Thursday, December 23, 2010

Can you 'leave your flock' and hurry to the manger?

What a question! It brought me up short as I read an article in this week's Christian Science Sentinel. We are know the images of the Nativity given in the Gospels. I could just imagine those faithful shepherds, keeping watch over their precious flock, staying alert for any danger in the darkness. Suddenly, there is an angel. A messenger from God with a startling message. These men would have been familiar with the prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah who was to come. They had been awaiting his arrival for centuries. Now they were being told that he had arrived that very night and was nearby! Those men got to hear the angels sing. And they left their flock and hurried to find the manger and see the baby.

Would you do the same? Can you set aside the flock of family members, business associates, neighbors? Can you put down all those catalogs filled with tempting gifts and leave all those emails unread? Can you change your focus from the flock of bills sitting on the desk unpaid? Can you put down the 'to-do' list that you haven't been able to check off? Can you let some of those errands wait?

Can you instead listen to the angels sing? Having heard their message, can you hurry, right now, to the manger scene? Can you take moments to dwell on what happened that holy night and see the Christ for yourself? Have you ever seen a newborn baby and marveled at the innocence and purity and promise of that life? Can you believe the son of God walked among us? Can you believe the Christ still comes to us now?

I believe. My Christmas wish for you is that you do the same. Hurry. God will care for your flock while you go see.

Merry Christmas.

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