Principal's Message T4 W8 2021

Don’t Be Afraid

Almost every time an angel appears to someone in the Bible the first thing they say is, ‘Don’t be afraid’. If they don’t say it when they turn up, they say it as part of their message to the terrified listener. The Christmas story gives us some clues.

‘Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife.’ The angel tells Joseph.

‘Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favour with God’, Gabriel tells Mary.

‘Don’t be afraid, for I bring you good news of great joy for all people,’ the angels tell the shepherds when Jesus is born.

There are heaps of other times throughout the Old and New Testament where angels turn up, the person they meet freaks out and the first thing they say is, ‘Don’t be afraid’.

Forget the fact that having a supernatural being suddenly appear in your space is scary enough. Forget the fact that sometimes, as with the shepherds, ‘the glory of the Lord shone around them’, kind of like a Spielberg film. Even if they made an appointment and came in casually with heaps of notice over a coffee dressed in plain clothes, someone bringing an actual message from God about your immediate future, telling you that everything is about to change, would be … well … scary.

Anxiety about what is ahead for us is a very real thing. Sometimes it is worse when you know what it is, I can promise you that because I am a Principal, I see people quite often who are very worried if they have been invited to my office to see me. We worry, we fret and fear what is ahead. That big event, that meeting, that birthday, that job application, that interview, that power bill or car rego, my COVID jab. The list goes on.

But of course, the message is the same, ‘don’t be afraid’. ‘ Fear not for I am with you’ says the Lord. There isn’t a place God asks us to go that He hasn’t been, Christ is fully human and fully divine. That is the unparalleled beauty of Christmas. We are reminded once again that God comes to us, Immanuel, God with us.

So, we come to the end of another year, we rush into our end of year events, we thank the right people, celebrate the right stuff, buy the best gift and pack our calendars down to the minute. We rush into the season of peace and joy all hyped up and stressed.

And then He comes again, we knew He would, but it is always amazing, sublime. He draws near to us, quiet and gentle, humble and close, a child. While we sleep in the summer heat Jesus comes to us again in the night. He reminds us that God is for us, He is beside us, He is with us, He is as close as our breath. Don’t be afraid.

May our Great God of Hope bless you with peace and joy this Christmas.

Shane Altmann
Principal