Today’s reading is about the birth of Jesus and the angel appearing to the shepherds. How frightened these men must have been. In the news last week there was an uproar about a light in the sky on the west coast. Even with today’s technology people feared what they didn’t know.
I guess this can be called human nature because it’s something we all do but in the case of the shepherds they listened and obeyed. Maybe that was because they were looking for something, someone who could make their lives better and an angel in the night sky seemed like an idea they could live with.
In December of 1967, what seems like a million years away now, I was asked to be the Annunciation Angel in the Christmas Pageant at my church, Calvary Baptist, in Norristown, PA. I was 17 and scared to death to talk in front of any gathering but I accepted. It amazed me that when I spoke the words “for unto you is born, this day in the city of Bethlehem, a savior who is Christ, the Lord”, I wasn’t afraid, and they could hear me in the back of the church.
These words are empowering yesterday, today and tomorrow. Maybe if we think about them and use them in thoughts, words and deeds we could convince a shepherd, a king, a neighbor or a homeless person that there is hope in this world and his name is Jesus.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, in the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, may we keep foremost in our minds that there is hope in this life. Things have changed in 2,000 years but you haven’t, your Son hasn’t. May we remember to talk to you everyday and to listen to hear what you have to say to us. I ask these things in the name of your precious Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
Debbie McGinnis
No comments:
Post a Comment