“Be Not Afraid”

“Be not afraid.” I can’t help but wonder whether those words even began to slow the racing heartbeats of those shepherds, surprised out there in the wilderness that first Christmas.
It wasn’t that Shepherds, as a group, were generally a particularly fearful people. In fact, they almost certainly weren’t. The Bible reminds us that there were a great many predators, animal and human alike, that would prey upon the flocks. Indeed, when a cocky young shepherd boy named David is trying to convince King Saul that he (David that is) can go out and face down a 9’ giant named Goliath with just a sling and a few smooth rocks he argues that he has already faced down bears and lions to protect his father’s flocks. No, shepherds weren’t generally cowards. There’s even a word for those few shepherds who ran away and abandoned their flocks at the first sign of serious trouble - and that word is “unemployed.” It’s just that the one thing they’re not taught to deal with in shepherding school are angels who suddenly fill the sky, likely knocking the poor souls to the ground just by the intensity of the light that surrounds them - kind of like when your spouse comes into the bedroom at night and flips on the light, and you’ve already been laying there in the dark for a half hour or so - only more so. No, this was almost certainly the last thing they were expecting on that night. It’s important, I think, that the angels were wise enough to know how shocking, and how frightening, their appearance likely was. And so they led with those words of comfort and hope, “Be not afraid!”

And I can’t help but believe that these are words that we too need to hear - not just here but around the world - as 2008 draws to a close, because by all accounts it's been a tough year!

Economically, we're in a significant recession. Some of our nations largest banks and Wall Street brokerages have failed. The government has bailed out AIG (one of the largest insurance companies in the world), as well as several bank & mortgage companies. Most recently the auto manufacturers have been helped. Last month we lost 558,000 jobs in this country, at a time when most retailers are adding help for the Christmas rush. The state of Minnesota projects a budget shortfall that could exceed 4 billion dollars next year. Actually, some experts are saying the shortfall could be over 5 billion dollars, but what's a billion dollars between friends. Here in SE Minnesota and NE Iowa we've been hit hard too. Featherlite corporation in Cresco, Iowa, has instituted rolling layoffs and closed several building. Donaldson's (also in Cresco) has laid off so many people that folks hired on back in 2002 have been let go. They make air filters for tanks at Donaldson's. Who would have guessed that war is in a recession. And in Spring Grove, Minnesota, Northern Engraving is closing their factory that engraves nameplates for Chrysler because, well, they engrave nameplates for Chrysler!

The Stock market has experienced a significant “correction” as well. I was recently talking to a fellow who had been hoping to retire next year, but if he locks in his losses now he will receive about $20,000 less per year than he would have if he had retired earlier this year. It's been tough out there.
But there are those words again - Be not afraid! It’s enough to make you wonder if maybe angels don’t read the headlines!

And things aren't a lot better on the world scene. Last month security experts announced that Iran is expected to have a nuclear bomb in a year or less. If you think those shepherds were frightened on a Judean hillside 2000 years ago, imagine how the people of Israel must feel about the prospect of a nuclear Iran. And Russia has just announced that it will begin ramping up it’s production of nuclear weapons after years of reductions in a new arms race! In Africa Zimbabwe is falling apart, and so is the Republic of Congo. Cholera is raging in the southern part of Zimbabwe as well as in refugee camps in South Africa. It's tough out there. But there are those words again - Be not afraid! To which we might reply, “Why on earth not?”
Truth is, things weren’t a whole lot better 2000 years ago when the angelic songs & message first filled the night sky. Judea was a conquered state, chafing under the heel of the mighty Roman empire. Taxes were high. Indeed, it was the need to register for a census being taken for tax purposes that brought Joseph & Mary to Bethlehem in the first place. And the Romans were cruel overlords. They had a particularly heinous method of enforcing their will and power on a people, and it involved nailing people, alive, to a cross in full public view. Quite a message there.
In fact, if you think about it, there’s a lot about this account that must have been more than a little bit frightening for quite a few of the folks involved. Zachariah, and later Mary, have their own frightening encounters with angels. Mary in particular must have been just a little bit uneasy to hear Gabriel’s message that she will be “with child." Our Bibles generally translate her response to the angel as “How can this be…” but in the vernacular it would probably go something more like, “Are you nuts?!”
There must have been concern on Mary’s part, too, over Joseph’s response. Would he believe her or would he divorce her, leaving her alone, shamed, and vulnerable with a baby to care for?
And it must have been frightening too several months later during their approach to Bethlehem, as the couple searched for a place to stay even as Mary knew that her child was coming soon, and that she would be quite vulnerable!

No, the angelic visit to the shepherds was just the latest in a long line of potentially frightening encounters. And it begins, as the Bible so often does, with those soothing words of comfort. “Be not afraid.” To which again we might ask, “Well, why not, for goodness sake.”

Because, Isaiah might tell us, God is now with us. That's what the name "Immanuel" means. No matter how badly we may have screwed things up, God is with us. No matter how poor our choices have been, God is with us. No matter how far, and for how long, we have run from God, He’s still here, waiting with arms outstretched to welcome us home, prodigals that we are. God is with us. Because no matter what happens, or what goes wrong, we don’t face it alone anymore, and God is with us. Immanuel. God is with us. Be not afraid.
(adapted from tonight's Christmas Eve homily)