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A reflection and prayer to start the day with Catherine De Souza, Senior Leader of City Church in Cardiff.

Good morning. Yesterday my 4-year-old daughter was in our church’s nativity playing a sheep. She loved practising her lines in the run up to the performance - there was a bit of artistic licence in the play in that the sheep were able to talk and sing and dance! The children were all very sweet, but of course the depiction of cute and cuddly sheep and shepherds is quite different to the reality of shepherds in Jesus’ day.

The shepherds in the familiar Christmas story were living out in the fields, they were watching their sheep and protecting them against predators. These were people living outdoors, ready to ward off wild animals or thieves. At that time, shepherds were low on the social ladder. They were on the margins of society and the religious leaders of the time looked down upon them, deeming them dishonest and untrustworthy. It seems they weren’t even allowed to give testimony in law courts.

These shepherds that heard the news about the birth of Jesus were living outside of the town and keeping themselves to themselves. But then the angel came to announce the birth of the Saviour, not to the most educated, or the richest, or the most powerful, but to the shepherds! In that act God reframed the shepherds' identity. These people who were looked down upon were now given worth.

Perhaps this Christmastime as we see depictions in crib scenes or children’s nativity plays, we might remember as we see the shepherds that God can transform identities, as He chooses those who others might routinely overlook.

God, thank you that you chose to share the most wonderful news with the most unlikely people. Thank you that you raise up those who are looked down upon, and give worth to the lowly. Help each one of us to know the beauty of being identified and transformed by you. Amen.