It was late in the night,
when the shepherd were aroused form their sleep
by a choir of angels singing

“Glory to God is the highest!”

They probably thought that they were dreaming,
until they realized that they had all seen the same thing
and heard the same message:

“Today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you
who is Christ and Lord.!

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

It was dark and there were very few lights to lead the way,
but just as the sun began to rise,

they decided to go and see what the angels had proclaimed,

“an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.”

And that’s where today’s gospel begins.

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

And when they “found Mary and Joseph
and the infant lying in a manger,”
they just had to tell them about the message of the angel,
and the heavenly choir who sang
of “peace on earth to those on whom God’s favor rests.”

But even after all that,
they kept on “glorifying and praising God
for all that they had heard and seen.”

And while “Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart,”
they just had to tell everyone they knew
what had happened on what was otherwise just a normal night
in the countryside outside of Bethlehem.”

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

As we have heard the message of the angels,
as we have come to see the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes,
as we have glorified and praised God
for all that we have heard and seen,

We are reminded time and time again
that Emmanuel, God is with us,
that we are “called the holy people,
the redeemed of the Lord.”

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

We are also reminded of the “kindness and generous love
of God our savior.”
We are likewise reminded that it was “not because of any righteous deeds
we had done,
but because of God’s mercy.”

The shepherds did nothing extraordinary
to deserve the message from the angels.
They weren’t particularly holy people
that God chose to send a messenger of great joy.

They were just quite ordinary folks
do a job most people wouldn’t be caught dead doing.
But they were chosen.
And we’ve been chosen, too.
We’ve also been chosen by God
to hear the message of salvation,
and to ponder it in our hearts.

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

And when the Christmas presents have all been unwrapped,
and the Christmas dinners eaten,
when the trees and their sparkling decorations
have been put away for another year,

when the nativity sets a packed away once again,
then the real work of Christmas really begins:

to feed the hungry and clothe the naked,
to offer comfort to those who are lonely and suffering in any way,
to welcome the stranger far from home
and to reach out with compassion
to those we have often thought of as enemies
or as so different from ourselves
that they don’t really deserve our love.

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

The story of Christmas
is not just a story about something that happened long ago
in a faraway place.
It’s a story that calls us today
to see the Christ child in every person we meet
and in every person who lives near or far
especially in those who don’t look like an innocent baby
lying in a manger.

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Just over two thousand year ago,
God became human, just like you and me.
And today, we are all reminded
that today Christ has no hands but ours,
no feet but ours,
no voices but ours.
Today, we who are called Christian
are called to be the Body of Christ in world
in such a way that others might recognize
what we celebrate today,
that Christ is in our lives
and we have all been blessed
as the shepherd were so long ago.

Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!