Luke 2:10-11
"But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord.'"
It is Christmas Eve as I write this. The house is quiet. The wrapping is done. The cookies are baked. The candles are lit. And I am sitting here thinking about another Christmas Eve. The one that started it all. The night when the world was dark and ordinary and then it was not. When a field full of shepherds doing their regular job became the stage for the most important announcement in human history.
Do not be afraid. That is always the first thing the angels say. Because when heaven breaks into earth, it is terrifying. Light that bright. Sound that loud. Reality that big. It is not cozy. It is overwhelming. The shepherds were terrified. And the angel had to calm them down before he could deliver the news. Because the good news is so good that it is almost too much to bear. It requires a recalibration of everything you thought you knew about the world.
Today. That is the word that changes everything. Not tomorrow. Not someday. Today. In the town of David, right now, at this moment, a Savior has been born. The promise that was made in Genesis. The promise that was carried through centuries of waiting and silence and exile and hope. It is happening. Today. The long night of human history has reached its turning point. The dawn is here. And it looks like a baby.
I think about the word today. How many of us are living in yesterday. Carrying the weight of what went wrong. The mistakes. The losses. The things we cannot change. How many of us are living in tomorrow. Anxious about what is coming. Planning for what might happen. Worrying about problems that do not exist yet. But God says today. The Savior is here. Now. In this moment. Not in the past. Not in the future. In the present tense of your actual life.
The good news is for all the people. Not just the good ones. Not just the religious ones. Not just the ones who have their act together. All the people. The shepherds and the scholars. The rich and the poor. The clean and the messy. The ones who feel close to God and the ones who feel like He is a million miles away. All the people. You are included in that all. However far you feel. However broken you are. However many times you have failed. The good news is for you. Today.
"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord."
Tomorrow we will celebrate. We will sing and we will eat and we will open gifts and we will gather around tables and we will remember. But tonight, on this quiet Christmas Eve, I am sitting with the shepherds in the field. I am letting the angel's words wash over me. Do not be afraid. Good news. Great joy. For all the people. For you. Today. The Savior is born. And the world will never be the same. It has not been the same since. And it will not be the same again.
With the twenty-fourth candle burning low and the angel's echo filling the quiet of this holy night, I am resting in the good news. He is here. Tomorrow we celebrate. Tonight we wait. Claire