Imagine this scene (with Charles Wesley’s attention to detail)–
Shepherds abide in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. The sky explodes with ten thousand flashes of lightning.
Angels speak in the north sky:
For to us a child is born.
Thousands in the south respond:
To us a son is given.
From the east:
And the government shall be on his shoulders.
And the west:
And he will be called . . .
Ten thousand voices echo across the sky, saying:
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
Yep, if I were a shepherd, I’d be sore afraid.
Maybe they were too busy chasing down their sheep, to be afraid?
In all my imagining, I never imagined the reaction of the sheep. For that night, at least, perhaps the sheep had guardian angels.