"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."
-Hamilton Wright Mabie
Night after night under the wide night sky, the shepherds probably had a sense of perspective, of how they fit in the world. But when the angels come with their news - and call it good, and say that it's for everyone - it's an invitation to set out and see what is there, and to discover who they are in the presence of what they find.
This is about more than just the shepherds. When they arrive, they tell Mary and Joseph and the baby all that the angels told them. Then the shepherds leave, rejoicing. They've become carriers, bearers of God's good news, and witnesses to it.
Living in a post-birth-of-Christ world, we forget what it must have been like to wait in darkness, wondering if God had forgotten the Jewish people oppressed under Roman rule. There was no sign that God was in a hurry to fulfill the promise made centuries before, the promise that someday there would be one who would rescue them from the shadows of evil. They waited, and waited, and waited, with no sign that God remembered them.
Christ is the reminder that God remembers us.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!Psalm 22:23-31 NIV
The Message version puts the end of this passage this way (with my own added emphasis):
All the power-mongers are before him
—worshiping!
All the poor and powerless, too
—worshiping!
Along with those who never got it together
—worshiping!
Our children and their children
will get in on this
As the word is passed along
from parent to child.
Babies not yet conceived
will hear the good news—
that God does what he says.
Good news is all around. May we be transformed by it. May we learn to love this world and all people just as we are loved.
With great love,
Jordyn
Devotions this season are inspired by 2020 Advent lessons adapted from Shadow and Light by Tsh Oxenreider and In Light and Darkness published by Illustrated Ministries. You can sign up here to join the church email list to receive special devotionals like this directly.
