Being a shepherd -- disrespected by society, living without bathing days at a time, separated, earthy, ordinary, yet, the shepherds in the vicinity of Bethlehem raised the sheep for sacrifice in the temple. So, they were raising the most important of sheep. If they recalled history, they may have remembered the long line of history filled with shepherds. Indeed their forefathers all kept flocks all the way back to Abel the son of Adam. Talk about a rich heritage. But in the era of the first century it was as if this was forgotten in preference of remembering that they were dirty, smelly, and undereducated. Their testimony was distrusted. So, what might God be saying that the only ones to hear an angelic choir, and the first ones invited by God to worship were these shepherds guarding their flocks by night? What kind of reverse kingdom, upside down world was God inaugurating through them. That the first testimonies, first worshipers, first experiences of glory surrounding Jesus’ birth was offered to them, might we then learn what it is to redeem humanity, to cherish every life, to remember that God values each person no matter how we might want to devalue them, and that God’s ways are indeed not like our own.