0:00:02 > 0:00:07MUSIC: "I believe in Angels" by Abba
0:00:07 > 0:00:12"I believe in angels", sang the pop group, Abba, but do you?
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Do you believe that your guardian angel watches over you
0:00:14 > 0:00:17on your journey through life?
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Or are angels just mythical creatures, the stuff of legends
0:00:21 > 0:00:26and fairy tales and rather beautiful paintings, like this one?
0:00:29 > 0:00:32On today's Songs of Praise,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35who was the mysterious figure that appeared at the scene of a car crash?
0:00:35 > 0:00:40Was this church protected from gangs by guardian angels?
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Plus, some favourite hymns
0:00:42 > 0:00:45and a special performance by Sir Willard White.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55What do you think when you hear the word "angels"?
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Beautiful statues in Victorian cemeteries?
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Angels on top of Christmas trees?
0:01:02 > 0:01:06The lovely Clarence from that classic film, It's A Wonderful Life?
0:01:06 > 0:01:10Or the traditional image of an angel seen in stained glass windows
0:01:10 > 0:01:12in churches everywhere?
0:01:14 > 0:01:18Angels have been inspiring artists over the centuries and in fact,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22there are well over 150 paintings of angels
0:01:22 > 0:01:26here in the National Gallery's collection in London.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28This one dates back to the 15th century
0:01:28 > 0:01:33and it features no less than nine choirs of music-making angels
0:01:33 > 0:01:36on each side of the holy family.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Whilst angels are often shown making music,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45we mortals are also inspired to sing about angels.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50Robbie Williams, The Eurythmics, even the great Aretha Franklin.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53And of course, there are lots of angelic hymns,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56like our first one today, Angel-Voices Ever Singing.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24One in three people in this country believe in angels,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27that's if you believe the statistics.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30So perhaps it's no wonder that there is a growing industry
0:04:30 > 0:04:35in angel jewellery, angel ornaments and angel books,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37about four shelves of them in this book shop alone.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42I must say I have sometimes felt a bit sceptical
0:04:42 > 0:04:45about the whole idea of angels appearing today,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47but when you think about it,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50the Gospels start with the appearance of an angel
0:04:50 > 0:04:55so if we believe the rest of the Gospel, why not believe in angels, too?
0:04:56 > 0:04:58I'm not sure if I believe in angels or not
0:04:58 > 0:05:00but I suppose I'd like to think there was something there.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05I do believe in angels in a sort of metaphorical sense.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10I don't expect the angel Gabriel to come down from the sky and tell me the good news,
0:05:10 > 0:05:16but it could be in the guise of somebody else, somebody you've not met before,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19who gives you good advice, or someone showing you some kindness.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24I don't know, I just know I have something watching over me all the time.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27No, I don't, I'm afraid.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31- Not even an inkling they might exist?- No, not even an inkling.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35My religion tells me that you should honour angels
0:05:35 > 0:05:38just the same as honouring Christ.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41I think there's so much that we don't know about,
0:05:41 > 0:05:46God speaks in many ways and sometimes, yes, perhaps he uses angels.
0:05:46 > 0:05:52So, if angels do exist, what is their purpose?
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Well, according to our next hymn,
0:05:54 > 0:05:58because angels are close enough to see the face of God,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01they can help us to worship Him as we should.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18One frosty evening in December 1981,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Roy Godwin was driving with his wife and children.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25We were travelling on a main road,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27quite a wide main road through a forest.
0:08:28 > 0:08:34Suddenly there were four headlights side-by-side immediately in front of us.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36One car overtaking the other.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41I instinctively pulled the car to the left onto the grass verge
0:08:41 > 0:08:44but the car that was in front of me hit us head on.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51It was very serious indeed and I was quite clear that I was dying.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55Both the police and an ambulance came.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Smoke started to come up from the front of the car
0:08:59 > 0:09:01and they needed to get everybody out.
0:09:01 > 0:09:07They couldn't get me out because I was well and truly trapped in there.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Roy believes that whilst he was waiting to be freed from the damaged vehicle,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14something quite miraculous happened.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16I was alone in the car.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Suddenly through the darkness came a figure.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24He walked very steadily and clearly straight between the trees,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27through the forest, which was impenetrable,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30certainly at that time, with brambles.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33But he walked in a straight line, straight to the side of the car.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35And he climbed in.
