Poems, Sermons and Writings

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” So said Winston Churchill in 1948. But sometime it feels like we are doomed to repeat it anyway or at least that is what I found myself thinking as I looked at the book of Daniel. I wonder how familiar you are with the book of Daniel? We don’t get much of it in our Sunday lectionary readings. Perhaps you might remember back to Sunday school days  and the stories of Daniel in the lions’ den or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and their stint in the furnace. Heroes for their faith while in exile in Babylon and miraculously rescued. But Daniel is a book in 2 halves - the first half is those stories we remember set in the royal court in exile. The second half of the book is quite different, it is what we call apocalyptic literature.  It is full of dreams and visions, terrifying monsters and angels. Today’s reading comes from the end of that apocalyptic part of Daniel. The weird bit. Perhaps that is why we shy away from Daniel -