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GOSPEL MESSAGE
Out of the Ordinary
There they were, just minding their own business. Perhaps they had just started to doze off, after taking the evening shift guarding the sheep. Perhaps they were sitting around the fire telling stories. Their night was ordinary, until that announcement to not be afraid. Of course, do not be afraid, or wondering, or surprised that the night sky is now dazzling bright. Of course, do not be afraid that an angel is speaking words that ears can hear over the beating of terrified hearts. Do not be afraid that everything has changed. And somehow, they weren’t afraid, because the good news is just that good: “to you is born this day . . . a Savior” (Luke 2:11).
On this evening, communities are gathered around the globe, waiting with eyes wide open to be surprised, filled with wonder, or moved by these words. Does it sneak up, like the candlelight moving around the room, or does it ring out like the heavenly ceiling filled with song? Or is this night not a reenactment at all, but the thanksgiving for how God works through our ordinary lives, in the mundane activity of tending the sheep or making the peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
Part of entering this story each year is rooted in remembering our baptism each day. This story of the shepherds is a reminder that Christ calls us through baptism out of ordinariness, to become actors in God’s story. The great cloud of witnesses proclaims to the newly baptized: “We welcome you into the body of Christ and into the mission we share: join us in giving thanks and praise to God and bearing God’s creative and redeeming word to all the world” (ELW, p. 231). Somehow the good news of the angels still rings in our ears and wakes us from our dozing.
