“And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which IS Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, 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 , and on earth peace, and good will toward men.” Luke 2:9-14
Oh to have been there that fateful night! To have heard the voices of the heavenly host proclaiming the birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s.
To see and hear those of heaven who worshipped Him through the eons of time around His heavenly throne and now to have come to the earth to praise Him here!
His praise can not be stifled and His praise is eternal and that night heaven kissed earth and for a single thread in time the two became one.
And oh to have been in that field, the shepherds who had always been considered the least, now being the first, as Christ would later describe His kingdom as one in which the “least are the greatest and the greatest the least”.
Those considered the least among their fellow servants of the day now receiving a royal invitation hand delivered by a divine messenger to come see, see the newborn King.
An invitation to worship Him, who owns heaven, owns earth, and all that dwell therein, now born into humanity in the most humble of circumstance, the members of the animal kingdom He had created now being privileged to being the living audience to that birth.
Can you imagine the stillness, the quietness in that stable?
Can you imagine the wonder, the awe, the serenity and peace at the very birth of the Prince of Peace?
Shepherds who once there, beheld the face of a tiny, tender, vulnerable infant whose body held the very power that created the universe,and all that was, is, and ever will be.
That gentle, tender state of infancy only being a reflection of the mercy, humility, love, and forgiveness that His birth brought to us.
To have heard the song the angels sang, those whose praise can never be still, they knew what had been given to us and if you listen with your heart, you can hear them still.
There is always the questioning, waged only out of disbelief, as to the actual calendar date, but what does it matter? Seriously, Epiphany could have been more accurate, some of the teaching based in Jewish seasons, times, and feasts could also be. I would love to know, we would all love to know, but we don’t and the day chosen and set aside is the day we have.
But what does it truly matter when His birth just as His resurrection is MORE than worth celebrating every single day.
As a child “was given unto us” and that child grew, that child ministered, that child healed, and taught, and that child gave His life for us all, and that child resurrected in supreme glory!
The praises sang that night, I am sure also rang out through heaven when that stone rolled away and He rose in absolute victory over death, hell, and the grave! And as He one day returns to this earth with the voice of the archangel, heaven will be heard again and in that day, the fulfillment of His kingdom on earth, we WILL have peace on earth and good will toward all men.
So as Thanksgiving has came to a close and we are in the Christmas season, a season that has become so secular that now instead of joy and peace at the thought of the Savior’s birth, we have become so stressed, so pressured that many enter into a complete seasonal depression.
It was NEVER intended to be about the gifts, the only gift that matters IS the gift WE WERE ALREADY GIVEN.
It is not about the perfect party, the perfect family dinner.
All that is just more of this world’s smoke screen to divert hearts and souls from the TRUE meaning of this night and no one needs me to tell them that.
And we can ALL fall to that pressure, and I know most of us have.
We do WANT everything to be PERFECT, but perfect ONLY exists in Jesus Christ Himself. It does not exist in our realm and we should not TRY to make it exist. Because it makes Christmas about us, our families, and our plans and no so much about Him.
Just as Christ’s very name is removed from the word Christmas itself, being replaced by “x” they have taken what was intended as “the Mass of Christ” and created “Mass of X” generic, fill in the blank, name it what you will pagan festivity that we all are victim to today.
As nativity figurines are a rare find on store shelves and Norman Rockwell’ s sleigh ride to church scenes are steadily being replaced by television commercials of “visions of drunken office parties infiltrating our heads”.
“Parson Brown” of the old beloved lyric now being replaced by a “circus clown” and who can bear hearing the sorrow of one “meeting his old lover in a grocery store” drinking beer and realizing her life was a joke and they had nothing in common..
HOW is that NOT depressing? And a host of secular “christmas” songs that, I for one, would be on the floor crying, if I listened too long.
And if we listen too long, at the voice of this world screaming over and over that “these ARE” the “must have” looks, fashions, gifts, and tableware of “THE” season, they WILL drown out that voices of long ago and they WILL drown out the sweet songs of the heavenly host and drain us of every ounce of joy that God WANTS us to have while celebrating the birth of His Son!
Turn them off and tune them out this holiday season, keep the wonder in our hearts of the greatest gift of all, let the glory of the Lord shine around you this holiday season and let those songs of the angels fill our hearts and add one of our own.. “Jesus Christ crucified and the angels sing Holy”…. let HIM hear us singing it too!
Love & Peace till next time!
*Title and some content from original post 12/12/2014*Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017/ ***REVISITED 12/09/2021/ Φλογιζω Reverend Nina Brown Johnson
Video shared from YouTube
Φλογιζω 