Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty— the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”
Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say,
“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.” (Revelation 4:8-11)

Read: Obadiah 1:1-21, Revelation 4:1-11, Psalm 132:1-18, Proverbs 29:24-25

Relate: “The problem with being on the low end of the totem pole is that I always get the night shift.” Those were the first words Joe said to me in answer to my asking, “What on earth happened to you?” Some noise had woken me up and when I started to investigate my house I happened to see Joe walking aimlessly down the street. The scary part was the grin on his face bigger than the Joker’s. If you knew the kid, you knew he was a born pessimist and seeing him grin like that is almost as scary as truly running into the Joker. Some things, like Joe and smiles, just don’t belong together. Anyways, I went outside to ask him what was going on.

“The problem with being on the low end of the totem pole is that I always get the night shift. I had only been working on Dan’s ranch for four months now and that means I get all the crap chores, literally, and that I’m the one who has to be on duty overnight. We had seen signs of wolves trying to find a way into the stable for a few days now so somebody has to keep an eye out in the cold of night to see if we can’t bag one or two and scare the rest away. That’s me.”

I was just about to interrupt his unusual loquaciousness when he said that one word that changed my world forever: “Suddenly…”

React: For an eternity on end, there are those who stand around the throne of God, crying out His praise. Forgive me for a little (more) poetic license but could You imagine with me this praise going on when Jesus Himself puts up His arms and motions for silence. “Sorry, guys but I’m going to have to put this on hold for a brief time. There’s a very important errand I’ve got to run?”

“You’re leaving us?”

“Just for  a few decades. dad will still be here, but I’ve got to go down to earth for a bit. The people there desperately need me.”

“Could we come along? We can sing to You there, too.”

“Sorry. This task is going to be a bit different. I can’t really have that kind of thing where I’m headed.”

“Please, Jesus. Can’t we even sing one song for You down there?”

Jesus thinks for a minute. “Oh, OK. But only to a few shepherds and one of you has to tell them why you’re singing first.”

Heaven was interrupted that God might come to earth. In turn earth was interrupted when heaven broke through the sky to declare this wondrous moment. Why not allow heaven to interrupt just a bit of our mundane life as we meditate on the wonder of heaven’s gift.

Respond: 

God, interrupt my life. Let the wonder of Christmas just blow me away. Let the magic of Your incarnation leave me in dazed shock and awe. You, the glory and worship of heaven came to earth for me. If ever there was an advent deserving of the word, “astounding”, this is it. God I am amazed. I am in awe. You are so worthy of all my praise and so I join with the angels in giving You all honor.