Let me begin by asking you a question….a two-part question, really. When your children cry out in the middle of the night and (in comforting them) you say, "There, there now; don't be afraid, everything is going to be all right"….are you, in that moment, an angel….and are you absolutely certain that you are going to be able to make everything all right?

The world is full of fearful things. Children know this and openly acknowledge it. Adults know this, too, but have mastered the art of repressing or bluffing their way through it. Franklin D. Roosevelt was wrong. There are some things to fear besides fear itself.

When you read the nativity narratives in Matthew and Luke, doesn't it seem as if the angels are working overtime, rushing from this one to that one, telling them, "Don't be afrai…