Advent 2022: Saturday, December 24
December 24, 2022
The Birth of Jesus as told by an eyewitness, a lowly sheep named Ollie with the help of St. Luke
It all started a long time ago because some guy named Caesar Augustus decided that his whole empire must be registered. At this time Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Everyone had to go to his birthplace to register.
Now there was a guy named Joseph who was engaged to a young lady named Mary, and even though she was almost ready to have a baby, they had to travel to all the way to Bethlehem. Now Bethlehem, the city of David, was very far away and not an easy trip, but Joseph was of the house and family line of David. Right after Joseph and Mary got to Bethlehem, it was time for Mary to have the baby. After he was born, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because all the rooms in the town were filled up. Can you imagine that?
Now this is where I come in. Guess who was the first to know? My boss, a shepherd who was watching over us little sheep because he didn’t want us to stray was the first to see the huge bright light in the sky. When all of a sudden, an angel of the Lord was standing right there. Right there in front of us! Talk about being scared…we were all shaking in our little hoofs. And then the angel told us not to be afraid because he had good news for everyone. He said that a baby was born in Bethlehem who was the Messiah, the Lord. Wow! I was thinking, after hearing about everyone waiting for this Messiah, that something special was happening.
The angel then told us that we should all go visit him. This angel was pretty smart because he knew everything about this kid. Then all of a sudden there was a whole big bunch of angels and they were all singing, praising God and giving him glory. What a great time it was! What a party!
We were all so excited to go see this baby when my boss and all the other shepherds decided to go. We packed our sacks quickly and off we went. We found the Mom and the Pop and that baby lying in a manger, just like the angel told us. And guess what? I got to lie up close right next to the manger. They needed us little guys to help keep the little baby warm. Boy, did I feel special! I felt like God’s honor Guard!
After we all finished our visit with this holy family, we left and on our way we told everyone what we saw. Then we all headed back to our pastures, singing, dancing, praising God and thanking him for choosing US, lowly shepherds and their sheep to be the first to hear about our Savior, Jesus, the newborn King!
Donna Tyburski, elder