A Shepherd’s Christmas

I am just a shepherd, one of many temple shepherds living on the outside of Bethlehem.
I am a Jew and this is my story, my story of the birth of the Christ.

It was census time and we were charged with watching the sheep.
Out of nowhere, light filled the darkness and in front of us stood an angel
I was terrified and panicking and did not know whether to run or prostrate
But the angel spoke, calmingly he told us not to be frightened.
He said that he came with good news and great joy for everyone.

I did not have the words then, but now I know.
As he spoke we were enveloped in the radiance and glory of the Lord.
It was a beautiful moment as this messenger of God delivered us his message.
Why did he choose us, lowly shepherds? To this day I don’t know.

But his message, it was both incomprehensible and terribly exciting.
Could this be the beginning of the end, the end of oppression?
The angel said, the Saviour, the Messiah, the Lord has been born,
Born in the city of David, Bethlehem.
And then came the strange part, the Lord was to be found in an animal’s feed-box.

I had no time to ponder these happenings ’cause suddenly the sky was awash with angels,
Armies of angels praising God. Singing to him,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favours”.
And then they were gone, the night returned.

Pandemonium broke out amongst us as we neglected our sacrificial lambs and ran to see the saviour.
We searched the night, looking for stables, light, voices and the cry of such a lowly newborn.
We found the messiah behind an inn in a feed-box, he was no different than us sleeping rough this night.
Are hearts were pounding as we told the Lord’s parents out story.
We may not have believed it ourselves if the babe had not been there.
Though our story was astonishing, the mother did not seem surprised she stored our tale in her heart.

We returned to our fields praising God, because we had seen the child of whom the angels spoke.
We had seen our Messiah, our Lord and our saviour.
Glory to God, because surely our freedom would soon come.

Later we heard stories about God himself being the father; a star, magi and Herod’s anger.
These all simply confirmed that our messiah, the Christ has been born.

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There is a version on this poem with bible references, if you would like it please ask.

Thank you so much for reading ‘out for lunch’. If you are reading and want contribute, please do. Thanks Kel.