Wonder to Witness: Shepherds Shared God's Love

December 25, 2025

Luke 2:15-20

15 When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us.” 16 They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they reported what they had been told about this child. 18 Everyone who heard it was amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully. 20 The shepherds returned home, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything happened just as they had been told.

Daily Reflection & Prayer

God chose well in calling Mary and Joseph to parent Jesus and also chose well in revealing the Savior’s birth to the shepherds. The shepherds didn’t wait—they went ‘right now’ to see what had happened, then told others about it. Scholar Richard Vinson noted, “amazed: can mean impressed as well as confused. It isn’t the same as accepting the message and being changed by it.” * But Mary “committed these things to memory and considered them carefully.” Her deeper response invites us to ponder God’s love thoughtfully.

The shepherds heard the angels’ song and immediately said, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem.” God’s love moved the shepherds to prompt action and transformed them into witnesses. Divine love doesn’t leave us unchanged. Have you moved beyond learning “about” God to knowing God personally? What have you discovered in moving from an intellectual understanding to a relational experience where you ‘taste and see’ (discover—Psalm 34:8) that Jesus is who he claimed to be?
After witnessing such wondrous things, the shepherds returned to their ordinary lives. Pastor Bruce Larson observed that this mirrors our experience each Christmas—we celebrate these extraordinary events, then return to everyday routines. The key question is: how do these events change the lives we lead at our jobs, homes, and schools? ** As you return to your regular rhythms in 2026, how will Christmas transform your day-to-day life?

Prayer

A daily reminder from Pastor Hamilton: Our hope is that tonight or tomorrow morning, continuing through Christmas, each of you will, either in the morning or at night, take the time to write down three things you are thankful for. You might write these in the form of a thank you letter to God or simply write down a journal entry.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, when all the excitement and warmth of Christmas is over, help me return to my everyday life “glorifying and praising God,” as the shepherds did. Amen.

GPS Insights

Janelle Gregory

Janelle Gregory, who serves as Resurrection's Human Resources Lead Director, wrote today's Insights. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.

I’ve always loved Christmas. It’s the joy that comes with the season, it’s the familiar carols sung, it’s the lights gleaming around the city, it’s families gathering together, it’s the familiar story we return to year after year. But if I’m honest, I need Christmas this year in a way I never have before.

This year has felt like one long series of hits. Earlier in the year, my husband was laid off from his job. What we thought might be a short season turned into six long months of searching, waiting, hoping, and trying to stay steady when the future felt uncertain. We’re extremely grateful that he has work now, but that stretch was challenging. I thought that would be the worst thing that happened to us this year.

But then, just two weeks after my husband started his new job, our world shook again. I lost my mom, my best friend, unexpectedly. I hadn’t experienced pain like that before. It’s as if a bomb exploded in my soul, destroying all that was familiar, and it left me lost in the rubble. I just kept saying, “It hurts. It hurts so badly.” It’s been just under 3 months, and it still hurts. Grief is that silent assassin that attacks without warning as you’re trying to put the pieces back together.

And just this month, my brother, who lives with us, was also laid off and is now searching for work. Another blow, another reminder that life doesn’t always give you time to catch your breath. It has felt like hit after hit.

And yet, even in the darkest of moments, God has been there – not always in big, dramatic ways. Sometimes just in a sense of his presence guiding me when I couldn’t find my footing to take the next step. Sometimes through the kindness of people who showed up, checked in, brought meals, sent texts, or simply sat with us in the mess. I’ve seen God’s love through others, and I’ve felt it when I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the next moment, let alone through the whole day.

That’s why I need Christmas this year. I always need a Savior, but I need one this year like I never have before. I need redemption for what feels broken. I need hope when the future feels fragile. I need light in places that still feel dark.

The Christmas story reminds us that God didn’t wait for the world to be stable, peaceful, or put together before he came. He entered the mess. He came quietly, humbly, as a baby, into a world that desperately needed saving. No matter how bright or dim life feels for you right now, whether you’re celebrating with joy or just barely holding it together, there is a light that outshines everything else. It’s a light that transforms the world, transforms hearts, and still transforms lives today. This Christmas, that is the light that I’m holding onto. And maybe, if you need it too, that same glorious light will be the light that carries you through.

References

* Richard B. Vinson, study note on Luke 2:17 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 110 NT.
** Bruce Larson, The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 26: Luke. Nashville: Word, Inc., 1983, p. 52.

WEATHER ALERT:

IMPORTANT:

Wonder to Witness: Shepherds Shared God's Love

Daily Scripture

Luke 2:15-20

Daily Reflection & Prayer

Prayer

GPS Insights

Janelle Gregory

© 2025 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

References

Online & TV

Leawood

West

Downtown

Blue Springs

Overland Park

Brookside

Spring Hill

Liberty

Lee's Summit