Luke 2:15 (NIV) “When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”"
In the Advent season we, continually, like the shepherds “…go to Bethlehem.” As we have journeyed over the past twenty days, we have gone to Bethlehem, in many different ways, to discover, once again, the wonder of our Saviour’s birth. We don’t see it here in our English translation, but in the Greek there is an emphasis on an ongoing discussion. Again and again they said to one another “Yes, let’s get at it, we have to go to Bethlehem.” Bethlehem still draws us today like those shepherds of long ago.
Bethlehem was on a plateau so the shepherds would have had to travel two miles uphill to reach it. But that did not stop them. They hurried off, in spite of the physical challenge, to see their newborn King. The real joy of Christmas starts each day as we make that journey. It is a personal journey filled with new understanding, new blessings and new challenges. It is a journey, like the shepherds, we take to “see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” Thank you, Lord, for that marvellous journey.
Prayer: Father, we thank you that each day we can take that journey to Bethlehem. It is a wonderful journey filled with all kinds of new joys and surprises. It is a journey that never loses its power. Take us, once again this day, to Bethlehem where we, like the shepherds, can marvel at the birth of your Son. Thank you that we can take this journey in this Advent season and throughout the year. May it be a journey that touches our lives each day. For we pray this in Jesus’ name Amen.
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