The Deliveroo rider weaves skilfully through the Exeter traffic, their big turquoise box strapped to their back. Pedalling hard – up the hill, down again, following their phone’s directions. Ding-dong. “Delivered to you – your freshly-baked pizza.”
The big white van skids to a halt outside the house, the 129th of their day. They stride up the path, no answer, so leave the package in the porch, jog back to their van, leap in, and onward. “Order today: Delivery tomorrow – our promise to you”.
The drone speeds over the green Orkney fields. Over the water it flies, homing in on Hoy. Down it goes, bringing its Royal Mail load gently to land. “Delivered to you – very special delivery” *
The angels veer through the skies, over land and sea, bearing their most precious of cargos. Trials and tribulations attack from all sides, seeking to destroy, like a computer game. But they make it through. “Delivered!” they exclaim joyfully. “Battered and bruised, yes. But you are delivered safely – you! You prayed “Deliver us from evil”, didn’t you? Our job is done.”
“Your job,” said the boss to his eager new recruit, “is to deliver our vital programme of change. Simple – just deliver. Got that? Good.” “Your job,” the school’s trustees inform the Head, “is to deliver our target improvement in exam grades. Got that? Great. Good luck!” “Our promise to you, you lovely electorate,” proclaimed the politician, “is to deliver our manifesto promises.
Bigger, Bolder, Better delivery! Trust us – we will deliver!” Delivery, at whatever level in life, is sometimes straightforward, sometimes less so. As a child I did a newspaper delivery round some holidays. The smell of newsprint takes me straight back to those early newsagent mornings even now. Midweek papers were easy, Sundays so much harder – the extra weight of the huge Sunday papers, then trying to squeeze them through impossibly tiny letterboxes (as scary dogs snapped at the other side).
Our modern world’s creed is efficient delivery. Yet when we speak the Lord’s Prayer words ‘deliver us from evil’, we’re on a different level. For the world really is a dangerous place. Evil really is a dangerous thing. Thankfully God is more than a match.
So the angels (let’s run with this image of God’s ambassadors) swerve through heaven and earth, space and time, to deliver their precious cargo – us. “Delivered – yahoo!” “Who?” “You – yes you.”
*I particularly love the fact that the Royal Mail’s first use of drones for regular deliveries is to Orkney islands including Hoy, having visited Hoy last year.
