Scripture reading for today: Luke 2:8-20 TEV
“…. “don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you. This very day
in David’s town your Savior was born – Christ the Lord” Luke 2 10-11
We live in an age when it appears there is very little “Good News”. Each day we are confronted by gun violence, the power of a pandemic, and the political conflicts and violence created by extremists. What we might pause to recall in this passage is that the life of the shepherds isn’t much different from ours in that there wasn’t much good news then either. Roman dominance and control over Israel at that time was such that the average Jew simply tried to keep their head down and survive.
So the angel’s declaration was indeed “Good News, news of a hope for their future to be different from the daily survival they struggled with each day. However, I would suggest that it is their response to this news that offers a guideline for us today. Immediately they go to confirm what they have been told and to share their experience with others. Then they go back to their lives celebrating what they have found. That might well serve as a model for us.
We are a people who know the Good News revealed in the Christ. When we hear good news today, acts of compassion and caring during the Christmas season, or acts of heroism from people who risk their own lives to save others, we know the source of that as God’s continued actions through people. So we need to both spread the stories and celebrate them. Sharing good news on social media that might otherwise not be known is a powerful rebuttal to the sad news we get though public newscasts. And celebrating a piece of good news by making a supportive comment is yet another way we can combat the sense of depression and powerlessness that so much “news” generates. Let us become contemporary “angels” proclaiming “good news. which will bring great joy”, and a hope for a future where good news predominates over the bad. ” In so doing we affirm the meaning of Christ’s birth, that through faith in him, God is still leading good people to live the life he demonstrated for his followers.
Reflections 