{"id":194,"date":"2011-12-21T11:51:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T18:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.195.124.95\/~redletu4\/fear-not-my-friend\/"},"modified":"2011-12-21T11:51:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T18:51:00","slug":"fear-not-my-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/fear-not-my-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear Not, My Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\nThey were amazing words, echoing across the sheep-filled grasses, a billion blinking stars danced in approval<\/span>\n

\u201cFor unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n\ufeff <\/span>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nFlikr Photo by\u00a0<\/span>galibert olivier<\/span><\/a> <\/span>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Still, the shepherds trembled.\u00a0And the words of reassurance came from the angel. \u201cFear not.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/span>It was a common theme in preparation for the baby\u2019s birth. When Zacharias was in the temple, he heard \u201cFear Not.\u201d <\/em><\/span><\/span>When the angel appeared to Mary, he said, \u201cFear Not.\u201d <\/em><\/span><\/span>\n

Why should anyone fear an angel? Why should anyone fear words that bring such good news?\u00a0Why should anyone fear the Christmas message?<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
But it\u2019s true. We are afraid<\/strong>.We were afraid then. And we are afraid now. <\/span>\n

I have a friend who will not come to a 45-minute Christmas Eve service. He is\u00a0content to watch A Christmas Sto<\/em>ry on television, only to be interrupted every 12 minutes with\u00a0ads about the latest sedan or dishsoap.\u00a0Maybe there will be a good rerun on later. Maybe someone will call. Maybe.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0box of Queen Anne Cherries sits next to his chair while the\u00a0<\/span>blinking lights flash from his\u00a0neighbors house bounce off his\u00a0drawn curtains. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

He is alone. And deep down he is afraid of the angel\u2019s message. He is afraid that his persona of hating organized religion will crumble when faced with a personal Jesus. He is afraid that the truth he has seen so clearly might just invade his heart. He is afraid that after all of these years of resistance, that he\u2019ll actually give in to someone greater than he. So he clings to the fear, ignoring the words of the angel.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fear not, my friend. Fear not.<\/strong><\/em><\/span>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Please, share with a friend if you feel moved.
\nRead all past issues at http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They were amazing words, echoing across the sheep-filled grasses, a billion blinking stars danced in approval \u201cFor unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.\u201d \ufeff Flikr Photo by\u00a0galibert olivier Still, the shepherds trembled.\u00a0And the words of reassurance came from the angel. \u201cFear not.\u201d It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[280,721],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fear-not","category-resistance-to-the-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nFear Not, My Friend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"They were amazing words, echoing across the sheep-filled grasses, a billion blinking stars danced in approval"For unto you is born this day in the city of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/fear-not-my-friend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fear Not, My Friend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They were amazing words, echoing across the sheep-filled grasses, a billion blinking stars danced in approval"For unto you is born this day in the city of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/fear-not-my-friend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/davidrupert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-21T18:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-56ET7pe9L18\/TvIcHJbK1gI\/AAAAAAAABuE\/qiAoNqQP3o8\/s320\/Shepherd.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rupzip\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Rupert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/fear-not-my-friend\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/fear-not-my-friend\/\",\"name\":\"Fear Not, My Friend\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-21T18:51:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-21T18:51:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\"},\"description\":\"They were amazing words, echoing across the sheep-filled grasses, a billion blinking stars danced in approval\\\"For unto you is born this day in the city of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/fear-not-my-friend\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/fear-not-my-friend\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/fear-not-my-friend\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fear Not, My Friend\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/1ee971d3244e1f67a487a31f55d37c81\",\"name\":\"David Rupert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidrupert\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47e7c27dc78a66ace4b19bb00da8bccc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Rupert\"},\"description\":\"I am a communication professional who has a passion for people. 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