Three Sheep; £35

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him - nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim worship night and day,
Breastful of milk and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother, only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Sheep have been tagging along with the history of Christmas since the prophets' previews. They pop up in all sorts of unexpected places - Abraham's ram, taking the place of Isaac on the altar, Jesus talking about being the Good Shepherd and us his sheep, the Passover lamb which prefigured God's Passover Lamb, Jesus; Lamb of God.
Agnus Dei.

Sheep aren't the brightest of animals. They're rather dirty a lot of the time, and they look slightly pathetic a lot of the time. An odd thing for the Creator of the universe to call Himself - the Ancient of Days, the Lion of Judah, the Great 'I AM'... all of those have the ring of Someone who is powerful and in charge. Funny then that the Lamb of God should be such a commonly used title - how many of the great composers' masses don't have an "Agnus Dei" movement?

This present isn't in the league of gift that the Lamb of God is to humanity - nothing could be - but the three sheep given to this family have brought joy and blessing to them. Better harvests promising better financial returns, allowing children to go to school and be given an education. Three dim-looking sheep. It's not the packaging that counts really, is it?

[ Send a Cow catalogue, www.sendacow.org.uk ]