0:09:35 > 0:09:40The seat was covered with broken glass but he simply sat there.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44He was wearing a coat with a hood up, I didn't see his face.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47But he put his arm straight across my shoulder.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52It felt as though I'd been plugged into the mains.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55The most incredible force and power
0:09:55 > 0:09:59was just continuously flooding through me.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02After a while, the ambulance men came over
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and said they were taking my family off to hospital
0:10:05 > 0:10:10and at that point, this person who was sitting by me climbed out of the car
0:10:10 > 0:10:14and said with a very strong and clear voice, "Stop".
0:10:14 > 0:10:16He said to the ambulance man,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20"You are to bring his wife over here to him."
0:10:21 > 0:10:24They brought her over to me.
0:10:24 > 0:10:25Then he spoke to me and said,
0:10:25 > 0:10:32"Man, you are to know that your wife and children and you as a family
0:10:32 > 0:10:35"will be together again and whole
0:10:35 > 0:10:39"and you are to disregard anything else that anyone tells you."
0:10:39 > 0:10:43What was the reaction of the doctors when you got to hospital
0:10:43 > 0:10:45and they saw your injuries?
0:10:45 > 0:10:47I was wheeled straight into theatre.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51They asked me to sign a form,
0:10:51 > 0:10:56giving them permission to amputate my left foot and lower leg.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01I couldn't give them that permission because all I could hear was,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05"You are to disregard anything that anyone else says.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09"You and your family will be together and you will be whole."
0:11:09 > 0:11:13So I didn't have my foot amputated and I have it today
0:11:13 > 0:11:16and we are doing very well together.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19One of the things I was concerned was,
0:11:19 > 0:11:24that because of the seriousness of my injuries, I had dreamt it all.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29But some weeks after the accident, the police turned up unannounced.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34They had two questions.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37Given the extent of the damage to the car, they wanted to know
0:11:37 > 0:11:43whether I had any explanation as to how it was that I was still alive.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Then their second question was about the figure in the car with me
0:11:47 > 0:11:52who had carried such authority that they had unhesitatingly obeyed it.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59It seems to me as though God sent an angel to help me.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04I knew I wasn't abandoned, I knew I wasn't on my own.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09I was clear that God was going to carry me through where I was
0:12:09 > 0:12:11and I felt loved.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57This picture is of a Bible story from Genesis
0:14:57 > 0:15:00and it shows an angel appearing to Hagar,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04the servant girl who has run away, having been made pregnant by Abraham.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08The angel tells her that her son, Ishmael,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12will become the founder of a great tribe.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14It's one of countless stories
0:15:14 > 0:15:17of angels appearing to people in the Bible.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20And they seem often to bring a message.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23The word angel comes from the Greek word "angelos".
0:15:23 > 0:15:25It's the word that's used in the New Testament
0:15:25 > 0:15:27to describe angels.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is "malach".
