On whom his favor rests: Advent day 10

Shepherd

Luke 2

He was good at watching.

He had to be. Once he had fallen asleep on his watch and several sheep had been lost. He didn't want to fight off those wild dogs again--or endure the angry muttering of the others. 

Watching was about the only thing they were allowed to do these days. The world didn't like shepherds. Maybe because they smelled like sheep. Maybe because of their poverty and powerlessness. Maybe because they reminded people of something they didn't want to know. 

The world needed someone to step on, someone to take the heat of their scorn. They moved around the shepherds distastefully, acknowledging their necessity but rejecting their need. And so the shepherds watched, together in the knowledge that they were unwanted, unnoticed, and alone.

He had gradually come to accept the nobody status. Most days, out in the field with no one but sheep to talk to, he felt like a nobody. But then there were these nights with the million million stars pressing down. There were the drinks from the cool stream and the wind rushing through tall grass. There were thoughts he didn't know how to express or to whom to express them. Some nights, like tonight, he found himself holding his breath, waiting, though he didn't know why. 

Then the angel appeared with brightness unendurable. He and the others cowered, pressing themselves into the earth they knew and not daring to look up. The angel said what angels almost always say. "Do not be afraid."

Your life was formed of fear, but not anymore. You don't have to be afraid.

"I bring you good news!" This is no accident. God has come directly to you--you outcasts--to tell you the greatest news in the history of the world. 

God is here. Right over there, in fact, just a few miles away. He has come, and you are invited to go see. You.

One angel isn't enough for this kind of announcement. Thousands and thousands of them now, sky light as day, voices splitting the night with music. How could the whole world not hear, not wake to see this? But only those who watch for him will be ready when he comes. 

"Glory to God! Peace to those on whom his favor rests."

That means you. Yes you, cowering there behind your sheep. Peace. His favor rests on you.

Go and see him. He's a shepherd, just like you, and he will be an outcast too. The world will move around him and rage at him and scorn him to death. And he will be the one who watches over you and saves you from the wild dogs. 

Go and see him, and find your voice. His love will make you brave, will give you words to tell the world. 

God is here, and nothing will ever be the same.