ECUMENISM
To shepherds, the outcasts of society at that time, was entrusted the task of announcing the birth of Jesus. The shepherds were transformed into angels, for the original meaning of the word ‘angel’ is messenger”. The shepherds remind us of the many excluded people in our own society. The Christmas Message 2006 of Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (Wcc), issued recently, is all focused on the shepherds in St. Luke’s account. “The shepherds do not change their appearance but they do become angels. Their encounter with Jesus profoundly transformed them”, writes Kobia, who recalls the Wcc Assembly at Porto Alegre this year, which heard, he said, “powerful stories from many different messengers. Many spoke of the hope but also the challenges of peace… It heard how difficult and yet essential it is to protect children from the scourge of war”, essential because children need to be protected and investments made in their education and development. Since then, continues the message, “our prayers for the transformation of the world through God’s grace have continued, as has the witness of churches in situations of conflict”. WCC delegations have visited Lebanon, Palestine and Israel, Sudan, the Philippines and other areas of conflict. “Luke’s gospel story – concludes Kobia – encourages us to see that if the shepherds can become angels, then there is hope for each of us also to become angels, witnessing to how God’s grace is transforming the world”.
