O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thine only son Jesus Christ; Grant that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may with sure confidence behold him when He shall come to be our Judge... (BCP p.98 – Christmas Day collect)

Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard said that life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.

So it is with the seasons of Christmas and Advent. We must traverse Advent to Christmas from beginning to end, but the true significance lies at the end, not the beginning.

The season of Advent which we have just completed could be compared to the first act of a three act play. This act could be titled the Messiah who is to come. Christmas is the opening of the second act, Emmanuel, which means God with us. The Third act is that day when Christ shall return in glory.

The role of angels in the story is worth noting. In the Bible, angels are God's messengers. In the New Testament, the conception, birth, resurrection, and ascension of Christ all feature commentary by angels.

Angels are a common feature in Christmas art, literature and even from the popular culture. From the top of our Christmas Tree, to the carols we sing, to the old movie “The Bishop’s Wife”, we associate angels with Christmas.

None of us really knows what the angels in the Bible look like. Scripture does not describe them very carefully. The best description we have of the appearance of angels in a couple of places suggests that they look like young men dressed in white garments. Those were the angels that appeared at the resurrection. Never once are they referred to as having wings. I don't know where that idea came from, unless it came from the concept that angels are free to move about rapidly, and they come down from heaven. In a vertical understanding of the universe that suggested to the ancients that they could fly.

When angels appear it is to bring a message from God. In the gospel accounts of the Nativity, the angels suddenly appeared out of the darkness of the night. Around them shone the radiance of glory – what is called a nimbus – as the glory of the Lord shone round about the shepherds. And as the Authorized Version puts it, "they were sore afraid." The words of St. Luke are:

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
(Luke 2:10-11 NIV)

Thus the birth of God's long-awaited redeemer was introduced to a darkened, weary, and exhausted world. History tells us that the time of our Lord's birth was indeed a time of weariness and widespread despair among men and among the nations of the earth. The brightest of the pagan philosophers all admitted that the civilizations of that day had all played themselves out. This is how the poet Matthew Arnold describes the world into which the Lord came:

On that hard, pagan world, disgust and secret loathing fell.
Deep weariness and sated lust made human life a hell.

It is striking that the human emotion that was first encountered by the angelic messenger was that of fear. Men were afraid in that day. They were afraid of many things, as they are today. There was much to fear in that time and place. Herod the Great sat upon on the throne. Herod was a cruel tyrant, and was able to accomplish his wrath upon whoever was the object of his disfavor. He had personally put to death many, even in his own family, because of their antagonism to his plans. Also there were the Romans, with their proud legions, marching up and down across the face of the earth, holding everything in an iron bondage. The days of the Roman Republic were long past and Rome was a cruel evil empire. There was constant war and economic uncertainty.

Perhaps the most striking thing to us about this story is that we can so easily put ourselves back into that situation of fear, for by far the dominant mood of the hour today is that of fear.

The prime motivators of our society are various forms of fear. Normal human fears are manipulated and inflated by the manipulation of various factions in our culture. This all exacerbated by the internet and the 24/7 media frenzy that lurches from fixation on one crisis at a time, always ready for the next one.

We fret over crime, violence, health care, Social Security, runaway illegal immigration, taxes, and particularly over whether or not someone else has more than we have. We still have wars and runors of wars. We fret about so-called global warming and and bird flu. Then there are the "hurricane Katrina" type disasters that make us realize how small and fragile civilization is.

It always amazes me that anyone should really think that we have made any progress in solving the basic problems of humanity in all these 2,000 years. I am almost tempted to laugh out loud when someone talks to me of the great progress we, as human beings, have made when we are still working on the same problems that they worked with 2,000 years ago.

Yet the first words of the angel to those shepherds in the field were "Fear not, Be not afraid". I do not think any greater news can come to us than that announcement. It came to them as the angel went on to say because a Savior was born in Bethlehem – a Deliverer. Because of the presence of a Deliverer, they need not be afraid of anything.

You and I know how frequently we draw the parallel between the coming of Jesus as a babe in Bethlehem and the coming of Jesus into the human heart. Even our carols do this. The third verse of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" is:

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
 
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

Every Christmas season we remind each other that it is not enough for Christ to have been born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. As our collect for Christmas teaches us, we must receive Christ; He must be born in the human heart. Your Bethlehem is when Christ comes to you and is born in your heart. It is a remarkable parallel that constitutes the good news of Christianity today – that Jesus can be born in us as certainly as he was born in Bethlehem. That is the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

Each year we are reminded that just as the angels appeared to the shepherds to make the welcome announcement, so they speak to us through scripture saying: "Fear not. Fear not, for unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

That is why the chief mark of the Christian ought to be the absence of fear and the presence of joy. It is the presence of joy and absence of fear that marks our genuine Christianity and proves that we really are what we claim to be. A basic part of Christianity is the belief that love casts out fear. As Paul said in Romans 14:

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. (Romans 14:17-18, NIV)

As we remind ourselves of who He is and what He came to do and what He can do – then we will discover again that same wonderful fulfillment of the angel's announcement. In Christ, we need not be afraid. And there should be written upon our hearts and faces a sense of continuing joy. Too many Christians say they believe and then go through life exhibiting fear and anxiety that testifies a basic lack of trust and assurance. This is damaging to the individual and to the witness of the church.

Friedrich Nietzsche, the atheistic German philosopher, made this surly remark to some Christians one day; "If you want me to believe in your Redeemer, then you've got to look a lot more redeemed." In a world ruled by its fears, that statement is really true, isn't it?

One of the names of Christ is Emmanuel which means "God with us." That is the message of Christmas. In the incarnation, God and man are eternally united. Christ takes on our humanity except for our sinfulness and leads us to the Father. If we remember that, and look to him, he will take us through every challenge of life. He does not promise to remove our problems, but he says he will carry us through life's problems. He will strengthen us to face life, and will give us courage and peace, and joy in the midst of it. Therefore the promise of the angel was "Do not be afraid, for I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people [not to be confused with "everyone", automatically handed out, but to anyone who comes to Christ], Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

This is what Christmas must mean to us. And all the days of the year that lie ahead are to be met by the fact that we have in our midst and in our hearts, if we have come to know him, a Savior, a Deliverer, a Rescuer, Christ the Lord. All authority has been given unto him, in heaven and on earth. No event and no circumstance can come into our lives that will be more than he can handle, more than he can take us through. That is the knowledge that gives the heart peace and puts joy upon the countenance.

Thomas Merton wrote: "Christ is born for us today, in order that he may appear to the whole world through us. This one day is the day of his birth, but every day of our mortal lives must be his manifestation."

And so I say to you, "Let us go now even to Bethlehem." Let us go to see Him Who, though He was King of kings, yet vouchsafed to become a Servant of servants. Let us go there to learn not to do our own will, but our FATHER'S will – not to please ourselves, but Him Whose we are, and Whom we ought to serve every day of our lives, not out of fear, but out of love as we receive Christ in our hearts anew this Christmas, born in a manger, born in our hearts.

O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thine only son Jesus Christ; Grant that as we joyfully receive him for our Redeemer, so we may with sure confidence behold him when He shall come to be our Judge...