Open Blogging
And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Just then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”
(Luke 2:8-14 BEREAN)
It’s the weekend before Christmas and it’s pretty dark here.
This is always a hard season for me, but this year it’s been dark all year…dealing with the systematic obliteration of common decency and the structures that enabled it along with my own frailties has been a little much.
It’s been a time of loss for many of us…loss we won’t live to see restored.
It’s uncomfortable…even painful…but this scripture has always brought me hope.
Shepherds were at the bottom of the economic and social pyramid.
They were in that unfortunate group of humanity that is necessary not only for their vocations, but to fill the need for someone in the higher classes to despise.
They were the least likely group to be visited by heavenly messengers.
But they were visited…and gifted with hearing the best news of all time.
Cold, tired, and dirty, their darkness was broken with lights most of us will never see until we meet the subject of the message they heard.
I’ve meditated on this passage for years…wondering why they were chosen to be blessed in this way…and the same reasons keep coming to mind.
They were faithful…not necessarily in the religious sense, but in how they lived their lives.
They showed up….night after night, day after day…doing what they were called to do.
They wanted to see the light.
God saw…and when he had some news to share, He went to them first.
Being in the dark with some faithful people is a good place to be.
Never stop listening for the sound of angels…
It’s all yours today…
Michael,
Thanks for the post. I’m already feeling a bit bummed about Christmas by myself again this year. The part of the family that lives near me usually travels, and the rest isn’t talking to each other (the kids have gone no contact with their parents). I try to stay out of the drama. When I focus on the right things like the shepherds did, I do well at Christmas. I appreciate your post very much! I’m trusting that my two weeks off will be a good time to rest and complete a few projects around the house.
Thank you, Michael. I need to read this every day this week.
Linn,
Thank you.
You have to two most important things to get through the season…a fine feline and a great God.
Thank you for modeling faithfulness for all of us…
Thanks, CK…and thanks for being a friend in season and out…
Thank you Michael ….
May God bring light into your daily life just as you have brought into ours here….
Owen,
Thank you…every blessing to you and yours this season!
Maybe another reason the shepherds were chosen in this way, aside from any deserving or merit of their own, was as a message to all who are considered the lowest of the low in their own world, or even in their own mind, that no matter what the world says, or how you see yourself, God is with you and loves you and is for you. The Magnificat is God’s political platform, and this visitation to the shepherds is an expression of his policy toward all those in prison and oppressed and at the fringes and beaten down and marginalized and feeling hopeless.
Linn,
My wife and I are alone at Christmas almost every year. We have no children, our families live far away and/or we are alienated from them, other people tend to focus entirely on their own families during this season — so, most years we are alone. God is with those who are alone, whatever the reasons may be. I pray that you may feel his closeness to you the remainder of this Advent, and all of Christmastide.
No shortage of of good shepherds in scripture, from Abel to Moses to David. A word search might turn up a few things. (Some bad ones in the prophets).