The Shepherd who Watched by Night
An old, poor rector in a small, declining town serves a congregation that has grown indifferent to him, meeting in a decayed rectory attended by a caretaker who complains about the tramps he shelters. On Christmas Eve, cold and short of fuel, he struggles to write his sermon while brooding over an anonymous letter that bluntly tells him his church is failing, that he is too old and behind the times to preach, that he wastes himself on useless visits and tramps, and that he should resign since no pension awaits him. Grieving his dead wife and two sons, buried nearby, he prays, submits to what he takes as God's will, and resolves to announce his resignation the day after Christmas. He begins his sermon on the text of the shepherds who watched their flocks by night and the angel's announcement of the Saviour's birth. Mid-sermon he remembers a sick woman in town, once of bad reputation, whom he had rebuked in the past and who had rebuffed him. Despite the bitter night he walks to her house. She has been given up by the doctor, and she confesses to the old rector that she had tried to reform and believe but now feels lost and unable to feel repentance. He comforts her, telling her Christ came to save the lost and that God placed the desire for change in her heart himself. As a bell rings in Christmas morning, she says she wishes she could join the church and recalls being baptized long ago; he tells her she already has joined it. Using wine and bread brought by the nurse, he administers what feels to him an unusually real communion, surrounded in his mind by remembered faces of the dead. He leaves near morning, sensing he will not see her again in this life. Walking home through falling snow, he hears a baby crying from his own unused stable and finds a woman sheltering there with an infant. He wraps his overcoat around her, carries the child himself, and leads them to the rectory. There he discovers a box and basket of provisions left on his porch and an extra bottle of milk from the milkman, so he had not been forgotten after all. He warms the milk, settles mother and child to sleep in his own bed, and dozes in his chair by the stove, tired but happy, his sermon still unfinished. Waking late, he leaves food and milk for the sleeping mother and goes to church with his unfinished sermon, finding an unusually full congregation. Preaching extemporaneously on the shepherds and the birth in the manger, he speaks with new intensity, weaving in his own night's experience of finding the child in the stable as though he had lived the shepherds' story himself. He begins to falter and grow confused, mentions the anonymous letter as a friend's help showing him "the way," and says he must leave his flock because the message has come for him. Dropping his pages and stooping to retrieve one, he sinks to his knees, recites the shepherds' text once more, and is carried to a cushion, murmuring of the babe and the glory of the Lord and urging the congregation to sing. As the congregation sings "While shepherds watched their flocks by night," amid weeping, the old rector dies before the hymn ends. He is buried on the hill facing the sunrise, his face peaceful. The parish continues to speak of his goodness and of his dying on Christmas Day. Nothing further is learned of the mother and child, though there is a rumor of a woman seen leaving the house that morning, and the town's inn recalls a woman with a baby who had sought shelter there the night before and was turned away and directed to the old preacher, since he took in all the tramps.
By Maud Van Buren · First published 1927 · Genre: Christian Fiction, Inspirational Literature, Allegorical Fiction · 6,657 words
First lines
_Thomas Nelson Page_
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The Shepherd who Watched by Night is listed on Textopian as a short story by Maud Van Buren, dated 1927 CE.
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- Work type: Short story
- Author: Maud Van Buren
- Date: 1927 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Christian Fiction, Inspirational Literature, Allegorical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Sentimental Fiction
- Length: 6,657 words
- Structure: 1 section, 53 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Shepherd who Watched by Night by Maud Van Buren
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Genres
- Christian Fiction — The entire narrative is structured around Christian theology, divine grace, and redemption, with explicit references to Christ's nativity, spiritual transformation, and the priest's renewed faith serving as the core of the plot.
- Inspirational Literature — The work functions as inspirational religious narrative, designed to uplift and affirm faith through the protagonist's spiritual journey from despair to renewed purpose and understanding of divine will.
- Allegorical Fiction — The narrative operates as a modern allegory of the nativity, with the elderly priest as a shepherd figure and the discovered infant as a Christ-figure, creating symbolic parallels to biblical narratives.
- Literary Fiction — The piece demonstrates literary merit through character-driven narrative, thematic depth, careful prose style, and psychological exploration of the protagonist's inner life and moral development.
Tags
pastoral · rural · coming-of-age · Virginia · countryside · shepherd · childhood · innocence · nature · dedication · responsibility · vigilance