Angels in the Field: A Reflection on Witness and Glory Based on Barth’s CD III.3, 505

The night was ordinary, or so it seemed. Shepherds watched over their flocks in the stillness of the fields, their lives shaped by routine and the simple rhythms of the earth. But on this night, heaven broke into the mundane. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of God—brilliant, otherworldly, and unmistakable—shone around them. It was not the kind of glory that blinds or terrifies, but the kind that enlightens, liberates, and calls. The shepherds, startled yet captivated, would soon embark on a journey that would change them forever.