You’re invited

By Charles Christian

I remember the sight of my then-3-year-old son standing outside of his birthday party venue. We were there early to set up, but he didn’t realize that. So, as we were finishing the early setup, getting ready to go back home and come back later for the party, he looked sadly out at the parking lot and said, “I guess no one is coming.”

Of course, we quickly corrected him, reminding him that it was more than an hour until the actual party started.

It was an innocent mistake from a 3-year-old, but it caught me off guard. How sad to throw a party and have no one show up. Then I thought about how sad it can be to not be invited to a party when a big event is happening. No one wants to feel left out and alone.

That’s why my favorite part of the Christmas story, besides the actual birth of Jesus, is the special invitation extended to the shepherds in Luke 2:8-20. The angel appears to a group of nomadic shepherds tending their flock. They got a singing invitation to attend the birth of Jesus by none other than angels. Of course, they were frightened. They were not used to much company at all, and certainly not a large group of angels sent directly from God.

Shepherds were relatively low on the societal ladder. They were mostly nomadic and moved around a lot. They were not landowners. They made a living as best they could, either tending someone else’s sheep or their own. They stayed on the outskirts of town so as not to interact with those higher on the social ladder. In short, shepherds were not likely to receive an invitation to any party.

Yet, on the night that Jesus was born, these shepherds did not get overlooked. In fact, it seems that those who would have been more likely to be invited to such a world-changing event like the birth of the one the New Testament calls the “savior of the world.” At first, they were terrified (Luke 8:9). So, the first thing the angels tell them is not to be afraid (Luke 8:10). They were not being punished. They were being invited.

At Christmas, and all year long, we celebrate the God who picks unlikely places to enter into the world (a cave in an out-of-the-way place), and who invites the most unlikely people to celebrate this new day — shepherds!

As we celebrate Christmas this year, may we remember that we are included in the love of God, and may we be among those who look to add more places at the table for those who just need to feel included.