Dear Caldwell,
God has a long tradition of choosing the least likely people to help.
Of all the people the angels could have visited on that first Christmas Eve, shepherds would have been WAY down the invite list. Shepherds lived outside with their sheep, so you can imagine how disheveled and smelly a bunch they were to go tell the world of Christ’s birth. Any self-respecting angel might have chosen a king or queen or priest or pharisee.
God so often starts with the bottom of the invite list when God wants to change the world – and us. This Sunday, we hear that old, old story as told in Luke 2:8-20. We will hear it through the voices of our children and youth as they present a pageant and Rev. Justin Martin offers a homily.
Behind the costumes and readings, however, lies the truth about the world God entered into – a world that has always known conflict and, therefore, the need for a prince of peace. That was vividly clear to those of us who traveled to Israel and visited what is called “the shepherds’ field,” the site traditionally associated with this story. The scenery there retains enough of a pastoral feel that one can imagine the sheep and the shepherds down in the valley under what would have been an expansive night sky.
But today, that once peaceful scene also includes unmistakable evidence of the world’s penchant for conflict. Half-way up the rise above the valley where the sheep once roamed runs the high, barbed-wire wall that divides the territories of Israel and Palestine. In recent years, on disputed land, Israel has built imposing residential settlements that now dominate the valley. The disagreement between those two peoples is eons old and deeply entrenched and entangled. It is stark evidence of the tribal instincts that lie within us all, instincts to build walls, to mark our territory and to exclude the other.
Yes, I know, we are down to the last few days before Christmas – busy and hectic days that may not always have time for us to reflect on, much less resolve, such complicated topics. Yes, I know that we can hardly escape the news of such profound division in our own nation.
All the better that God comes anyway, whether we are looking or not, whether we are ready or not, whether we are capable of peace or not.
So in the days to come look out for the shepherds of our time, the least likely people to deliver good news. Keep watch for the ancient and ever-new declaration:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom God favors.”
Let’s celebrate that Sunday over a Christmas breakfast at 9:45 a.m. in Belk Hall. If you can help set up, get there early at 9:30.
See you then.
In Christ,
John