For this final week of Advent Song Reflections we will be using Scripture from a traditional Lessons and Carols service. You can read about the service of Lessons and Carols here.
Words of Reflection
The Christmas story is filled with visitations by angels, but of all the times they show up, it’s the appearance to the shepherds I wish I could have witnessed most of all. The angelic messages for Zechariah, Joseph, and Mary are precious, intimate, holy moments that I think are best left only for them, but I would give anything to experience what happened on the hillsides of Bethlehem that first Christmas night.
Imagine what it must have been like—the shepherds simply watching over their flocks, the quiet rustle of sheep in the fields, the stillness of the night air and then…everything changes. First one angel appears, and Luke tells us that in that moment the “glory of the Lord” shone around them. I used to think that was referring only to the angels, but “them” is clearly indicating the shepherds—they were literally enveloped in the glory of God at that moment. No wonder they were terrified!
Thankfully, the angel tells them there is no reason to be afraid, because he’s there for an important birth announcement—the coming of God’s Savior:
“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.’”—Luke 2:10-11 (NRSV)
Each year as I seek to wrap my head around what God was doing on that first Christmas, I find within that pronouncement from the angel six words that absolutely enrapture me:
—Good News
—Great Joy
—All People
You could spend the entirety of Advent simply contemplating those six words, couldn’t you?
Christ’s coming is Good News! In the birth of Jesus, God invites humanity to embrace reconciliation, forgiveness, and transformation. In the birth of Jesus the powers of evil are given notice that their reign is coming to an end. In the birth of Jesus we find the beginning of God’s new creation work that will culminate in a Kingdom where suffering, heartache, and death will be no more. Christ’s coming is Good News!
In light of that, we know Great Joy! Not the happiness of the moment that is fleeting, but the foundational joy of knowing we are loved by the God of the universe, of knowing that he not only saw our lowly state but he entered it himself to raise us above it. We know the joy of intimate fellowship with our Creator, of friendship with his only Son, and the abiding presence and power of his Spirit. Christ’s coming is Great Joy!
And these gifts of Good News and Great Joy are not only for a select few, but are offered to All People! In Jesus the promise to Abraham is made real: “…through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed…” (Gen. 22:18, NIV). In a world where humanity excels at division and sect-making, the angel reminds us that in Christ we are all God’s children. The Good News and the Great Joy are for All People!
How blessed the shepherds were to be the first “civilians” to know what God had done, and no wonder their story is filled with wonder, amazement, and worship. As the story continues it also features proclamation—the shepherds can’t help but share what they have seen and heard, and not only do I wish I had been on that hillside with the shepherds that night—I also wish I could been with them as they shared their story. Imagine he look on the faces of Bethlehem as they took in all that the shepherds had both heard and seen:
Good News of Great Joy for All People!
Reading for Thursday: Luke 2:8-16 (NRSV)
The shepherds go to the manger.
Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger.
Song: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (lyrics here)
Today we offer you two different versions of this carol—the traditional American tune and the traditional British tune.
American Version:
British Version:
Questions for Contemplation:
Spend some time praying with the six words: Good News, Great Joy, All People. How do they inspire you to pray? In what ways do they call you to worship, gratitude, and intercession?
How would you have responded if you had been one of the shepherds? What in their story speaks to your heart as one also called to come worship the Christ child?
Here are two verses from today’s carol that are sometimes left out of modern arrangements. Spend some time praying with these words, especially in light of things happening in our world today:
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
Oh, hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.
And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
Oh, rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
More Carols
Sometimes in a Lessons and Carols service you will hear more than one carol given in response to a particular reading. During this week, you will find in this section after the devotional some additional carols that connect to the passage we’ve been sitting with for that day.
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night (lyrics here)
Angels from the Realms of Glory (lyrics here)