Letter from the Rector, December 2008
December 8, 2008 by Andrew
There seems this year to be a degree of anxiety as we approach Christmas and the new year. Perhaps that is not surprising with the daily media reports of financial doom and gloom. House prices falling, mortgages are hard to get, people are beginning to lose their jobs, there are worrying levels of personal and national debt. For many families there are real and justifiable worries about how to afford not just Christmas but many of those things we take for granted.
So now is a good time to recall a phrase which Luke recalls four times on the lips of angels in his telling of the Christmas story: “Fear not”. The first time is when the angel of the Lord appears to the aged priest Zechariah to tell him that he is to be the father of John the Baptist. “Fear not, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.” Then Mary, chosen as the one to bear God’s son, was greatly troubled. “Fear not,” says the angel Gabriel.
The same words were said to Joseph when he learnt of Mary’s pregnancy: “Fear not, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit”. And then, when the baby was born, the angels came to the shepherds in the fields and said, “Fear not, for behold I bring glad tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.”
This “Fear not” does not of course mean that there are no concerns. Fear is part of the human condition, fear not just for our finances but fears for health or family members or what the future may hold. The angels are not inviting us to be escapist or unrealistic, to hide our fears under tinsel or drown them in rum and coke. But they are saying that we can live in the real world and there is no need to fear – because Christ is come, because “unto us is born a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.”
I like the story of the little boy who shouted from his bedroom, “Dad, it’s dark up here and I’m scared.” His father shouted back, “Don’t be afraid. God is with you.” After a few seconds pause, the boy yelled again: “Get up here, Dad – I need someone with skin on!” The coming of God in human flesh, the birth of Jesus, tells us that the human race is not alone on a dying planet, that God is not a remote, impersonal deity, that the heavens are not made of brass. He is on our side, not just cheering from the stands but on the pitch alongside us able to transform fear to trust.
That is great news to tell this Christmas. These glad tidings of great joy are for “all the people” says the angel (Luke 2:10). So at home, at church, at work, let’s not moan about the expense and effort of the Christmas season but celebrate the coming of God into our world. Thousands of people will pass through our church doors to the thirty or so carol services we are hosting. Neighbours will be pleased to be invited to special Christmas events. And at the heart of all we proclaim are the words, “Fear not,” spoken not just at the birth of Jesus but also by his empty tomb. “Fear not. He is not here, he is risen.” It takes us from Christmas to Easter and the defeat of the greatest fear of all, that of death itself. If we don’t tell people, no-one else will!
Nick McKinnel