Merry Christmas In the Margins
Christmas comes first to people nobody would have picked
When Luke records that angelic hosts appeared to shepherds in the fields, it’s not something that lended greater credibility to early Christians trying to get traction with their Jewish and Roman neighbors.
Shepherds were social outcasts. They were dirty and there was a lot of sheep stealing that went on.
They were viewed with so much mistrust and suspicion that their testimony was not permitted in the court of law.
So you have a group of people who were in the margins of society, who were “living out in the fields,” i.e. living out in the physical margins outside of society.
They were doubly marginal people.
Some reflection questions:
Reflecting back on the past couple of months, have you had any experience that seemed to communicate to you that you were in the margins, unimportant, overlooked, or viewed with mistrust? Call that to mind or write down what that experience was/has been like for you.
Given the shepherds “doubly-marginal” status, they were not the kind of people that would be living expectantly for God to come to them to make a once-in-history-announcement….especially given their status as unreliable witnesses!
Why do you think that God sends first one angel, then a whole company, to these kinds of people?If you’re still in any sort of ‘marginal’ space or season, how might the angels being sent to the marginal place and marginal people give you hope?
This is just one thread of questions in this month’s always free Greenhouse Retreat: Good News, Great Joy, All People.
Greenhouse Retreats: helping you to create conditions ideal for long-term fruitfulness.
Merry Christmas my friends! I pray many blessings on each of you for a season full of comfort and joy, no matter how in the margins you might feel.
Happy flourishing y’all,
Alex
P.S. I know that lots of us are in church world and church world is crazy right now. Be sure you make some space, maybe after the crazy, to greenhouse your soul. Click here for Good News, Great Joy, All People to help you reset.