Fear Not

God does not act in a vacuum.  His story of His involvement with His people does not begin like some "Once upon a time..." narrative.  It does not speak of kings and queens who are fictional, or ordinary people who never really lived.  There is no disclaimer in the front of the Book saying that any resemblance to someone specific is purely incidental.  God does not work in the incidental realm, but the one where real people live midst the good and bad which bring blessings and afflictions.   

The story which is about to be read in churches across the land is one which is told in a specific geographic and historical context. "In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria." (Luke 2:1-2).  With those words the stage is set.  It is not a stage which could have existed or a story which was mostly fiction with a sprinkling of the historical.  The story Luke tells is one of fact.  It is one so factual and historical it can be validated by what is known about the period of the context.  The people whose stories are told in the sacred Word are as real as our mothers and fathers.   

This word of God which we read on Christmas Eve and which is read by the faithful of God is one which tells with accuracy the dealings of God with the people created by His own hand.  It is a story as old as Adam and Eve, one that includes the stories being written with the lives of people like us, and one which will end with the chapter telling about the return of the Christ not as a child, but as the reigning King.  We spend too much time looking at the minutia of the present historical moment and not enough looking at the big picture.  As we look at the big picture, we hear the whispering words of God, "Fear not...fear not...fear not."  The One writing the history which includes our lives is God and He is still in charge.