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The Nativity of Our Lord - Christmas Eve
December 24, 2015
“Fear Not Season”
(thanks to Fred Neidner’s article, 12/20/15 in the Post-Tribune, Valparaiso for much of this)
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
This Holy Season brings with it a repeated refrain... “Fear Not.” We heard it when
the Angel Gabriel came to visit Mary with the message that she was to give birth
to God. Startled by Gabriel’s appearance the angel calmed the frightened
teenager with, “Fear Not.”
The priest Zechariah, while serving in the Temple, had the Angel Gabriel appear to
him. Terrified by the appearance and confused by the message the angel told
Zechariah not to be afraid.
Mary’s betrothed, Joseph gets into the “Fear Not” picture as he has a dream
where the angel of the Lord tells him, “Do not fear to take Mary for your
wife...” It seems to be the “Fear Not” Season.
Moments ago we heard of shepherds who were interrupted in their night-watch by
an angel of the Lord whose appearance filled them with fear. But the first words
out of the angel’s mouth were “Fear not!”
And yet, almost everything around us tells us just the opposite. We fear climate
change, cancer, the national debt, and the quirks of the stock market. We fear
our neighbors, since each of us must now ponder which of them has assembled a
secret arsenal and intends to slaughter a host of us someday soon. Once we
limited our worries to quirky loners who were convinced of conspiracy theories.
Now we keep a watchful eye on young couples with babies; we wonder about
going to the mall or a movie theater; and we pray each day that our children and
grandchildren will be safe at school.
Fear has always motivated human beings, not least because we all fear dying, and
so many things might kill us or leave us good as dead along history’s roadside.
New parents discover that every other fear pales before the dread that something
might harm their precious heart-stealing child. Each generation also comes to
fear the consequences of their offspring’s inattention to things they hold sacred.
Every tribe and nation has feared those unlike them in language, color, or creed
and secretly surmises those others aren’t as fully human as themselves.
Demagogues and would-be tyrants use our fears to their advantage. They fan our
fears and identify the enemy on whom we can focus our anxieties. They preach
that they alone can save us, if only we place our fates and freedoms in their
control. At the moment, we’ve let ourselves become so lathered up with fear of
Muslims that some have harassed women and children or “mistakenly” attacked
and injured folks who only “looked” Muslim. That is, they don’t look or sound like
“us” and must be dangerous. We trust weapons, walls, and preemptive strikes to
relieve our fears.
Amid all the fearful murmuring has come an unearthly voice that commands,
“Fear Not!” Cue the music (Star Wars theme played by Jennie). This is the path
millions have taken... to the movies... to see in the Star Wars saga how the
fearful, evil empire can be overcome. Will the words spoken by the wise, old Jedi
master Yoda be repeated in the new episode where he taught Luke Skywalker back
in the early 1980’s, (stop music) “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to
anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” In other words,
according to Yoda, feasting on fear turns you into Darth Vader.
Is there another voice we can find, another voice we can listen to that might help
us conquer fear? There is the story this evening about that angelic messenger
who says on this Holy Night, “Fear Not!” In this story, the Gospel story, the
Master teaches that only love can conquer fear. This is not a fleeting, romantic
love, but the kind of love that shows itself in compassion, generous hospitality,
and sacrifice by which we are made vulnerable even to strangers.
In welcoming as companions those we perceive as enemies, we find our common
humanity. We discover allies and friends. Corrosive fearfulness gives way to
life—and sanity-saving gratitude and rejoicing.
Those who love usually pay with their lives. So do those who try to survive on
fear, anger, and hate. We celebrate the former. We can only grieve the latter,
especially if the wasted life we lament is our own.
In this “Fear Not Season” we see in the manger the One who has the ultimate
“Fear Not” proclamation. The Baby who is placed in the manger will one day be
nailed to a cross so that all our hopes and fears can be reliably placed on Him and
what happens there... we even sing about it during this season, “Nails, spear shall
pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you.” We know Jesus dies,
Jesus is raised, Jesus will come again. It’s a simply message of Love being born
into a fearful world; of Love that will ultimately conquer death; of Love that will
touch hearts to make them whole; of Love that will give to weeping hearts
comfort and hope; of Love that brings Light to the darkness; of Love that will
dispel all fears.
The fetal heart that began beating inside Mary nine months before, continued
beating inside The Child in a manger in Bethlehem, and still beats in the world
and for the world... and for us. (O. P. Kretzmann, Daily Devotions, Creative Communications for the Parish)
It’s that beating heart of Christ that dispels fear. It’s that beating heart of Christ
that beats in rhythm with ours as we eat the Bread, His Body and as we drink the
wine, His Blood. Tonight we feast on the Eucharist, and in that Meal Christ comes
to abide with us, live in us, our joyful Emmanuel, “God With Us,” Fear Not!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen