Advance Posted - I'll be on trains most of Saturday.

I wanted some images of angels that weren't white or definitely female, so using a search engine I typed in 'black angel, male' and this rather lovely image popped up (as did some that probably would have taken me to dodgy websites had I clicked on them - seemingly innocent searches can turn up surprising results).

When I lived in Manchester, I was told that the, by then redundant and turned into offices, church next door (I lived in an old parsonage) had once been adorned by white (alabaster? marble?) angels, but when the congregation became increasingly West Indian, they had been painted black.  I don't know if it was true - i am sure it had some credence - but it's an interesting thought... Just because the invading Romans seemingly thought that indigenous people in the south of Britain, with fair hair and blue eyes, were angels, and so named the place England (or so I was told in primary school) does not make angels white, or fair haired, or blue eyed.

Deep, dark eyes, curly black hair, broad features in chocolate brown skin... a different portrayal of an angel, one that makes much more sense to African and Carribean people... one that challenges stereotypes of 'white good, black bad' and so on.

If we could choose an angel 'like us' what would they look like?  What form might an angel take that would cause us shock or surprise?

Back to real time posting tomorrow, hopefully. Until then, may angels watch over us all, and keep us in peace.