The
biographer Luke tells us about shepherds and angels (Luke 2.8-20).
When
the heavenly soldier taking point appears in the Nightwatch camp, the rest of
his squad close behind him, the shepherds are terrified. What news is this,
that cannot wait till daybreak? News of a long-awaited military deliverer – is this,
then, the advance guard? Yet the message is of peace, the sign, a vulnerable newborn.
Dawn has not yet broken the horizon, but it is on the way, as Zechariah had so
recently prophesied, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death and guide their feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:78, 79). This,
then, is good news of great joy for those whose bodies carry the tension of
knowing death is nearby, just beyond the circle of light, biding its time in
the darkness.
In
response to this revelation of joy, the shepherds make a journey, both
literally and metaphorically, through the darkness, from the edge to the
centre, from the darkness to the light, from being on constant guard to being
in the presence of peace.
It
is a journey they not only make for themselves but draw others into. For this
night, at least, we can sleep easy.
But
then they must return, to their flocks, to their watch, to keeping guard
against predators in the night. For now, the threat has withdrawn, but it will
return. Within two years, there would be weeping in Bethlehem.
This
is not a one-way move from the sympathetic nervous system to the
parasympathetic nervous system. Both are a gift, from God, for our survival,
for our flourishing. We are invited to apprentice from God in how to respond to
fear, and how to respond to peace. And how to move back and forth between the
two.
Now,
as then, some people get stuck in their fear.
You
need not be one of them. Be more shepherd.
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