It wasn't so easy getting through the streets unseen. Lots of coming and going, apparently, even at that time of night - strangers in town losing their way, soldiers out on the streets making sure no one thought about having a quick poll tax riot. The sheep were lucky they didn't end up as kebabs. But under Shaun's leadership, they sneaked through the alleyways. They were getting a bit tired now, and more than a bit hungry - especially big Shirley, who always likes her food. So Shaun was very glad to smell animals - cows and goats and donkeys - and to see the shepherds crowd into a shed. The sheep could fade into the shadows, take a bit of a midnight snack from the hay on the stable floor, and see what would happen next. Except Shirley's a bit of a careless feeder and her nose brushed something in the cattle trough.
Suddenly a baby started to cry. He'd been in the manger, hidden by all the straw! His mother came over and picked him up, to see if she could get him quiet. But he just went on howling, however much she rocked him. Just like Timmy the lamb when he gets upset. And then Shaun suddenly wondered - where was Timmy? Had he been left asleep with Bitzer and the flock, or had he wandered off somewhere, the way Timmy often does?
Shaun was so worried, especially when somewhere in the stable Timmy started wailing. But suddenly there was dead quiet. What was going on?
I'm afraid we have to leave the story at this point for our next musical offering. But don't worry, soon we'll all find out what happened next...

Part 4: The lamb's tale
Sarah: As you can imagine, I tried even harder to talk to Timmy, since he was right at the heart of the action. But Timmy talks even less than Shaun does, and I see he's wandered off again - maybe he's helping the children make their sheep? Anyway, Shaun brought me up to date. He tells me Timmy followed the flock all the way into Bethlehem as far as the outhouse, but they went too fast for him to follow. He wandered into the stable anyway, just in case they were there, but by now he was feeling so lost and miserable he started to howl. But there was someone else crying too. So when the baby's mother put him back into the manger, Timmy climbed up and lay down beside him.
Timmy had been afraid, because it's no fun when you're lost and you don't know where your friends are. But this new little baby Jesus stroked his wool and they made friends, and then Timmy wasn't frightened anymore, even before he knew where Shaun and the flock had got to.
Shaun says Jesus' mother sang him a little song to help him go to sleep, a song sort of like one Shaun knows, but the words were different.
This is how he thinks it went:

You're Christ the Lord, you're Christ the Lord,
a baby now but soon by everyone adored,
you're my dear son,
God's chosen one,
oh - my life's yours; you're Christ the Lord.

Shaun was quite impressed by that new baby. He says anyone who can cheer up Timmy like that will make a good shepherd one of these days, even if he hasn't got Shaun to help him look after the flock. But he's going to have to be on the watch all the time, because there's always going to be one sheep in the flock, even if there's a hundred of them, that wants to wander off and get lost, the way Timmy did. And I have to say that sometimes people are quite good at wandering off and doing the wrong thing too.

Part 5: Our own tale
Sarah: I'm not sure how all this is going to go into my final report. The angel told the shepherds to cheer up, there was good news for them, that God's new leader was born. But he didn't know why God wanted him to tell shepherds, of all people. They weren't the holiest people out - they never went to synagogue because sheep need looking after at weekends too.
The shepherds went to Bethlehem and found out the angel's message was true. But they didn't know how this baby being born was going to affect them. If I go back and interview them in a few years time, I wonder if what happened to them will have made any difference to their lives in the long run.
But Shaun the sheep went to see what was happening for himself, and so did Timmy the lamb. And they found out that when Timmy had wandered off and was lost and afraid, baby Jesus could comfort him.
So if we're like the angel and think God only talks to very good people, or if we're like the shepherds and don't really know what God's got to do with our everyday lives, we might miss out on the good news Jesus has for us: that if we do the wrong thing, wander away from God and get lost, he can find us and bring us back again, just as if we were lambs who'd wandered away from the flock. And missing out on good news like that would be a real pity. It's the sort of news you want to pass on to other people too, in case they've not heard about it.
Still, that's up to you. This is Rabbi Sarah, signing off on the Great Bethlehem Mystery. Shalom, and a happy Chanukah to you all!