0:15:31 > 0:15:34And both of those words simply mean a messenger.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37So if you were going to describe a human messenger,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40you would use the same word as you would use to describe
0:15:40 > 0:15:42an angelic or heavenly messenger.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47You might not always know that it's an angel.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Because if an angel is simply a messenger,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54it could be somebody sent from God, from the heavenly realms,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56who is very, very clearly an angel,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59like when Mary encounters Gabriel.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05But there are other places in the Bible where it's really not clear.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The interesting example of that would be in Genesis 18
0:16:09 > 0:16:11where Abraham meets four people
0:16:11 > 0:16:14who later turn out to be God and three angels.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16But he isn't sure at the time.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21One of the really striking things about being a Christian
0:16:21 > 0:16:26is that you can be in a church which is stuffed with images of angels.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28You've got them on the stained-glass windows,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30you've got them in pictures all over the church,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33you hear about them when you hear the Bible readings,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35you sing hymns about them.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37And yet, actually, when you talk as a Christian,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39you very, very rarely talk about angels.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43And one of the reasons for that is because of a scepticism
0:16:43 > 0:16:47that has grown up about whether angels really exist.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49Also, they've become associated with
0:16:49 > 0:16:52what you might call a New Age view of the world,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55which people feel a little bit nervous about.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57But actually, angels are a thorough part
0:16:57 > 0:16:58of the Jewish and the Christian tradition.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00They're there all the way through the Bible,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03all the way through subsequent Christian tradition.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06And it seems that we've lost something.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Because angels provide for us within the tradition
0:17:09 > 0:17:11something that's really important.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Something about the mystery of God.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Something about the way in which God
0:17:15 > 0:17:18yearns to communicate with the world.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23I've had a number of experiences in which,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26at really crucial times in my life,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29somebody has done or said something
0:17:29 > 0:17:31which has made a vast amount of difference.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Now, I would argue that that was an angelic experience.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38Because whether they were human beings or not,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41they said something which communicated God's love to me.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47The point is that God works in the world often in ways that we miss.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50And the important thing is to be able to look back and to reflect
0:17:50 > 0:17:55and to notice the places where we discover God's hand in our lives.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28In 1985, Wallace Brown moved to Birmingham
0:20:28 > 0:20:31to become vicar of this church, St Boniface.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35And having left a very comfortable parish in Leicestershire,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39inner-city life came as a bit of a shock to him and his wife Mary.
0:20:39 > 0:20:44Within the first week of us moving to these big council estates,
0:20:44 > 0:20:49there was a murder about 50 yards away from our back door.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53And I thought, "What sort of place have I come to?"
0:20:54 > 0:20:58I found a trail of destruction
0:20:58 > 0:21:03where vandals had gained access and pulled down wallpaper.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07And there'd been excrement smeared around the study walls.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09And I began to think to myself,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12"How can I possibly bring my children here?"
0:21:12 > 0:21:16Wallace and Mary soon discovered that a gang known as the Quinton Mob
0:21:16 > 0:21:20gathered outside the church from 2:00 in the afternoon
0:21:20 > 0:21:24until 2:00 in the morning every single day.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26They were very violent.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28They wielded knives.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31They were quite drunken.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36And there was always bottles being thrown around and smashed.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41One particular night that I couldn't sleep,
0:21:41 > 0:21:44I had this sense of needing
0:21:44 > 0:21:49to go and get a bible and read the Book of Nehemiah.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53The trouble Nehemiah was having
0:21:53 > 0:21:58were people causing trouble on the walls of Jerusalem,
0:21:58 > 0:22:03preventing him from doing the work God had sent him to do.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07And I thought, "Gosh, that's so like us."
0:22:07 > 0:22:10And Mary said to me, she said,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12"I think the Lord's been saying to me
0:22:12 > 0:22:15"that he wants us to go outside
0:22:15 > 0:22:20"and to pray for angels to protect us."
0:22:20 > 0:22:22I took a deep breath.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26I'd never had anything to do with angels before.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30But I was so depressed, frankly, I would've done anything.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36So early the next morning, the two of us went outside
0:22:36 > 0:22:41and we said, "Lord, please send your guardian angels on these walls
0:22:41 > 0:22:45"to help us in our deep, deep problems."
0:22:45 > 0:22:50And we did that every day for the next week.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56This 35-strong Quinton Mob,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00which we knew had been there for at least seven years,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04seemed to diminish by the Monday down to about 12.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10And a few days later, no gang turned up.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12And it just seemed like God
0:23:12 > 0:23:17had planted his guardian angels over the walls.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19They never came back.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21And we stayed in this place for 18 years.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26This place turned into a lovely community
0:23:26 > 0:23:29where we were so glad to be,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32seeing God at work transforming the area
0:23:32 > 0:23:37and bringing his love to many, many people.
