Yesterday was Christmas, so Merry Christmas! Let’s reflect on what happened during that first Christmas more than two thousand years ago. We know that Jesus already existed before the creation of the world; after all, John’s Gospel says He created it. A Person who already existed was born a second time? But that's only one way that this birth was different from all other births. This birth was accompanied by angelic visitation! So let's listen to what Luke has to say about it:

[The shepherds] hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. (Luke 2:16-20)

I like the shepherds, don't you? These hardworking guys were farm workers who had to stay with the sheep day and night to make sure they were protected, fed, and directed. They were pretty low on the economic and social scale. They were also the ones entrusted with the angelic message. Amazing, right? When they had this encounter, they followed up and went to see what happened...and the Bible says then they went back to work but they told everyone about it. They were some of the first evangelists! I like to think of how they may have spoken about it to each other, years later, sitting around a fire at night. By then they might have been old men: "Hey, remember that night? That was sure something!" How and you and me? If we’d been there, how do you think you would have remembered it? What a night! The sky was full of angels, singing and telling them to go see a baby. They went and the baby was in a manger, but they all knew He was Someone special.

Yesterday we celebrated the amazing birth of the most amazing Person in all of history. Jesus is and has always been King of the Universe…so let’s worship Him together—today!