Today is the third Sunday of Advent, and the third candle is the Shepherd candle, sometimes called the Joy candle. We read over the shepherds' story in Luke chapter 2 (I think it's verses 12-20, but I'm not positive....), and I discovered this year that I really like those guys! Having recently read The Barbarian Way, I feel I can say that the shepherds were barbarians. They were the social outcasts. Not only were they just low-class and un-cool, they weren't even able to follow the prescribed rituals of righteousness. So, they were unclean - physically and spiritually. It's safe to say that the shepherds didn't fit in. But the truth is, I've heard that sermon before. Lots of times. I've heard about how they were outsiders and how the angelic announcement to their pastoral assembly is symbolic of the fact that God's message is for the everyman. Don't get me wrong - I really like this sermon. I've just heard it before.
But a few new things struck me this time around. They ran straightaway to find Jesus. They didn't stop and pick up a baby gift at the Bethlehem Wal-Mart (I'm sure they wouldn't have shopped at Macy's). They didn't think about grabbing food for their trip, or whether they would be welcome by a new mother who had never met them before. They were outcasts, so they were not concerned with social protocol. They just ran for it! I love that! I hope that I would run with abandon and without thought at the promise of meeting my Savior too!
And that's another thing - I know the angels told them and all, but they went running toward a promise - to a hope. Verse 20 says, "The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!" It seems like it wasn't until they came back that they fully realized it was all true - almost like there could have been some doubt - and then they partied. They weren't even really sure what would be waiting for them in Bethlehem. They probably couldn't comprehend it - but they ran to find it anyway! Oh, they saw the angels and heard what they said, but a Savior? A baby? In a stable? Come on. Then, after it dawned on them that it was all so wonderfully true, they partied - they rejoiced!
I think the shepherds were my kind of people....
DAILY BLISS: watching White Christmas - it's a tradition....I could listen to Bing Crosby sing all day long
<3 Christy
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