Luke 2:14

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

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I have so many questions. The first question is how long had the angels been practicing their parts? We see all of this play out before us each year in nativity plays and live depictions. We remember fondly Linus using this text to answer Charlie Brown’s question about the true meaning of Christmas. Have you ever pondered that some of these players did not have this just sprung on them? Have you considered that this angel who proclaimed the good news to the shepherds had been practicing it for millenia? We read that the shepherds were afraid, but did the angel have such fear? After all, this is one of the most important messages ever declared. The angel surely did not want to botch this announcement.

And what about the angelic choir? Was the chorus they graced the shepherds with one that they sang normally in praise to the Almighty or was this a special arrangement that made its world premiere in a pasture outside of Bethlehem? If it was a special arrangement, how long had they been aware of their audience? Did they feel slighted that they were simply singing for shepherds or did they believe that the message was so important it did not matter the audience?

Now, you may be asking yourself a question at this point, why is he asking so many questions. Well, first off I hopefully have challenged you to look at the Christmas narrative through a different lens. It is such a familiar tale that sometimes we only see what we’ve always seen and having a new perspective refreshes the narrative for us. Secondly, I pray that seeing the narrative afresh helps us to regain the magnitude of this first Christmas gift. These are not simply words on a page, but God reconciling humanity and the created order with the Creator.

More pointedly though I hope my questions conjure within you courage. The greatest threat to
Christianity is neither the perceived threats of the irreligious nor non-Judeo-Christian faiths. The greatest threat to Christianity is for disciples of Bethlehem’s babe doing to this story what some of us will do with our Christmas decorations later this afternoon or week — put them in a box until next year. We will never know this side of glory whether the proclaiming angel was nervous as they shared the good news to the shepherd or not. What we do know is that the angel told the shepherds to fear not, shared the glad tidings, AND told the shepherds how to find Jesus themselves. May we resolve this Christmas Day to go and do likewise. Finally, may our resolution be so firm that we will sing the Almighty’s praises regardless of how insignificant or obscure the audience or location might be, just as the angelic choir did. For then, Beloved, every day will be like Christmas as the miracle of the Christ child is marveled
and received by someone new each day such that our common greeting to one and all will become “Happy Christmas!”

– Rev. Marc Sanders