INVITATION TO FEARLESSNESS

Naim Choi, Intercultural Site Pastor

“Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people…” Luke 2:10

During the season of Advent, RockPointe’s Intercultural Site congregation has been studying the Angels of Advent, with a focus on hopefulness and fearlessness. One question has weaved throughout each of the lessons..."What would you do if you weren't afraid?" Some form of the command, "be not afraid", or "fear not" appears in scripture 365 times some believe, once for every day of the year. Even if this math is not entirely accurate, this command appears often enough for us to realize the state of fearlessness is preferred over the alternatives. Through this Bible study, we are discovering that the Advent season is a wonderful time of the year to be inspired, to embrace the hope, strength, and fearlessness from those individuals who witnessed the coming of Christ. Angelic beings appear several times preceding the nativity story and each time they utter the same refrain....let go of your fear and amazing things will happen!

From Zechariah's angelic encounter outlined in Luke 1:5-25, it seems that silence and solitude are often a prerequisite for a divine interaction when God's presence can be felt, and in Zechariah's case, seen and heard. It's when he is alone in the sanctuary offering incense that the angel appears with a life-changing message. What if we heard "Do not be afraid" spoken over our own deepest fears during the quiet of a sleepless night? Perhaps if we could name what we fear in the silence, we would find our fear is transformed by the presence of God.

Mary's encounter, found in Luke 1:26-38, starts similarly to Zechariah's as she questions how she, a virgin, could conceive a child. Once the angel assures her that "nothing will be impossible with God", Mary responds with a resounding "I'm all in!", then shares her news in song, which incidentally happens to be the longest stretch of a woman's voice in all of scripture. She proclaims what the birth of her Son will mean for the weary world - the lowly will be lifted up, the silenced heard, the weak and oppressed finally unafraid. Mary hears the call of the angel's "Do not be afraid" and is compelled to respond. What will our response be to the angel's call to fearlessness? How will we use our voices among the fearful? Can we answer with boldness, being a witness to courageous peace and radical justice?

Joseph's part of the nativity story is told in Matthew 1:18-25 where the gospel writer expresses the ability of tradition to coincide with letting go of ancient law and custom to discern what God might be doing in this moment. Joseph is summoned to not be bound by all he knows about his traditions of culture, custom, love, fidelity, family, gender roles, and power. It's an impossible request and yet the familiar words are spoken, "Do not be afraid", four words that can accomplish the impossible! Joseph, unlike Mary, doesn't have a song to sing in response to his angelic encounter. In fact, he doesn't speak at all. Joseph seems to know that everything relies on not what he will say in this critical moment, but instead what he will do. Much like Joseph, we find ourselves at a crossroads of the world we knew and the one we actually live in. Like Joseph, we are faced with big decisions; do we lean backwards clinging to tradition even when it no longer effectively meets our needs? Or do we allow ourselves to be fearlessly catapulted into the midst of what God wants to do in the world we live in? If we let go of the past and hear the call to be unafraid, God's people can be a powerful presence in impossible places.

The shepherds' angels as described in Luke 2:1-20 appeared as a "multitude of the heavenly host" to a group of working guys doing their job on a regular work night. Instead of the usual disruptions, like wolves or thieves, the skies opened up to a host of singing angels. Understandable terror gave way to amazement after the angels uttered the familiar "do not be afraid". The shepherds had no preparation or frame of reference for what they experienced, but somehow they were ready. They talked amongst themselves and very quickly decided they would leave their flocks, hurry to Bethlehem, and see this thing the angels were singing about. How could God move if ordinary people like us allowed a "holy disruption" during our everyday lives? Perhaps we can learn from the shepherds' angelic encounter that responding to the good news doesn't have to wait until we are perfectly ready and available with every plan in place, with enough energy, or perfect faith. Love comes to the door meeting us as we are, asking us to do the same. Fear is not a sin or a sign of unfaithfulness or weakness. What becomes sin is how we respond to fear.

The sometimes overlooked angel is the one who appeared to Joseph in a dream, warning him to take his family and flee the only home Jesus had known for the first two years of his life. We should not forget that Jesus himself was a refugee. With the number of displaced people living in our city and neighbourhoods at an all-time high, the text from Matthew should serve as a painful reminder of the trauma Jesus and his family faced thousands of years ago. That parallel sounds the alarm for Christians to respond to the refugee crisis with great urgency and radical compassion. One of the things we've discovered at RockPointe's Intercultural site is that when we serve refugees and other new Canadians, living out our faith to welcome the stranger, it enriches our own community of faith. We are reminded that two seemingly opposite truths exist at once - there are wars in our world, yet the peace of Christ is ours at all times. Even though we see suffering and heartbreak, the love of God envelops us all. When darkness casts shadows of poverty, hopelessness, and fear, a bright light shines in that darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it...ever.

The message of Jesus' good news is that fearless faith transforms lives and the world. In the hopeful spirit of Advent, we can listen and proclaim the angels' invitation to fearlessness. We can become Advent people who can identify deep anxiety in the world, aware of the source of human fear, but not bound by it, serving the needs of the world, but not crippled by its enormity. Advent people are grounded in reality, but live fearlessly empowered by the Spirit.

The call is ours to answer: Where will we go and what will we do now that we're unafraid?