Advent Day 16: Fear Not

Fear exists for self preservation.

•

Some types of fear are healthy. Other types of fear, not so much.

•

In the Advent story, angels show up on multiple occasions. Typically, people respond with fear.

•

Also typically, the angel says, “fear not.”

•

CS Lewis says we know the angels are good, but we fear because, in their presence, we come to realize that we might not like “goodness” as much as we might have thought.

•

As if the goodness is somehow threatening to us in our weakness.

•

And it is. That’s part of why Adam and Eve couldn’t stay in the garden. It’s why they hid, why they felt shame.

•

So, when the angel says, “fear not,” it is an invitation to let our guard down.

•

To trust that the divine is doing something “good” in us.

•

What do you fear right now, in this moment? Advent is an invitation to lay that fear down, to be vulnerable, and let the Divine do something good with it.