Day 25: Fear
“Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people.”—Luke 2:10
Merry Christmas! I hope you are celebrating big time. I know it’s the big day, so I will keep my reflection quick on this final day of Advent and the first day of the 12 days of Christmas. Today’s Advent reading considers one of the most powerful words in the English language: fear. Religion has produced much of the fear in this world, a misguided belief that God is to be feared has led to violence, pain and trauma in our world.
Yet, Jesus comes to shed light on our divine misunderstandings. Of all the days of the year, today I feel the most peace because Jesus reveals that we have nothing to fear about God. I agree wholeheartedly with Scott Erickson, the author of our Advent guide this year, when he writes that “Be not afraid” could be a legitimate substitution for “Merry Christmas.”
May your heart and home be filled with perfect peace today, knowing that a child is born to show the way and the way is love.
Merry Christmas
