Listen

Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night. The Lord’s angel stood before them, the Lord’s glory shone around them, and they were terrified.

The angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you—wonderful, joyous news for all people. Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord. This is a sign for you: you will find a newborn baby wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God. They said, “Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

Luke 2:8-14

Think

The shepherds lived in the fields. It was a lowly existence. They were on the fringes of society. Who knows what the shepherds were dreaming about on that night in the fields as they watched over their sheep and the angels appeared to them? Their dreams and desires probably weren’t too different from ours: warmth, peace, a future. They found their dreams fulfilled in the place where the newborn baby was wrapped snugly and lying in a manger.

Have you been dreaming about the place God has made for you? Sometimes we think about what this place looks like. Perhaps, you aren’t even able to conceive that this place really does exist.

Today’s scripture says that peace reigns when the Glory of God is reflected in heaven and on earth. This is a real place where Christ governs and favors us to live in peace.

What are you uncertain about? Do you want to experience the feeling of glory and peace? Whatever it might be, know that God’s reigns.

Israel Loachamin

Pray

Lord, thank you for preparing for us a place of glory and peace. May I release everything today that makes me feel uncertain about the place you have prepared, and may I feel your glory and peace as I dwell on the baby in the manger. Amen.

Go

Where shepherds lately knelt, and kept the angel’s word,
I come in half belief, a pilgrim strangely stirred;
But there is room and welcome there for me,
but there is room and welcome there for me.

Can I, will I forget how Love was born and burned
its way into my heart unasked, unforced, unearned,
to die, to live, and not alone for me,
to die, to live, and not alone for me?

from “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt” by Jaroslav J. Vajda (1986)