Movement 4 The Angel and the Shepherds

1 Upon a quiet hillside
Lay flocks of gentle sheep
As Shepherds lay their heads down
Day’s end would hasten sleep

2 No noble men among them
No poets, priests or kings
The humble and the lowly
Not giv’n to lofty things

3 Not privy to the wonders
Revealed to others, yet
No sense there was a Mary
Or aged Elizabeth

4 They’d heard no prophet’s voices
Nor Mary’s hymn of praise
They tended to their business
This one, like other days

5 There were no signs of warning
No omens in the sky
No great anticipation
To prompt a careful eye

6 Just humble, no-name shepherds
About their daily charge
Amid the bleating sheepfold
Glum duty to discharge

7 When through the sleepy silence
Broke blinding, dazzling light
The shock of God’s own glory
Brought terror at the sight

8 The angel – though astounding
Spoke quickly – do not fear!
I’ve come to bring you good news
For all the world to hear

9 Today, in David’s city
In humble Bethlehem
To you is born a Savior What things he spoke to them!

10 Why say such things to shepherds
Whose word none would believe? These are the least of all men
Who will their word receive?

11 And yet there in his glory
The angel spoke his word
Here, I give a sign to you
A pledge of what you’ve heard

12 In David’s town, a baby
Was born this very day
He’s lying in a manger
In swaddling cloths arrayed

13 And when the angel said this
The sky was filled with light
A great angelic army
Dispelled the dark of night

14 A martial choir of angels
With massive, deafn’ing sound
Began to sing God’s glory
And make His praise abound

15 God’s glory in the highest
And peace to you on earth
For it has pleased the Godhead
The Prince of Peace to birth

16 The Shepherds hastened quickly
To Bethlehem they ran
To find the Babe as told them
This Savior born to Man

17 They ran to find the family
To see what they’d been told
And told them of the angels
And why they left their fold

18 Then leaving, telling others
Like prophets they became
And all who heard them wondered
What news they did proclaim

19 Returning to the sheepfold
A choir now were they
In praises glorifying
What God had done that day

20 And while this first – God’s Christmas
Began, and now was done
The saving work of Jesus
Had only just begun