The Unsung Emotions of Christmas:
Fear
Pastor Mathew Magera – 12/9/15 – Sermon 132
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
There was a little boy in
the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go downstairs into the
basement pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn't want to go in
alone. "It's dark in there and I'm scared." She said, "It's
OK--Jesus will be in there with you." Johnny walked hesitantly to the door
and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and he said:
"Jesus, if you're down there, would you hand me that can of tomato
soup?"
Fear. Not exactly a part of
our Christmas celebrations, but we do sing of fear in our Christmas music. It
is eluded to only briefly, perhaps you caught it tonight. In the song, "Go
Tell It On the Mountain" we sing, "The shepherds feared and
trembled" but then we immediately shift our focus from the shepherds to
the angels and then to Jesus. The shepherds are left to fear on their own.
Surely, they would be okay and our focus should be shifted to Jesus but just
telling someone Jesus will be there, much like when we are going into a dark basement
for a can of Tomato soup, isn't enough to alleviate the fear.
What are you afraid of? Have
you ever had anyone ask you that before as you stare up at a monstrous thrill
ride or at the entrance of a haunted house? What are you afraid of? Well, now
that you ask, if I go on that ride I'll probably die. It's possible many of us
have been in this position before but fear is much larger than thrill rides or
haunted houses. What are we afraid of? What is at the root of all of our fears?
Each of us probably has a
story or two about fear or being genuinely scared. For me, it goes back to a
story when we were in Tanzania. Our group had the opportunity to stay at a
safari camp for two nights in the middle of nowhere and this camp was in the wild.
Nothing could stop any animals from going near our tent. So, our first night
there we realized just how dark it was. In the middle of nowhere Africa in the
middle of the night it was so dark you couldn't see the hand in front of your
face. We'd hear the skittering of geckos running up and down the vinyl. Then,
at one point, we heard what sounded like dogs pressing up against the side of
our tent sniffing around. Hyenas. Needless to say, we did not sleep well that
night. I was genuinely scared. If something happened and a hyena got into our
tent, there's nobody around. Anything could have happened.
But, in everything that I
can say I've been scared of, at the root probably is my life. I'm scared for my
life. What kinds of things are we afraid of nowadays? We're afraid of losing a
job. We're afraid of getting sick. Why? Because a lost job will decrease our
income which could put us on the streets. Getting sick might lead us to a
hospital bed. Ultimately, death lurks around the corner.
During Christmas time, I
don't think we might say we're afraid to die but we do have some fears. When we
buy into the commercialism of the season we might be hard pressed for money. We
might be pressured either to buy gifts for each other or to save money.
However, even though we experience joy during this season, outside of the
coziness of our homes there are still people in the hospital. There are still
people who are hungry and homeless. Maybe someone we know might be suffering
and what becomes real for us is that we realize that even during the most
joyous of seasons we see that the human race is not immune to suffering. Just
because we sing of heavenly peace doesn't mean that won't receive bad news and
we might be afraid.
Thinking about that, let's
join the Christmas story itself where fear comes up on three different
occasions. One of them was the encounter the shepherds had with the angels.
Another was in the part of the story we read last week. When Joseph saw the
angel of God in a dream he was told not to be afraid. The last was when Mary
was approached by an angel and she was told not to be afraid. Three different occasions,
three different fears. Even in one of the greatest stories in the Bible, there
is fear. Looking, though, specifically at the shepherds we see they were not
only afraid, they were terrified!
Now, what caused that fear
is something we might identify with. Right before it says they were terrified
it says the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were given a glimpse into
the Light of God and when that happens, if God were to reveal to us a little
bit of His glory for us right now, it would expose us. We would see everything
there is about us from the greatest to the least. We would be able to see our
sins, the stains of sins once committed, and we would see our mortality. In the
presence of God, who is eternal, in God's glory we realize that we are not.
It's very possible that these shepherds who were exposed to the glory of God,
may have also been exposed to their own mortality.
We could say that just
because angels showed up in a field they were scared. It's unexpected. Mary and
Joseph had every right to be afraid too when angels appeared to them. Of course
it's scary, but the shepherds, I believe, were not terrified just because of
the presence of the angels but because of something deeper, something that may
also resonate within each of us sometimes during the Christmas season, the fear
of our own fragility.
But what are the shepherds
told? What are Mary and Joseph told? Do not be afraid. Easier said than done,
but you'll notice that when each character is told not to be afraid, they are
given an alternative. Mary believes, Joseph obeys, and the shepherds go to
Bethlehem. Accompanied with the command not to fear is an alternate direction,
much like directions to get back on course when you're lost. If someone ends up
in Trufant and says they're going to Indiana but they're lost, you hopefully
don't tell them just to get back on 131 south. You should give them a way to
get there. When we fear, telling us to not be afraid isn't going to do us any
good, but God gives us something to take our fear away bit by bit. And during
Christmastime that would be the birth of the savior. What links the fear of
Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds is that along with the command not to fear,
they are pointed to the manger scene where Christ is born because the answer to
fear is ultimately found in that manger in that lowly infant that has come to
save the world.
When we have fears this
Christmas, no matter what they might be, God is calling to us during Advent not
to be afraid. Don't be afraid because I want to point you in another direction.
That's what God is telling us. Don't look into the fear, look to Bethlehem.
Look to Jesus. Perhaps just like the lines of “Go Tell It On The Mountain”, we,
like the shepherds fear and tremble, but then as the song changes direction, we
also can change direction. Like sadness, it may not take our fear away
immediately, but as we begin to believe, obey, and trust in God's Word, we can
see beyond our mortality, beyond our fragile selves, beyond the
unpredictability in our world and focus our sights on the one who is eternal,
who is anything but fragile, and who came to this world to give us life. To God
be the glory, now and always. Amen.