“Let’s go right now”

Resurrection will again offer in-person Candlelight Christmas Eve services at all locations this year, as well as continued online and televised worship options. As you make your worship plans for tomorrow, you can find times and locations at cor.org/christmas.

God chose well when inviting Mary and Joseph to take on the responsibility of parenting the unique child Jesus, and also chose well in revealing the news of the Savior’s birth to the shepherds. They didn’t wait. They went “right now” to see what had happened. Then they told other people about it. “amazed: can mean impressed as well as confused. It isn’t the same as accepting the message and being changed by it.”* This, too, foreshadowed the various responses Jesus’ adult ministry triggered.

• After hearing the angels’ song, the shepherds said, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.” Have you confirmed what you’ve learned “about” God? What rewards have you found in moving beyond an intellectual to a relational experience where you “taste and see” that Jesus is who he said he was?
• Pastor Bruce Larson wrote, “[Verse 20] says that after the shepherds had seen such wondrous things they went back to the commonplace. That’s true for us each year at Christmas as we celebrate these events. Where will we be when the excitement and fun are over? How do these events change the lives we lead back at our jobs, our homes, our schools?”** How will the wondrous news of Christmas change your day-to-day life for the better in 2022?

The Journey: A Season of Reflections

Today’s Insights blog was chapter 24, “The Shepherds’ Response,” from The Journey: A Season of Reflections, by Adam Hamilton. Copyright © 2011 by Abingdon Press, and available on our website for 24 hours by permission of Abingdon Press. If you’d like to buy the entire book of reflections, you can click here for a direct link to the Cokesbury sale page, as well as other Journey resources.