3 Days to Christmas. Tuesday, Dec 22, 2020

“Keep It Simple”

An endearing memory and pandemic-related casualty is the Children’s Christmas Pageant. Postponed until next year, I’ll have to wait a little while before I can see all the children dressed up in their costumes. I especially love the angels, which are usually represented by younger children. They approach the shepherds, singing songs to announce the arrival of Jesus, while their homemade halo’s slip from their heads and their wings detach from the costume.

It is a beautiful scene, but, regarding Scripture’s description, the angels do not sing to the shepherds (or anyone). Rather, they praise God, saying their famous line (meticulously recited by Linus in Charlie Brown’s Christmas), “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

I really like the thought of a few angels singing and blowing trumpets in between breaths. But according to the story, it’s not three or four angels. It’s a “multitude of the heavenly host”, which means thousands upon thousands of angels. How cool is that? Can we imagine how powerful it would be for the shepherds? The Christmas Star yesterday was super-cool to see, but can you imagine seeing and hearing thousands of angels shouting and announcing the arrival of Jesus?

Sometimes, we romanticize the Christmas story into something it is not. Sometimes, we complicate our Christmas story so much that when we try to untangle it, we create even more knots.

Don’t get overwhelmed this week. Keep it simple. Keep it safe. Take a deep breath, and remember the angel’s message to the shepherds, “…behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people...Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward me” Yes! That’s all I need this year.

“Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people...And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’” (Luke 2:10, 14, NKJV).