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Throughout Scripture, there are many, many reminders not to be afraid. I don’t think these words are meant to immediately bring calm. If God is a good parent, God must be aware that it doesn’t work like that. God doesn’t promise that fear will not be present, or even that there is nothing to fear, but God promises to be there. Perfect love might cast out fear, but sometimes that’s a process that happens over and over, every day.
When we are anxious and afraid, we join in good company. We stand with the people of God who waited expectantly, with those who died waiting, with those who died wailing. We stand with Elizabeth, who must have given up, with Mary, who probably shook. We stand with Joseph, who held life and death in his hands and chose life at great personal cost. Into all of this, the angel said: “Fear not.” Jesus was born into a suffering, fearful world, an answer to the cries for shalom, for restoration.
This message is excerpted from “Always winter and never Christmas” by Cara Strickland in the December 2018 Gather magazine.