Light of the Whole World

A while back, I began the search for really well told Bible stories. I love a good story and from a literary perspective, the Bible story books out there are mostly lacking. Then I came across the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones. The subtitle of the book is "every story whispers his name." Each story from the old testament, starting at creation looks forward to Jesus and each story after his arrival elaborates on it's significance. The target age group is preschoolers, but the way the stories are linked is unique and well told enough to captivate all ages. The following is an excerpt from "Light of the Whole World" the shepherds' story from Luke 2.


"God was like a new daddy--he couldn't keep the good news to himself. He'd been waiting all these long years for this moment, and now he wanted to tell everyone.
...Now he was going to send a big choir of angels to sing his happy song to the world: He's here! He's come! Go and see him. My little boy.
Now where would you send your splendid choir? To a big concert hall maybe? Or a palace perhaps? God sent his to a little hillside, outside a little town, in the middle of the night. He sent all those angels to sing to a raggedy bunch of shepherds watching their sheep outside Bethlehem.
...God must have thougt the shepherds were very important indeed, because they were the ones he chose to share the good news with first.
That night the shepherds were out in the open fields, warming themselves by a campfire, when suddenly the sheep darted. They were frightened by something. The olive trees rustled. What was that...a wing beat?
They turned around. Standing in front of them was a huge warrior of light, blazing in the darkness. "Don't be afraid of me!" The bright, shining man said. "I haven't come to hurt you. I've come to bring you happy news fro everyone everywhere... God's son has been born! You can go see him. He's sleeping in a manger."
Behind the angel, they saw a strange, glowing cloud--except it wasn't a cloud, it was angels... troops and troops of angels, armed with light! And they were singing a beautiful song: "Glory to God! To God be Fame and Honor and all our Hoorays!"
Then, as quickly as they appeared, the angels left.
The shepherds stamped out the fire, left their sheep [and ran] until, at last, they reached... a tumbledown stable...
They quietly tiptoed inside.
They knelt on the dirt floor. They had heard their whole lives about this Promised Child and now he was here. Heaven's Son. The Maker of the Stars. A baby sleeping in his mother's arms. This baby would be like a bright star shining in the night sky. A Light to light up the whole world. Chasing away the darkness. And the darker the night got, the brighter the star would shine."