This is Christmas 

God on Monday
Read previous

‘The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen’ (Luke 2.20). 

Reflection

‘So this is Christmas’, as John Lennon put it. Why then, on this of all days, are we releasing a reflection? If God on Monday seeks to relate scripture to ordinary everyday life, especially to work, why are we providing one on a national (and international) day off?

There are two main reasons. First, today is a working day for many people. They include church leaders, who may not have been able to get to bed until the early hours of this morning due to midnight services. This will probably have followed several hectic weeks of carol services, school and hospital visits, and Christmas lunches.

People working today also include members of our healthcare and emergency services. And for many people whose primary work is caring for the young or elderly at home, Christmas Day can be sheer hard work.

But there is a second, more important, reason why today is a good day to consider the integration of the Word and work. It lies at the heart of the nativity narratives, in the story of the shepherds, which begins ‘there were shepherds in the fields, keeping watch over their flock.’ (Luke 2.8).

Here are workers in their workplace. Our experience may have convinced us that workplaces are an unlikely place for God to show up. Yet, right there in the fields, a multitude of angels appear, praising God and declaring ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven’ (vs 9-14).

Then, once the shepherds have been to Bethlehem, they return to that workplace, telling people about their experience and ‘glorifying and praising God’! Did these shepherds not realize that workplaces – especially ones tainted by unclean labour – were no place for such activity?

How we conduct such activity - for conduct it we must - will vary according to our context. In most contexts, tact and sensitivity will be required. Nevertheless, the story of the shepherds encourages us to be bold. As Lennon continues in that song, ‘A very merry Christmas, And a happy New Year, Let's hope it's a good one, Without any fear’.

Response

Consider how you would like, through your work, to be more courageous in your testimony to God during 2024 than you were in 2023.

Prayer

Help me, Lord, to know in my work the joy of the angels and the boldness of the shepherds throughout the coming year.

This Week's Author

Read next

God on Monday is produced in partnership with the Church of England. The reflections are based on the scriptural readings designated for the next Sunday in the Church's lectionary. You can sign up to Faith in Business here to receive each God on Monday instalment.    

Feel free to share these reflections with your contacts via email and social media.