The Shepherds: Just Another Night

 

And there were shepherds living out in the fields

nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them...

Luke 2:8-9a 

In the hills above the town of Bethlehem, shepherds were bedding down their sheep for the night.  Some of the flocks were inside their protective enclosures, others were out in the open air with the shepherd close by.  The night must have been clear because the stars were visible in the sky.  The men and boys who were protecting the flocks expected another calm, peaceful night.  After all, nothing happened in Bethlehem.

The fellows who were out there on those hills did not have college degrees - probably not even the bare rudiments of an education.  They were common peasant folk - trustworthy, responsible, loyal.  The last thing in the world they expected was for the night sky to turn as bright as mid-day with a radiance unlike anything they had ever seen.  Floods of light poured over the Judean hills as angel messengers prepared for the most spectacular announcement of all time.

As I have newly entered into retirement, I occasionally lapse into a small pity party, feeling as though my “important” life’s work is finished – that there is nothing more for me to contribute.  I’m sure that the shepherds were sitting there believing that this cold evening was the sum total of what their lives would always be.  A “multitude” of angels were about to prove them wrong.

*

Angels from the realms of glory,

Wing your flight o’er all the earth.

Ye who sang creation’s story

Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Come and worship, come and worship,

Worship Christ, the newborn King.

The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 220