Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Luke 2: 8-14

“Don’t be afraid.” These words from the angels to the shepherds invite us to wonder, what were they afraid of? Were the shepherds afraid of the dark? Were they afraid of strange noises and dangerous animals lurking in the darkness? Perhaps they had recently had some of their sheep stolen by thieves and were afraid of losing more? What are we afraid of?

Most of us have normal childhood fears. Fear of the dark is a pretty common one. The four-year-old in our house is afraid of the dark. She has to have a night light on to go to sleep. She hates to enter a dark room.

A while ago, she came and got me from the living room because she wanted something from our bedroom but was afraid to enter the darkness. “Katie, you don’t need to be afraid of the dark.” “Bapa, I need you to come with me.” So I held her hand as we approached the dark master bedroom. I told Katie that we were going to charge the darkness in order to chase it away. Her brother Jack, at age six, followed us to the bedroom door and said that charging the darkness was a silly idea. However, Katie was with me on this. “Ready Katie? Let’s make a loud noise and charge the darkness together so we won’t be afraid.” Hand in hand, we ran into the room shouting, “Aaaah!” “Go away darkness!” Then I turned on the light and she wasn’t afraid any more.

Christmas Eve is the celebration that God’s light invades the dark places and chases our fears away. The Bible says that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness flees. Every Christmas Eve we conclude the time together by lighting our candles as a symbol that God’s light chases away the darkness.

“Don’t be afraid,” the angels said to the shepherds. What are we afraid of? Someone is thinking right now, “I’m not afraid of anything.” Really? A couple years ago I was reminded that even adults have fears. A speaker at a Christian leadership conference told about how his agency studies preparedness for emergencies. They test CIA agents, NFL football players, and others. He showed us a video of a group of NFL players that were tested. These athletes in Florida were given the assignment to run about a mile, touch a fence and come back. They were told that they would be timed, but the time was less important than completing the course. As they pulled on their running shoes, the football players were also told that somebody recently noticed some alligators sunning themselves on the path so be careful. Oh yeah, someone also saw some wild pigs who could be aggressive. If they ran into the wild pigs they would need to take appropriate action. The football players took off at a jog that day. What the athletes did not know was that someone was hiding a short way down the path. The person hiding wiggled a branch on a bush and made a snorting noise as the football players approached.

The moment that the NFL players heard the sound was caught on video. Watching the video we see these huge NFL athletes jogging along keeping a wary eye out for any dangerous pigs. When they heard the sound and saw a branch move all of them screamed like little girls and ran away! When they were later shown the video of themselves they were so embarrassed. Even great big athletes can be afraid.

Here is the truth: We are ALL afraid of something. Maybe it isn’t the darkness or strange noises. Maybe we are afraid of the impact of the economy on our lifestyles. Maybe we are afraid for a loved one facing a health crisis. Maybe we are afraid that something uncomfortable will disrupt our lives. We are the shepherds in the Christmas story. We need to hear the angel’s words “Don’t be afraid.”

I recently read that there are 365 Bible verses that tell us not to fear. If we went all the way through the Bible looking up the words “afraid” and “fear” we would find one verse for each day of the New Year. While some of these passages talk about fear of enemies, fear of illness, fear of economic hard times, the most common cause for fear is surprising. The greatest fear in the Bible is not fear of the darkness, but actually fear of the light. Yes! What people fear most in the Bible is an encounter with God. We tend to hide in the shadows when God’s pure light appears. Consistently when an angel appears to deliver a message from the Lord, we humans become afraid. “God has a message for me? The Lord wants to meet with me? Are you sure?”

Why are we afraid of God’s light? Let me ask it another way. Why are we afraid when the police car turns on the flashing lights and pulls us over to the side of the road? Why are we afraid when the teacher calls us forward in class and says we have to go to the principal’s office? The reason people are consistently afraid of God is that they automatically assume God must be an angry cosmic cop or upset school principal. “Oh, oh what did I do wrong?’ People assume God is singling them out for punishment. “God wants to talk with me? That can’t be good.”

No wonder the angels had to calm the shepherds’ fears, “Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy….” The news is good! Honest! We get to the principal’s office and discover she has good news: “Congratulations on being selected for a full scholarship to the university of your choice.” The police officer recognized our car and wanted to personally congratulate us on a recent success.

“Don’t be afraid.” The Bible says God is for us not against. “Don’t be afraid.” The news is good news. God comes to us in love not anger. “Don’t be afraid.” God comes to us at Christmas in love and the Bible says “perfect love casts out fear.” The challenge for the shepherds and for us is to believe that God loves us and has good news for us. God is not only for us but also with us. The baby in the manger is called Emmanuel: “God with us.” It is good news.

The Lord sent me to deliver a message this evening to each and every one of you: God wants to personally meet with you. Now, what are you afraid of?