advent day sixteen


That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord’s glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone very happy. This very day in King David’s home town a Saviour was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying in a bed of hay.”
After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.”            Luke 2:8-12, 15                                                                                 
Let’s go!

I would have loved to eavesdrop on the shepherds’ conversation after the angel left. I wonder if they sounded anything like us, after a great service on Sunday: “Wasn’t the band good today!”,  “I always like it when they play that song!”, “Great message this morning, the preacher was really fired up.”….


Then we go home, cook our Sunday lunch, put our feet up to read the paper– and life goes on as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened at all.

Did the shepherds refill their pipes, put a few more pieces of wood round the fire and go over the great story about the angels they could tell their mates later in the local inn?

Or did the eruption of God into their world stir them up, call them to take action, leave them different to how they were before?

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke 2: 16– 20

Let’s go!


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