Benedict Cumberbatch

You know that saying ‘She’s an angel’? Well, I’d like to tell you about an occasion when, for me, it was literally true. Ten years ago this month, we lived through the most severe riots the country had seen in a generation, starting in London – spreading to Birmingham, Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool and far beyond. I was on holiday. Out of the country when my phone rang. I could see the number. I knew it was important.

The police had received a ‘tip-off’ that a brand-new school building, run by the charity I lead, would be burned down, that night, by a group of rioters who had done exactly the same toanother big local building, 24 hours before. I asked what I could do. “Nothing”, came the reply. Police leave had been cancelled, but widespread rioting meant that officers could only respond to ‘live’ situations. “So I’m ringing to advise you to ensure that your school is locked down. If it is attacked, the emergence services will attend. But, we just don’t have the capacity to guard every public building.”

The call over, what could I do? I prayed, then made a call to Kat, a youth worker who had lived and worked in the local community for years. She answered! I got straight to the point. I didn’t need to explain the devastating impact that the destruction of the building would have, not only for our students, but for the whole community. Kat asked me what she should do. “I haven’t a clue”, I said. “But, I know that you’ll think of something.”

That night our school didn’t burn. Why? Well, Kat and her team – mostly volunteers – decided to bake cakes, countless cakes, and then to spend the whole night, sitting outside the building, chatting with the young people on the streets – many of whom they’d known for years – and providing food. That’s what made the difference – cakes, relationship and love.

My point is this. From childhood stories, we tend to imagine angels as heavenly beings, bright and glowing, dressed in white robes, with giant wings, carrying harps. But, in the Bible, the term simply refers to a ‘bringer or agent of good news’. That’s why I can reliably inform you, on that memorable night back in 2011, Kat was – literally – an angel, a beautiful agent of peace!