For our Advent devotionals we are looking deeper at some of our favorite carols.
Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 55:12
You will live in joy and peace.
The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands!
Today’s Carol: How Great Our Joy
While by the sheep we watched at night, Glad tidings brough an angel bright.
How great our joy! (Great our joy!) Joy, joy, joy! (Joy, joy, joy)
Praise we the Lord in heav’n on high! (Praise we the Lord in Heav’n on high!)
There shall be born, so he did say, In Bethlehem a Child today.
How great our joy! (Great our joy!) Joy, joy, joy! (Joy, joy, joy)
Praise we the Lord in heav’n on high! (Praise we the Lord in Heav’n on high!)
There shall the Child lie in a stall, This Child who shall redeem us all.
How great our joy! (Great our joy!) Joy, joy, joy! (Joy, joy, joy)
Praise we the Lord in heav’n on high! (Praise we the Lord in Heav’n on high!)
This gift of God we’ll cherish well, That ever joy our hearts shall fill.
How great our joy! (Great our joy!) Joy, joy, joy! (Joy, joy, joy)
Praise we the Lord in heav’n on high! (Praise we the Lord in Heav’n on high!)
Today’s Devotional
Have you ever wondered, why shepherds? Why did the shepherds get to hear the good news about Jesus first? Why were they the ones who got to sing “Joy, joy, joy?” Wouldn’t it have been better to go to some “influencers” who could talk up the event, post a few pictures on Instagram, and get people talking? Or maybe allow the government leaders to make the announcement with an important press conference? Shepherds were lowly (and that’s putting it nicely). They had no social standing at all. And they smelled.
But God chose them to hear the most important birth announcement of all time. Why?
Well maybe it’s because Jesus’ was not coming to the people who were already in charge, wealthy, and important. Jesus came to bring Good News to the poor, proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free. (Luke 4:18) In other words Jesus came for the shepherds! No wonder they got the announcement. The announcement was for them.
Here’s the thing. The announcement is still active for all the “shepherds” out there: those who are captive and bound in a system that values profit over everything; those who are blind to their own sin and how that sin impacts others around them; those who are oppressed by depression or illness or anxiety or anything else that takes away joy. Maybe that’s why the shepherds sing “joy” so many times in this carol – because joy has returned with the coming of the Christ child.
Hear the announcement of Jesus’ birth as though you were a shepherd – because we are all shepherds. And the announcement of Jesus’ birth is joy!
Today’s Prayer
God sometimes, living in our privileged world, we forget that we are all shepherds. Remind us today of how the Good News is good for all people – even us. And help us celebrate with Joy!
Amen
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