Hopes and fears are met!

How are you coping? Christmastime in a global pandemic… it still seems like something out a sci-fi movie, doesn’t it!

In our home, we are trying hard to try to maintain as much of our Christmas traditions as possible even though we may be eating in the garage, and no one other than those who live in the house will actually see our beautifully decorated tree.

Christmas music has been filling our house…the classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause can be heard from the “All Christmas, All the time” radio station….even the Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem came on.

Sometimes songs come on and we just sing along without taking notice of the words, but a line in this classic carol caught my attention, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” It struck me, as I was puddering around the house, the truth that Christmas deals with our fears.

On that first Christmas, God revealed His Son to the world in the midst of all humanity. There, in the tiny village of Bethlehem, the hopes and fears of all the years met in a Baby lying in a manger.

But Christmas is about shopping, wrapping, baking, cooking and over indulging right? It’s not about fear - but frankly fear, is one of the major issues we face when we first encounter God. There is the fear of the unfamiliar. And I would imagine that Joseph, the husband of Mary, had that kind of fear when the angel appeared to him in a dream.  This is what Matthew writes:

“Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’” Matthew 1:19-20

Joseph would have been afraid of what was happening and he wouldn’t be human if wasn’t terrified about what people were going to say.  Imagine, being Joseph and your fiancee tells you that she is pregnant, but she was still a virgin.  Really?  This was definitely uncharted waters.

That’s why the words of the angel saying, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife” are very important. When the angel appeared to him and said, “Do not be afraid,” the angel zeroed in on his main problem. It’s our problem, too. We are afraid of the unfamiliar. When God is at work and we don’t know what God is doing, we can feel a degree of fear.  Bottom line: the things we don’t understand make us nervous.

The angel says to Joseph, “Don’t be afraid.” Don’t fear for your reputation, don’t be afraid of what you don’t understand. God is in this!” 

I don’t know about you but knowing that God is up to something in my life and in our world is an effective antidote to fear.

The message to Joseph and to you and me is the same. Don’t be afraid! Christmas is God’s intervention in our lives to bring joy and hope not fear.  Because,

“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

On that first Christmas night “the hopes and fears of all the years” were met with Jesus - Thank you God!

Listen to the angel

Over the phone, I heard something in her voice. 

“How are you doing?” I asked, “How are you, really?” And then a sniffle broke through the silence.

“I’m okay.” sniffle, “well actually…I feel quite done with all this, I don’t know how much more I can take. I am overwhelmed but what I hear going on in the world.”  There was another pause and then she said,  “Honestly, I am feeling lonely but more than anything else I feel afraid.”

We chatted for an hour after that. 

That was just one of the many conversations I have had in recent months and days. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on each of us, in various degrees —mentally, physically, financially and emotionally.

When she said, “I am feeling lonely and but more than anything else I feel afraid”, my heart both ached and resonated with hers. I wanted to say to her…

• But the spirit of fear does not come from God,

• Or quote 1 John 4:18 “No fear in love but perfect love casts out fear.”

• Or say to her, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

But at that moment what she really needed was for someone to listen. And that is what I did. After praying with her, I hung up the phone and tried to turn my head to preparing the Advent series.  I opened up to the Gospel of Luke to reread the Christmas story and there it was. It was rather remarkable.

The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God.” (Luke 1:28-30)

Do not be afraid.

As I kept reading, I saw it again, this time with Joseph when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Do not be afraid”.

Keep on reading and you will see, as I did, that the angel of the Lord said to the shepherds in the field: “Do not be afraid”.

Do not be afraid.

It is normal to be afraid and it is easy to worry about what “may happen”. But what’s amazing is that the Word of God addresses this very thing and is full of reminders to the people of God to not be afraid.  

God is in control.  God is awake in the middle of the night when you feel like you are all alone.  God is in the midst of all of it — the loneliness, the struggles, the pain and the fear and even COVID— and God will see you through. God is here, waiting for us to call out to Him. God loves us so much. Don't be afraid, God is with us.  Emmanuel.

This Advent series has been inspired by you, dear one!  Thank you!  

Join me this week as we journey to Christmas Day with  Communion and Part 2 of:

Do Not Be Afraid!  

What are you waiting for?

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:31-33

This coming Sunday marks the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. 

We feel like we have been doing a lot of waiting these past several months, don’t we? Waiting for this Covid season to pass; waiting for postponed surgeries to be rescheduled; waiting to properly grieve the loss of a loved one, waiting to see loved ones face to face; waiting to hug loved ones again. 

We have been waiting. 

But during Advent our waiting is different. Our waiting is not tinged with frustration or sadness but rather our waiting is marked with the anticipation of Hope! 

There is a wonderful old Christmas hymn called In the Bleak Midwinter based on a poem by an English poet named Christina Rossetti. It was penned in the late 1800’s. 

In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind made moan;

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter

Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him

Nor earth sustain,

Heaven and earth shall flee away

When He comes to reign:

In the bleak mid-winter

A stable-place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty —

Jesus Christ.

We celebrate Jesus being born in the darkest time of our life, coinciding with the darkest time of the year.

And that is exactly when the Light of the World would want to enter into our lives. So that we can remember in the midst of the darkness, that it is in Him all dominion and authority rests. We are reminded that after the sometimes interminable waiting — there is Hope. There is life. There is Light that will break through the darkness. 

And He Shall Reign Forever and forever. Amen.

What are you waiting for?

Join me this Sunday as we begin an Advent series entitled: Do Not Be Afraid!