Great Plains Region Briefing

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:8-9).

God couldn’t have appeared to a more unlikely bunch of fellows. In ancient Israel, shepherds were people of relative unimportance. They occupied one of the lowest rungs on the social ladder. They were reputed to be dishonest, and were not even permitted to give testimony in the courts. One commentator writes of their “unfortunate habit of confusing ‘mine’ with ‘thine’ as they moved about the country.

Furthermore, shepherds were notoriously irreligious. Their long sojourns in the fields isolated them from the normal cycle of worship in the towns. This has been characteristic of shepherds elsewhere. Theologian Alister McGrath tells the story of shepherds in East Anglia, England. When these shepherds died, their coffins would be packed with wool. They hoped that when the Day of Judgment came, Jesus would see the wool, remember the unique demands of their profession, their long hours spent chasing wayward sheep, and would understand why they hadn’t made it to church with more regularity.

Why, then, would God send angels to shepherds to announce the birth of his Son? Why would God invite them to come and see him “in a manger laid”?

Whatever other reasons God may have had for manifesting himself to these shepherds, it wasn’t because they deserved it. This fact makes the story instructive for us. While the shepherds’ divine encounter at Bethlehem was a unique historical event, God still makes his glory known to unlikely people everywhere–unlikely people like us.

But God doesn’t reveal himself because of any meritorious qualities we possess. He reveals himself out of sheer mercy. God doesn’t manifest himself because we’ve earned it; he does so to display the riches of his grace. God does not give himself to us as spiritual wages; he gives himself (and how appropriate it is to contemplate this at Christmas) as a gift.

Paul writes in 2 Cor. 4:6-7: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts . . . But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” God, who filled the ancient skies over Bethlehem with the brilliant light of his angelic hosts, now offers to illuminate the darkness of our hearts with his indwelling presence. Like the shepherds, we’re an unlikely bunch of folks to experience such glory. We’re merely “jars of clay,” Paul says, thinking of commonplace clay pots that people of his day used to light their homes. These lamps tended to be simple and unimpressive–rather like us. They were valued, not because of any innate beauty, but because of the light they shone.

Bethlehem’s shepherds can help us grasp an important truth: When God wants to do something wonderful for us, he doesn’t look, first, for our worthiness. Instead, he looks for our humility. God routinely bypasses the proud—those confident in their fitness to encounter him—and appears to the humble, to those Jesus called the “poor in spirit.” God delights in manifesting himself to those who know that, but for the grace of God, they have no business catching a glimpse of his great glory.

-Pastor Andy

If you were able to attend Prayer Awakening ’24 you gained tools, tips, encouragement and challenges to help your church become a house of prayer. If you were unable to attend, you can go online and watch the recordings.

In the last session, Bob Bakke gave us bullet points of prayer practices:

• Ten-second prayer

• Leadership meetings

• House of prayer: Wednesdays

• Prayer team during service

• Prayer after service

• January prayer and fasting

• July prayer and fasting

• Pastor’s prayer team

• Urgent prayer team: emails/texts

• Strike-force prayer

• First Friday prayer Zoom

• First Friday 24-hour prayer

• Drive-thru prayer

• Prayer pals

• Prayer walking

This is just a partial list. In the video he gives a brief description of these prayer practices. They aren’t complicated, but they are effective. We encourage you to go to mcusa.org/prayerawakening and click on session #5 — Mobilizing a Local Church, a Community or a Nation.