Sermons

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“Don’t Be Afraid”
Christmas Eve 11 pm Candlelight Service
December 24, 2002
Meditation: Pastor Dan Baumgartner

Don’t be afraid.
An angel said it to Zechariah, father of John the Baptist.

Don’t be afraid.
The Word to Mary, confronted with the news that she would carry the Christchild.

Don’t be afraid.
The Word to Joseph, telling him to stay with Mary and consider that God was doing something extraordinary.

Don’t be afraid.
The Word of the Lord through an angel to shepherds living in the fields: Don’t be afraid…I’m bringing Good News!

Over 350 times in the Bible, the fear pops up, and most of the time God answers it by saying rather simply…Don’t Be Afraid…I am with you.

It’s the season for old movies right now. People are dragging out “Miracle on 34th Street,” or “It’s a Wonderful Life.” One of my old favorites is still the Wizard of Oz. I love the story of a journey. I love my favorite character, the lion, the cowardly lion. The lion is basically afraid: afraid of the girl Dorothy, afraid of the witch, afraid of his own tail…but especially afraid of the Wizard of Oz. His fear, in fact, sends him sprinting down a hallway, making a sharp left turn and absolutely diving out the side window. The lion was afraid. He didn’t know the wizard, and all he saw of him was frightening.

“Don’t be afraid.” The word to Zech, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds…

Don’t be afraid to believe God doing something amazing, something new.

When life is hard, and the world seems dark…as it often does.…the temptation is to run down one hallway or another, and do our own leap out the side window. And if God is not real, or is far off or is unknowable…then let’s run together. I’ll lead the way.

But friends…the Good News is this: We can know God, and if we want to know God, we look at Jesus Christ. Not just the baby in the manger, but One who came to earth and lived, and loved with such compassion and healing that he showed us the heart of God. Over and over Jesus said to frightened people: Don’t be afraid…I am with you.

We celebrate it tonight. Don’t be afraid. We’re reminded by
a baby…a healer…a teacher…a friend…a Lord…a Savior…a God, who would come among us, that we might know Him…the God who is with us. It’s GOOD NEWS.

It started one night…it starts this night.

The poet Ann Weems put it this way:

“When the holy child is born into our hearts
there is a rain of stars
a rushing of angels
a blaze of candles
This God burst into our lives.
Love is running through the streets.”

Love…is running through the streets. Tonight, we come to this table, not as a quaint symbol, or as a memorial to history…but a place to experience the living God, who in his life and death and resurrection quiets our fears, and says again, “I am with you.”