Time for change

Does the reminder of the coming of the Saviour to earth change us? I don’t mean does the whole jamboree leave us exhausted, or does the school nativity play touch our hearts, or does the amount we’ve spent leave us worried about the next credit card statement or, do we feel the better (or, sadly, sometimes the worse) of family time together.

The very first people to meet the Saviour were simple folk and their meeting with the new-born Jesus changed them. The Bible tells us that ‘they returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which was just as they had been told’ (Matthew 2:20).

May God use this time to change us and may we still be glorifying and praising him long after the Christmas tree is back in the attic.

The night shift

The sheep were on the hillside,

the stars were shining bright

when shepherds on the night shift

were bathed in holy light.

The light was heaven’s glory,

the shepherds cowered in fear.

An angel sent from heaven

told them that Christ was here.

‘The tiny new-born infant,

the long-awaited One,

is lying in a manger.

The baby’s God’s own Son.’

The shepherds left their sheepfold

on hearing of his birth

and found the angel’s words true,

the Christ was born on earth!

They worshipped at the manger

where Jesus lay asleep

and then went back rejoicing

to caring for their sheep.