Recently, I saw a video of a flash mob that I thought you all should check out (if you haven’t already). I first saw it at a church service a few Sundays ago. Check it out:
As I was watching this video initially I thought about how random it would be to experience one of these epic flash mobs that go viral on YouTube. It would be so cool to stubble upon something great like this. Have you ever been a lucky audience member for one of these spontaneous performances? It got me thinking about how unprepared these people were for such a grand show. They had no expectations and could hardly have anticipated such an overwhelmingly beautiful musical performance. Imagine that you were one of the people in the crowd at the mall that day. You’re walking around, wishing you knew where to find an Xbox One for your little Johnny, and then all of a sudden amazing happens. You didn’t plan for it, you didn’t ask for it, and you didn’t pay for it. Yet you were given such a wonderful gift. And on top of the delightful musical orchestration, the unsuspecting crowd heard the gospel proclamation: “Joy to the world! the Lord is come; let earth receive her King.” This flash mob provided a wonderful proclamation of Jesus’ supreme position over creation during this Christmas season. This all reminded me of the original Christmas flash mob.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace lamong those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:9–14; ESV)
These shepherds did nothing deserve this proclamation. Why shepherds? Why these shepherds? They couldn’t have anticipated such an angelic flash mob, nor the proclamation of Jesus’ regal supremacy, nor the announcement that all of this will result in “great joy.”
The flashmob video above is great, and if you’re like me it brought shivers at various points (for me they came particularly when the two females vocalists came in). Yet as wonderful as this video is, and as spectacular as the original experience must have been, how much greater must the original Christmas flash mob have been? Allow this video to stir up even greater awe and appreciation for the original proclamation of joy to the world.
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