New Christmas Musicals

47 The Promise (optional reading): And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 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 city of David a Savior has been born to you ; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a Baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." (Luke 2:8-12) Shepherd: Where should I start? Stars falling from the sky? No. Lightning? No—not lightning. Not stars. The truth is—we didn't know. But we were scared—all of us. As scared as we'd ever been. And I don't scare easily. Lions, I know. I can defend a lamb from a lion or any predator if n eed be—but this? This was like nothing I'd ever seen. Who'd believe us? An angel appearing in the sky isn't very believable, but a thousand of them—ten thousand? I wouldn't expect anyone to believe that. I wouldn't believe it—except that I saw it! With my own eyes, I saw it! And as unbelievable as this sounds, most unbelievable was the message. Peace to men. His favor rests—on us! On us? You mean shepherds? We d on't have anyone's favor! We're unclean. And that means one thing. We're unwelcome. It's always been that way. I suppose we're used to it. But, doesn't mean we don't know the scriptures. We do, we know the promises. And we've waited for Messiah as much as any priest. Maybe even more so. But, a stable? A manger? Messiah cannot be born in an animal's feeding trough. Maybe we misunderstood. All we kn ew was that we had to find out. The angel said go, and so we did! We went. And we found Him there, this Baby—this Messiah, wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger. 65/2096&97MD - 47 For Preview Only

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