Luke 2:1-20
He
was not the only baby born that night.
Other
infants must have pierced the dark stillness with their first cries.
Other young women were transformed into mothers;
Other young men changed to fathers.
Other
mothers fell in love gazing into the eyes of their child.
Other fathers felt the weight of new responsibility
laid like a mantel on their shoulders.
laid like a mantel on their shoulders.
Surely
his was not the only birth that night.
He was not the only child brought into this world in the way
we all are –
through pain that melts into euphoria, and fear that gives
way to joy.
Certainly
he was not the only baby born that night.
Yet the news of those other births, those other newborns,
was shared family to family, neighbor to neighbor.
His birth was announced by angels.
Those other babies were born to their parents,
to their families,
to siblings and grandparents,
cousins, aunts, uncles,
villages and communities.
This baby was born to his parents.
And this baby was born to shepherds.
This baby was born to innkeepers and shopkeepers.
To the poor and to the rich,
to the lost and to the found,
to the lonely and to the loved.
This baby was born to shepherds.
That’s what the angel told them,
“To you is born this day in the city of David
a Savior, who is the Messiah.”
To you.
This was no ordinary birth announcement.
This baby was born to shepherds.
This was no ordinary birth announcement.
This baby was born to be a sign.
Signs point the way.
That was the good news the angel proclaimed.
That was the good news the multitude sang;
that holy cacophony that filled the heavens and earth with joyous sound.
On a
dark night, a silent night, this baby was born to shepherds.
This
baby is born to us.
This
baby is a gift, a savior a sign.
Pointing
us to love, to truth, to God,
God
in our midst,
God
with us,
God
for us.
This baby is born to us.
The world is still full of Herods.
The darkness still threatens
to overwhelm and overcome us.
Some of that darkness we make ourselves.
Some of that darkness we create,
pulling it around us like a blanket.
Afraid of the dark, but more afraid of the light.
We are blind but we believe we can see.
We are lost, but we think we know the way.
Into this Herod-filled world,
this dark and blind world,
this baby is born to his parents.
To shepherds.
To us.
There must have been other babies born that night.
Other infants must have pierced the dark stillness with their
first cries.
Other young women were transformed into mothers;
Other young men changed to fathers.
But this baby was born to us,
to be our savior,
our shepherd,
our sign
showing us the way to God.
This baby was born to the world.
To us.
Because God is for us.
God is with us.
God loves us, all of us.
This is our good news.
This is our hope,
that the Word became flesh,
that a baby was born
to his parents,
to shepherds
To us.
Alleluia!
Amen.
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