That Night

That night, I shivered, and not just from the cold ... life is hard when your whole country is held in slavery; life is harder when nobody wants anything to do with you; life is harder still when your hope is dying, one day at a time. I shivered, and then in a flash of light my shivering froze, and time stood still.

"don't be scared", said the angel. (what could I be but scared? nobody talks to a shepherd!) "for see", said the angel, "here's good news for you". (yeah right, I mumbled, news for me? come on, angel, I know good news are for the places where it's warm and where they eat well.)

while I still mumble, the angel goes on and says, "to you there is born this day a savior, the messiah, the LORD." deep-deep down I feel my dried-up well of hope rise in a leap of joy, and my mumbled protest goes dry. the angel talks of a child lying in a manger, and other angels sing, and I say, let's go!

luke 2: 8-14 paraphrased by fritz wendt