Sleeper awake, the darkness was a dream
For you will see the Dayspring at your waking.
From O Oriens (O Dayspring), Great O Antiphon sonnet, Malcolm Guite
Morgan Sessions, unsplash.com
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, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Maybe the work of God and so by extension of us, is to raise hope. Angels did so in the hearts of the marginalised shepherds and the star in those of the lofty wise men of the east.
The carol whose line “tidings of comfort and joy” comes very close perhaps to succinctly describe the essence of God's loving intention.
In the darkened shelters,
the war torn fields and cities,
for the late night worker
and the studying teenager
Come Emmanuel, ignite our hearts
Andrew Hook