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- Day 16: 16th December – ‘There were shepherds…’
A young man sits round an open fire at night, warming his hands and dreaming of revolution. He needs to think to stay awake – his job means that he can’t afford to fall asleep. By the standards of the time he’s not particularly religious: can’t afford to be, his work consumes all hours, and he’s too much of a scruffbag to show his face on Saturday at the synagogue. His life is here, out in the open – just him, his friends and his animals.
But all the same, he dreams. The current lot that rule his small nation are much better than most of the previous ones, who were far more corrupt and far less competent. He’s heard tales of the terrors inflicted by tyrants of old. But even so, they’re not his people. And one day, his God, Yahweh – the one true God of the universe, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings – will ensure that they are free once more. He’s read the prophets, he’s heard the preachers. And still he dreams, of victory and freedom and prosperity. Of planting vines and sitting under them in summer.
His head starts to nod – he feels sleepy. He pinches himself: ‘Not tonight, old son, not tonight…’
And then – LIGHT! Glorious, brilliant light. His mates are terrified – he pretends not to be, but really he is just as scared too. What is this? An angel?? You’ve got to be kidding….
Did someone just say good news? The Messiah is coming? After all these centuries? Never mind 30 years of hurt – how about 500? Really? Coming – now?
Oh yes. And what’s more, you can see him. Just head into town – listen for the cries of a newborn bedded in with the animals. Just like you lot, really. Born to be a shepherd.
Imagine that. The divine shepherd visits us human shepherds, telling us to go and visit a newborn shepherd lying there with the animals. He really is one of us! Not just another posh tyrant: a normal lad, who lives like we do. Come on lads! Let’s go and take a butcher’s….
Good news: God comes as one of us. He meets those who are keeping watch, waiting for him. We don’t always dream the right things – or perhaps we do, but in the wrong way or for the wrong reasons. But God is gracious. He comes anyway.
Keep watch. Good news is coming.
- Day 16: 16th December – ‘There were shepherds…’Read more...
A young man sits round an open fire at night, warming his hands and dreaming of revolution. He needs to think to stay awake – his job means that he can’t afford to fall asleep. By the standards of the time he’s not particularly religious: can’t afford to be, his work consumes all ...
- Day 15: 15th December – ‘The time came…’Read more...
And so we get to the crucial moment in the story – Jesus is born! Most of us know the story inside out… or at least we’re fairly sure we do.
Images of how the nativity happens are so full of our minds, it’s almost impossible to imagine it any ...
- Day 14: 14th December – ‘Our plans, God’s plans’Read more...
If you’ll allow a brief return to a day we’d probably rather forget: on 23rd March 2020, the UK entered a full national lockdown for the first time in 100 years. One immediate effect of this was that all church buildings were shut. No services of any sort could be held. What would ...
- Day 13: 13th December – ‘The great rescue’Read more...
On this day in 2018, the writer C.J. English published the bestselling book ‘Rescue Matters’. It charts the astonishing story of Keith Benning, who, using his own garage to house those rescued and with just a small team of volunteers, over four years rescued 4,000 dogs from terrible situations: unwanted, starving, mistreated. As ...
- Day 12: 12th December – ‘His name is John’Read more...
I don’t know about you, but it’s not easy to name a child. It was a bit more straightforward with our first child Amelie, but for our second, we spent weeks batting around various names. We didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or a girl, so we had to ...