A shepherd picks himself up; his companions are still on the ground, awestruck. He belches, turns around – and staggers back at the sight of an angel 1,000 feet tall, filling the sky.
Shepherd: You’re still here.
Angel: Yes… What a beautiful night on earth.
S: There were thousands of you a minute ago.
A: Oh, we couldn’t leave anyone out of this mission. Everyone wanted to come tonight. So often our message is hard; or it’s good news, but with a challenge. This was the purest, the best, the greatest news ever – the move we’ve been waiting for the Creator to make, waiting for all eternity, it feels like.
S: Did you tell lots of people?
A: No – just you and your friends.
S: Why us? Why come to a bunch of guys like us? We’re just shepherds… smelly, crude…
Nobody talks to us.
A: Who better? You’re living outside, in this field – practically homeless. You need to know God has heard you, has not forgotten you, any of you, rich or poor, whole or broken. That the savior has been born.
S: In a stable in Bethlehem? Who’s going to listen to that crazy story? Who’s going to listen to us?
A: Oh, no one will believe you if you just tell them I said so. That you were just minding your own business while the sheep slept – and a host of angels appeared to you and told you something about good will toward men and going to find a baby in a feed trough? They’ll think you got a particularly bad batch of rotgut. But if you go and see for yourselves – you will be such amazing witnesses, people will believe because of your confidence in what you’ve seen.
S: You’re right about it being a crazy story…
A: Believe me – this is a story they’re going to want to hear. And believe. You will be the first to tell the story of how the world changed overnight. People will be talking about you thousands of years from now. So go – run to Bethlehem. See what I have told you. And then tell it, everywhere.
S: Go. See. Tell. Okay. He rouses the other shepherds.
Come on guys, get up. it’s not over. We have to get to Bethlehem and see if this is true!
He turns back to the angel, but the sky is now clear, just a deep blue with bright shining stars.
Oh. I was going to say goodbye. And thank you.
Hey, who you talking to, man?
And on the breeze the faint flutter of wings and for just a moment a sound like all of heaven is singing. And then the silence of a clear, cold night.
So, who are you going to tell?
A: Who better? You’re living outside, in this field – practically homeless. You need to know God has heard you, has not forgotten you, any of you, rich or poor, whole or broken. That the savior has been born.
S: In a stable in Bethlehem? Who’s going to listen to that crazy story? Who’s going to listen to us?
A: Oh, no one will believe you if you just tell them I said so. That you were just minding your own business while the sheep slept – and a host of angels appeared to you and told you something about good will toward men and going to find a baby in a feed trough? They’ll think you got a particularly bad batch of rotgut. But if you go and see for yourselves – you will be such amazing witnesses, people will believe because of your confidence in what you’ve seen.
S: You’re right about it being a crazy story…
A: Believe me – this is a story they’re going to want to hear. And believe. You will be the first to tell the story of how the world changed overnight. People will be talking about you thousands of years from now. So go – run to Bethlehem. See what I have told you. And then tell it, everywhere.
S: Go. See. Tell. Okay. He rouses the other shepherds.
Come on guys, get up. it’s not over. We have to get to Bethlehem and see if this is true!
He turns back to the angel, but the sky is now clear, just a deep blue with bright shining stars.
Oh. I was going to say goodbye. And thank you.
Hey, who you talking to, man?
And on the breeze the faint flutter of wings and for just a moment a sound like all of heaven is singing. And then the silence of a clear, cold night.
So, who are you going to tell?
No comments:
Post a Comment