Merry Christmas…
     Later today, I’ll post part 5 of this series. But, this morning, I hope you and your family are richly blessed by this “pass on” post of Daniel Diadiggo’s “Christmas Chronicles”. For previous posts in this series, click below.
     Part 1

     Part 2
     Part 3 
Grace and peace,

AP

#4 when God speaks

Read:

[A]nd there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find the baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:8-12

Speak:

The shepherds understood what it was like to be outsiders. These were society’s forgotten, the ones the mothers didn’t want their daughters to marry. They were not, as some might say, relationally connected.

The shepherds were generational outcasts, removed to obscurity from the centers of power and influence.

One night a group of shepherds went to work as they had hundreds of nights before.
      … the same as their dads had done
           … and their grandfathers before them

The shepherds had no reason to believe that this night would be any different from the others.

And yet this night… would be unlike any other.

This… is the night God broke through…. the night He split the darkness and lit up the sky and declared peace between men and their God.

With the angels and all the universe leaning in… and while Jerusalem slept… God announced the birth of the Christ child – to a group of shepherds.

I wonder why He did that? Why did he choose the shepherds?

Maybe.. since nobody listened to them… they were more inclined to listen to God. For when God spoke the shepherds listened and left.

History remembers the shepherds – the lowly ones who stepped outside their own stories and into the miraculous.


Prayer:

Thank you Lord that you break through into our world and speak to us. Thank you that we hear your voice. Thank you for extending compassion to the undeserving and for drawing us to Yourself. We pray for the outsiders tonight, for those whose hearts are broken and for they who are lonely and afraid.

Sing:

Angels We Have Heard on High