“Today in the town of David a Savior

has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”

(Luke 2:10)

On this holiest of nights two thousand years ago, a small band of shepherds were startled by an angel of the Lord and the announcement that, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Prior to this moment the birth of God’s Son was merely anticipated; it was oriented toward a future yet unknown. However, there in the outskirts of Bethlehem the angel’s announcement makes an important and unmistakable shift that proclaims that Jesus has been born. The timestamp on the angel’s message reads “today.” In other words, angel emphasized the present as time of fulfillment, now as the time of God’s gracious deliverance.

In The Redemption of Scrooge author Matt Rawle indicates the shift of time that occurs in the Christmas story of Luke 2:1-20. It is a shift that moves us from speaking what happened “In those days” to what to God is doing on “this day.” Our Savior’s birth changes everything:

In those days the palace ruled the world, but on this day the world is being turned upside down. In those days the shepherds were less than unimportant, but on this day, the shepherds received the kingdom of God!

In those days we simply read about a miracle. On this day we expect one.

To me the Christmas story is every bit as pregnant as Mary. Under every detail is a trap door to a deeper meaning. Sometimes I am drawn to the ordinariness of the shepherds, when it dawns upon me that the Messiah came to save common people like us. Other times I identify with the innkeeper and wonder if there is room for the Christ child within. Still other times I wonder if my faith is strong enough to follow Mary’s boy to the cross. This Christmas, I am drawn to the excited and wonder-filled voice of the angel’s first word to the shepherds, “Today”!

            I pray that you will find within the Christmas story a detail to ponder. Hopefully a detail that causes the Christmas story to leap off the pages of Luke’s gospel and come alive within. During the next several weeks of December, you are welcome to come and to celebrate the Savior’s birth with your church family. Each service is unique which allows you to blend your insights of the Christmas story with your love for Christ.

  Christmas Blessings,   Nicholas Perry, Pastor