Do Not Be Afraid

A Christmas Sermon

Isaiah 9: 2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11-14; Luke 2: 1-20

“Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God’s people on earth!”

And welcome to our place of wonder, on a night of wonder! We are so glad you’re all here…and so grateful that it’s Christmas! It seems we’re especially aware this year of our need for Christmas…of our need to be reminded that, despite appearances to the contrary, there is good news of great joy for all people, and that it’s real. To be reminded, as Christina Rossetti wrote nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, that “Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, Love Divine.” To be reminded, as we’ll hear from John’s gospel later in our service, that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can not overcome it, and will never overcome it.

This is why we need to read Luke’s nativity story, the one so many of us grew up with, in all its idealized innocence. We need to let this beautiful story remind us of simpler times…the proverbial days gone by when life didn’t feel quite so out of control or quite so scary, and when the words, “Do not be afraid” may not have resonated for us quite as much as they do now.

“Do not be afraid; for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

“Do not be afraid, for see: the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all!

“Do not be afraid, for see: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…

Do not be afraid, for see: a child has been born for us… he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

“Do not be afraid.”

We hear these words repeatedly in Luke’s gospel—they are his constant refrain, the central message, for Luke, of Christ’s coming. We hear them every year on this night, spoken by one of God’s angelic messengers to a group of shepherds tending their flock by starlight. They echo the same words spoken by the angel Gabriel to Mary nine months earlier, and to Zechariah shortly before that.

“Do not be afraid.”

These four words foreshadow the tiny Christ-child’s entire purpose for being. They are words he will echo himself throughout his life as he grows into his mission and identity as Savior and Messiah: Do not be afraid, Simon Peter. Do not be afraid, little flock. My beloved, do not be afraid.

Yet in all of our human frailty, even in the best of times we can’t help but be fearful--and these are not the best of times. We harbor not only the usual personal fears that we all pray no one else can see in us, but we also share a host of communal fears about our political landscape, about terrorism, violence, and the increasing instability of our world.

So tonight we are here to remember that God loves us so much that two thousand years ago he chose to embrace the confines of human life precisely for the purpose of freeing us from the confines of fear. God was willing to suffer and die for us to free us from fear. Because fear is dangerous. Fear is destructive. Fear is a roadblock to hope.

C.S. Lewis said that God became like us so we might become more like him. More able to give and to receive His love…the love embodied and made incarnate in Jesus and announced to the shepherds that night with the words, “Do not be afraid”… the love that casts out all darkness and vanquishes all fear…the love that heralds the beginning of a new age of hope and possibility.

Now the cynics among us might think it’s naïve to be hopeful in times of darkness. But there is nothing remotely naïve about Christian hope. The source of all Christian hope was born into homelessness, lived as a refugee, and was formed by the beam of a cross. This is strong, stubborn, defiant hope that looks even death in the face and does not back down. This is hope that dares to dream… births new life, new possibilities, new visions of the future. This hope is powerful, and most important of all, this hope is contagious.

It takes tremendous courage to embrace this hope. It takes tremendous courage to risk being disappointed, discouraged, or derided. But Mary wasn’t afraid to hope. Joseph wasn’t afraid to hope. And neither were the shepherds. They weren’t afraid of being naïve or overly optimistic, of being misled or of looking foolish. Instead, because they dared to hope they saw their hopes, their vision for the future, realized. Then overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving, they spread the good news about it to all who had ears to listen.

That’s why we need Christmas so much, especially now. Christmas inspires us to reclaim the gift of life-giving hope that God gives us in Christ; to share our vision for a better future with those around us who desperately need it; and, to spread the Good News joyfully, with thanksgiving. As a famous missionary once said, “The early Christians did not say in despair, ‘Look what the world’s coming to.’ In delight they pointed to Jesus Christ and said, ‘Look what has come into the world!’”

Look what has come into the world! In the midst of fear, hope is born! Stubborn, persistent, death-defying hope. Powerful, radiant, life-giving hope. Hope that arrives as both the medium and the message in a story full of wonder and awe, with starry skies and angels singing, and history being changed forever by the bearer of hope himself, Jesus Christ.

May this Christmas fill each of us, like it did the shepherds, with the awe and wonder of a living hope far too powerful to deny; and may it propel us forward courageously through the darkness, until we re-discover the incarnation of God’s love in Christ.

So do not be afraid, my beloved. For see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. Fear not, for a light has been born in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. It is the light of Divine Love, and we will call his name Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth! Amen.