Gloria! (The Song Of The Shepherd)

Jason Gray tells the nativity from the shepherds' side of the story, opening after the angels have already sung: "as the darkness rushed back in upon those shepherd boys, staring into the night, climbing up off their knees, with their hearts on fire, they were trembling with fear and joy."

"Racing down from the hills, running like children run, reckless and wild with a song that made them young again" gives the shepherds an unguarded, almost giddy reaction rather than a solemn one — Luke's account of terrified shepherds turned into a full sprint toward Bethlehem.

"In a land under the rule of the priests and kings, only shepherds heard the song that the angels sing, the humble are the keepers of the secrets of the Kingdom that is coming" makes the song's real point explicit — that the announcement went first to the overlooked, not the powerful. "One day he'll come again, to bring us a brand new song, but till then we'll sing along with those shepherd boys" closes the song by inviting the listener into that same run down the hillside.