend turned to thank him, he was gone.

They might’ve just been kind strangers. Or maybe…? You may think I’m crazy suggesting it—and that the only place you’ll see a flying angel is in a Strictly routine—but the awe those friends felt in each case leads me to wonder if angels might hover in more places than we realise. And if that’s true then who knows perhaps the shepherds outside Bethlehem weren’t so crazy after all.

Chris, this is our last Pause for Thought together. May celestial wings waft yuletide cheer upon you!

And if you see a guy on Regent Street gazing up, getting drenched, it’s probably me. But if he’s wearing a suit and starts changing flat tyres… get a selfie while you can.