The Glory of the Night Shift

Allen
A group of shepherds in heavy cloaks gathered around a small campfire with their sheep under a dark, dramatic sky as a bright beam of light breaks through the clouds.

A Lonely Business

If you’ve ever worked the night shift, you know it’s a lonely business. That was certainly true for shepherds watching over their flocks.

You’re out there watching for wolves, smelling damp wool and cinching your jacket tight to keep out the frigid night air. It’s the last place you’d expect the ceiling of the world to rip open and pour out glory, but God has a habit of showing up exactly where polite folks wouldn’t think to look. He didn’t send that choir to the palace; He sent it to the pasture.

Light Breaks Best

Light breaks best in the dark.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, 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, goodwill toward men!”

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