Two weeks ago we put our shepherds and sheep in our nativity scene. Last week we put our wise men from the East on their camels. Today we’re going to add someone else to our manger scene: Mary, Joseph, and the angel. You remember from our pageant/puppet show that the angel comes to talk to Mary in the garden—and then the angel comes to talk to the shepherds. Both times the angel says the very same thing. Do you remember what it is?
It’s good the angel said this. Otherwise a lot of people would be scared—having an angel just appear out of heaven and start talking to you! That’s something that doesn’t happen every day! It’s definitely unusual. And unusual things can be scary. The angel told Mary something else. She told Mary she was going to have a baby, she was going to be a mother. For Mary it was going to be VERY scary. Her baby, Jesus, was going to be the savior of the world! And there were going to be people who hated him, and arrested him, and put him to death on a cross. But the angel told Mary not to be afraid. That somehow, it was going to be all right. That God was going to be in charge of all that was happening. It might be hard, it might be painful, it might be heartbreaking—but it would still turn out all right in the end. That was the promise of the angel to Mary. And it’s God’s promise to us, too, the promise of Christmas. Things may be scary in our lives, but we don’t need to be scared. Things may be sad and painful sometimes, but it will all turn out all right because God loves us and is with us always.
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