When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” - Luke 2:15
God has set His glory above the heavens.
Had he never spoken by the prophets, through His Word, and through His Son - creation itself is a living declaration of God’s glory so much so that no one is without excuse as to the presence of God.
No true encounter with this glorious God ever leaves us the same. Sometimes we encounter His glory in an overwhelming moment filled with the weight and wonder of His presence. Sometimes we encounter the glory of God as a whisper in the unexpected, unseen, overlooked, blink-and-miss-them moments of our lives. Sometimes the mundane moments are torn in two with God’s glory on display - the person of Christ: God with us, God among us, God for us.
The life of a shepherd was hidden - hidden from society, hidden by their work, hidden in the darkness of the night. But is here where the glory of God shines upon them and they behold the glory of God in the face of His Son. Their lives become living prayers: presence with and to the God of the universe.
Into the hidden place, glory breaks through. Out from the hiding of the night, the shepherds return glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, and been told. But these beholders of Glory are not the only ones impacted by this glory-encounter:
‘But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.’ Luke 2:19