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We all have our fears, both rational and irrational. Anything involving heights is likely to freeze me up, standing on a roof, flat roof is ok but a slanted roof…it’s l’appel du vide, the call of the void. I feel an impulse to go ahead and roll off. Jet planes are a flying coffin. Those are irrational fears.
There are likewise fear inducing things that happen that leave us shaking in our boots. Parents don’t scream at each other in front of the kids. It’s traumatizing. It’s been just over fifty years since I listened to my parents go at and I still want to run and hide when two people argue loudly and I avoid it myself at all costs. I’ve been physically assaulted twice in my life and so I take karate. Those are fear inducing things that leave life scars.
Life changes can cause us some fear. What to do after high school is fearful. Getting married, having kids, taking out a mortgage, serious illness, surgery, unemployment, divorce, irrational presidents, retirement; these are fearful things that cause us anxiety. The big changes in life don’t come without fear.
Then there’s this sort of thing that happens and I’ll do my best to describe it. It may just be a guy thing, I don’t know. So, it’s nighttime, dark, you’re sitting on the hillside by a fire with your buds watching over the livestock. You’re joking and telling stories about how y’all fought off lions, wild dogs, and bears, and pushy neighbours all the while and though it seems you’re having fun, your ears are still attuned to hear every snapping twig out in the darkness of the void. And then it’s, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night, all seated on the ground, the angel of the Lord came down and glory shone around. ‘Fear not,’ said he for mighty dread had seized their troubled mind; “Glad tidings of great joy I bring to you and all mankind.”
An angel, I don’t know if you folks have ever seen an angel. I haven’t either, but from what I’ve deduced from the Bible, they don’t always look like attractive, red-headed Irish women or have the angelic, bluesy voice of Della Reese. The Greek version of the story says they were a-feared with phobon megon. Phobon like phobia and megon like mega, bigger than huge. They were a-terrored with megaphobia. That’s as scared as you can get. Most people need a change of clothing for that. This isn’t like the fear of flying. It’s what you feel when your plane starts falling out of the sky.
“Fear not,” the angel said. “Be not afraid,” is another way of saying it. Did you know that “fear not” is the most frequently recurring command in the Bible. 100 times in that wording and if we count commands like “Take heart” or “Have courage”, we’re looking at roughly 300 times. Now personally, I think it would be highly inappropriate for an angel of the Lord to show up out of nowhere to these shepherds with megaphobia in its wings, scare them to death, and then tell them to not be afraid. If you’ve ever come across someone out of control with fear, telling them to not be afraid or to calm down is the most ludicrous thing you can possibly do. I’ve been rappelling before and froze up just as I leaned back over the edge and a few steps down. I could not move. What got me going again was the calmness of the instructor saying “listen to my voice, just listen to my voice, I’m here” and when he had my attention, he said, “Here’s what I want you to do, one step, one step at time, just focus on my voice, one step.” I unfroze and made it down. Would I do it again? If I had to. And I would do it knowing I would likely freeze up and that’s okay, but I would also know what to do.
Back to the angel, from my experience when the message, the command, from God is “Be not afraid” when in the midst of our getting harrowed by life, those words aren’t empty. The peace of Christ, the peacefulness of God’s presence comes along with the words. The still small voice heard that the prophet Elijah heard while afraid for his life and hiding in a cave afraid fleeing from evil King Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel. The voice that said, “You’re not alone. I’ve 7,000 faithful servants in Israel to stand beside you. Go back and take those royals to task and anoint a new king on the way.” It’s the same voice that told the Psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God, the one who ends wars on earth.”
The voice of the angel brought joy to those shepherds who were a-fearing for their lives. He told them their Saviour, their Deliver, was born and to go to Bethlehem and see the baby, born in a barn and laying in a feeding trough, the same likely conditions in which they came into the world. Peace on earth, God was acting – through a baby born to a family in some troubling circumstances.
We live in some fearful times right now. Russia’s Foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov said back in July that we are in World War III. As far as Russia is concerned, we very well may be. The US is not at present a reliable ally for world peace. Most of the political rhetoric and the response to it sounds like pre-WWII stuff. Europe, Canada, and a good bit of Asia have increased defence spending and are arming up, preparing for the worst. The global economy, which was recovering fairly well after Covid, is grinding to a halt. It’s amazing how much things can change in a year. Our young people are not being given any example at all of what constructive political discourse, much less political participation, looks like. All they see is adults who should have gotten off the scene years ago staying around and clinging to power for money’s sake. If you’re a young person trying to get a start today, I hope you can find some hope.
It’s like we are rappelling down a cliff and have leaned back over the edge to start down but have suddenly frozen up. Where’s the voice for us to listen to? We’ve all likely got a nativity scene at home that holds special memories for us. Like the shepherds, we visit it with nostalgia and some holy awe set upon us as well. Let us focus on the one that’s centered there. The baby Jesus, he’s the Word for us to listen to. The Word who calls us to focus on love expressed through unconditional faithfulness, who calls us to take the risk of being vulnerable, of listening, of generosity, of showing kindness and hospitality. It’s the voice that calls us to prayer and to sit in stillness before we do anything else. It’s the voice that says “You are my beloved. I won’t leave you or betray you. I am with you always.” Fix your ears on hearing the voice of God’s Word – Jesus. He is the way to true life. Amen.
