“Star and angels gave the sign”
Someone once told me the greatest concert this world has ever heard was held before an audience that mostly consisted of sheep.
The thought struck me in a new light. I’d grown up hearing the story of the shepherds and the angels before, of course, but for some reason this was different.
Maybe it’s because I wasn’t expecting it; maybe it’s because I’m a writer, and it painted a picture for me. I’m honestly not sure.
But that image was beautiful for reasons I can’t explain. It was powerful.
I fall in love with people’s voices. The individual timbres and rhythms are personalities woven into sound form. So just imagine what it would have been like to stand in a dark field and suddenly be S U R R O U N D E D by the voices of angels.
The description of such a thing is beyond the touch of words.
Then it hit me.
Most of those who heard the celestial chorus were sheep.
Sheep.
How much of the world missed out on this gift? How many lost a chance to drown in the glory of God’s heavenly creatures?
That thought hurt. It made me want to race back through time and plant myself in the field next to those shepherds. Shepherds who were looked down by the society they existed in. People who no one wanted anything to do with.
Yet God chose them to be some of the first to see His incarnate Son.
Those shepherds were given an incredible gift. One I’m sure they never forgot.
So neither should we.
No, we don’t get to hear angels singing of Jesus’ birth. There will be no heavenly concert this Christmas (as far as I’m aware). But we were given a gift. One that’s easily forgotten. We approach Christmas grateful that God sent His Son to us, but we need to look further. Look towards Resurrection Sunday and the Cross.
Remember that there is still a concert ringing throughout the world. A concert of souls, lost and calling out. And a choir of those who’ve been found. Those who still have time to share this ongoing gift with others.
I used to think the only “real” way I could do God’s work was to somehow dig up the courage to share the gospel with a stranger. And that is something that the Lord definitely calls us to do (Matt. 28: 19-20). But sometimes I think we forget there are simpler ways in which we are to serve the Lord. Sometimes doing His work is as simple as taking time to comfort a friend or stepping out of your comfort zone in small ways like volunteering at church for something you usually wouldn’t.
There are those who are called to go out and serve in the mission field. To brave jungles and mountains and do amazing things for the Lord that some of us will only ever dream about.
But maybe some of us are like the shepherds. We’re not doing anything extraordinary. We’re not praised for incredible deeds. Sometimes all we see in our lives is what we’re not doing, instead of focusing on the small tasks God has called us to be faithful in.
So let’s work to do whatever it is God asks of us, whether it looks important or not, whether we feel like it or not. The shepherds in Bethlehem weren’t looked upon as doing the greatest deeds for God, but look at how He used them. That night they were faithful in their simple jobs, and now every year we sing about what the Lord allowed them to be a part of.
—Vanessa Scott
“Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Matthew 25:23
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Vanessa Scott has always had stories taking up space in her thoughts; and though not all of her books are explicitly Christian, she seeks to weave universal Biblical truths into everything she writes.
When not pouring her ideas into paintings and book blurbs, Vanessa is consuming novels and tea side-by-side, snuggling as many chickens as she can carry, or simply standing in the sunshine as she soaks in God's creation, waiting for the Hawaiian trade winds to bring in a thunderstorm and make her day.
Wow!! Vanessa, this is beautiful! So though-provoking. <3