Consider with me the audience who
attended the first Christmas concert out in the fields. This was not
large mass throng. There are not a VIP room. No fancy
tuxedos. There may have been furs, but not the kind one would find in a store!
These were shepherds. And shepherds were people whose occupation often
gave them a bad reputation. Shepherds were not even allowed to give
testimony in a courts of law during those days. These bad boys were
considered that unreliable.
If today a major one-of-a-kind concert where
to be performed for a select, sparse nondescript audience, someone would surely
say, “what a waste!” Artists like to perform for an audience who have the
knowledge and capacity to appreciate the finer points of what they
perform.
But the angels who sang in the first Christmas
concert for rugged shepherds sang not just to consider a possible “diamond in
the rough” among those shepherds. I think the power of God within this
story is that the angels sang for this simple audience to show you and I that
every person is a diamond in God’s sight. God’s angels sang for
shepherds, not because one has the latent capacity to appreciate what is
happening, but simply because they are human beings.
God’s love and salvation are offered to all
persons. That is the gift of Jesus. Proof of merit is not required.
Evidence for potential future achievements is not requested. This is what
we call grace. The first Christmas concert came to shepherds who were
keeping watch over their flocks by night because God loves them. And God
loves you and I too.
See you at the singing place,
Pastor Michelle
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