0:23:41 > 0:23:49# Love, fear not though sad thy dreaming
0:23:49 > 0:23:56# All through the night
0:23:56 > 0:24:03# Though overcast bright stars are gleaming
0:24:03 > 0:24:10# All through the night
0:24:10 > 0:24:18# Joy will come to thee at morning
0:24:18 > 0:24:26# Life with sunny hopes adorning
0:24:26 > 0:24:34# Though sad dreams may give dark warning
0:24:34 > 0:24:42# All through the night
0:24:56 > 0:25:04# Angels watching close surround thee
0:25:04 > 0:25:10# All through the night
0:25:10 > 0:25:18# In thy slumbers close surround thee
0:25:18 > 0:25:25# All through the night
0:25:25 > 0:25:33# They will of all fear disarm thee
0:25:33 > 0:25:41# No forebodings should alarm thee
0:25:41 > 0:25:50# They will let no peril harm thee
0:25:50 > 0:25:58# All through the night. #
0:26:22 > 0:26:25Lorna Byrne grew up in Ireland in the 1950s.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29She believes she can actually see angels.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34She's written several best-selling books about her angelic experiences.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38I'm Catholic, so I was brought up as a Catholic
0:26:38 > 0:26:42and I have four brothers and four sisters.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46And we were very, very poor. We lived in Old Kilmainham in Dublin.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50How far back do you remember seeing angels?
0:26:50 > 0:26:53You know, I always say from the very moment I opened my eyes.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55You know, lying in the cot.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59You know, reaching up and trying to catch them, to play with them.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03Um...they were always over my cot and always around me.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07And it was only, say, when I was about two and a half,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11when I discovered that they were angels
0:27:11 > 0:27:14and my mum and dad couldn't see them, or my sister.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Why you, Lorna?
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Actually, I don't know why me.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21I'm just a very ordinary person.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24I don't know why God chose me and, say, not you.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28I really don't know. I don't have an answer.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30How do you see angels?
0:27:30 > 0:27:33In your mind's eye or close enough to touch?
0:27:33 > 0:27:35They're real enough to touch.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38I see them physically, as I see you sitting there.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40They are so, so bright.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43They give a human appearance.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45I don't always see wings.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49If I see wings on an angel, I feel privileged.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Because they are extremely beautiful.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54But I couldn't say really whether
0:27:54 > 0:27:56they're giving an appearance of male or female
0:27:56 > 0:27:59because angels don't seem to be either.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02You know, if you were out on the street,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05you'd see all of the people walking up and down.
0:28:05 > 0:28:06I see all of the people,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09but I see the guardian angel with everyone, as well,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11as physically as I see the people.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15And everyone has a guardian angel,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18regardless of their religious beliefs,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22whether they're a Catholic or a Protestant or a Muslim or a Jew,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26or even if you're good or bad, you have a guardian angel.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28You're a Christian.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31How do angels fit in with our Christian view of God?
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Angels are creatures created by God.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37You and me and everyone in the world out there
0:28:37 > 0:28:41has a soul which is that speck of light of God.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46That is one reason why your guardian angel never leaves you for a second.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Because it's in the presence of that light of God.
0:28:52 > 0:28:58# When at night I go to sleep
0:28:58 > 0:29:04# Fourteen angels watch do keep
0:29:04 > 0:29:10# Two my head are guarding
0:29:10 > 0:29:17# Two my feet are guiding
0:29:17 > 0:29:24# Two are on my right hand
0:29:24 > 0:29:30# Two are on my left hand
0:29:30 > 0:29:37# Two who warmly cover
0:29:37 > 0:29:44# Two who over me hover
0:29:44 > 0:29:50# Two to whom it is given
0:29:50 > 0:30:03# To guide my steps to Heaven. #
0:30:13 > 0:30:15Dear Lord, thank you for the times
0:30:15 > 0:30:19when you've sent us angels to comfort and protect us.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23To offer guidance and words of wisdom.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26To give us hope and enlightenment.
0:30:26 > 0:30:32And for the many different ways that your love is manifest to us.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34Amen.
0:30:36 > 0:30:41Angels have captured the human imagination for centuries
0:30:41 > 0:30:45in pictures, poems, films and songs.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48And the words of our final hymn today reflect the belief
0:30:48 > 0:30:53that angels have been with us since the dawn of creation.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32Next week, Aled's in London preparing for the season of Lent
0:33:32 > 0:33:34with traditional pancake tossing,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36stocktaking at the zoo
0:33:36 > 0:33:41and cricketer Henry Olonga, who tells of his sporting sacrifice.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44Plus a special performance from Only Boys Aloud.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd