Billy Graham in his book, The Cradle, Cross and Crown, written to help us stay focused on what is important as we journey through the Christmas season, shares this story. May it encourage us this Christmas!

            On that first Christmas night the Bible tells us about the angel coming to those fearful shepherds and saying, “Fear not, I bring you good news.” What is the real meaning of that good news?

            During World War II, many a mother would take her son and try to keep the memory of the father who was away at war in the memory of that boy. And one mother I heard about took her son every day into the bedroom and showed him a large portrait of the father who was away. One day the little boy said to his mother, “Mom, wouldn’t it be great if Dad could just step out of the frame?”

That’s what happened that first Christmas.

            For centuries man has looked into the heavens longing for God to step out of the frame, and at Bethlehem that’s exactly what God did.  Incredible and unbelievable as it may appear  to a modern man, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was a visitor from Heaven itself. He was God Incarnate.

            And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you:  You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” — Luke 2:8-12

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No Ordinary Sheep

Those were no ordinary sheep...no common flocks, huddled in sleep among the fields, the layered rocks, near Bethlehem That Night; but those selected for the Temple sacrifice: theirs to atone for sins they had not done. How right the angels should appear to them That Night. Those were no usual shepherds there, but outcast shepherds whose unusual care of special sheep made it impossible to keep Rabbinic law, which therefore banned them. How right the angels should appear to them That Night.

—Ruth Bell Graham’s Collected Poems (also from the Cradle, Cross and Crown)