“Good News is Louder Than Fear”
Preached Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December 24, 2025 (7PM)
“Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people!”
So proclaims the host of angels to the shepherds watching their flocks on a hill outside of Bethlehem. They come, lighting up the night sky to proclaim good news! But first they say - do not be afraid!
The sermon title for this sermon is “Good News is Louder Than Fear” - this is the Good News of Christmas. But also…it gives me pause and I have to ask…is Good News…really louder than fear?
If I am being honest about my own life and experiences…not always. Fear, bad news, criticism… is pretty dang loud. There is actually something called “Negativity Bias” and studies have confirmed that it’s a real thing - that often, the bad is louder than the good. It can take up to FIVE - or even more - instances of Good News to outweigh one instance of bad news. It can take five compliments or affirmations to outweigh one negative comment. It can take five assurances that everything will be all right to outweigh that one inkling of fear.
So is Good News louder than Fear? Not according to modern psychological studies.
And the fear, the bad news of our world is loud - social media algorithms and news stations know that fear is loud. They know it garners engagement. Clicks. Purchases. More viewers. And thus, generates income for the one spreading the bad news, spreading the fear. Sometimes I think of it as the “Bogeyman Du Jour.” The “Fear of the Day” - what are we being told we should be afraid of today? And who benefits when neighbors are afraid of neighbors? When everywhere we turn there are enemies? The companies we buy guns and security cameras from? The politicians we vote for when they promise safety or an eradication of the enemy? Or just the social media algorithms and advertisers as our fear causes us to isolate more and more, spending more time on our phones, clicking further down the rabbit hole…
I don’t really need to share what the fears of today are. You know them. You know them from doom scrolling on your phone, you know them from watching the news and reading the headlines, you know them from the things that keep you awake at night, you know the voices of criticism and derision in your life - whether they come from those around you or that voice inside that tells you that you are not enough, you know them from the what ifs and fears running through your head …
Can we hear the angels saying to us this Christmas: “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people!”?
Can we let the Good News of Great Joy for All People - be louder than our fear?
Let’s turn to the backdrop of fear that this Good News was proclaimed during. Luke sets up the background of fear in his Gospel.
The Gospel of Luke starts with the words “In the time of Herod…” It has long been said that Luke was the more historical of the Gospel writers and he wanted to cement the story of Jesus’s birth in the historical narrative. This opening sentence, however, conveys more than just the year in which these events took place. It also lets us know what kind of world Jesus was born into. It is the important backdrop for everything that is about to happen.
Saying “In the time of Herod…” would be synonymous with saying
“In a time of rampant oppression,”
“In a time of economic disparity,”
“In a time of uncertainty,”
“In a time of instability.”
Perhaps this sounds not to unlike our world today.
Luke continues in the second chapter, in our Gospel reading this evening, in the Christmas story, to let us in on the background of all that was happening in the world that Jesus was born into.
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.”
In his book “The Politics of Jesus,” Obery M. Hendricks describes the horrors of Roman occupation that the Empire called “Pax Romana” - a “peace” that was achieved through violence, fear, and suppression. For instance, around the time of Jesus’s birth, in the city of Sepphoris - just three miles from Nazareth - 2,000 people were crucified by Roman forces for rebellion. In Wednesday Bible, when discussing the great inconvenience of traveling to Bethlehem for a very pregnant Mary and Joseph, one participant asked, “Why go? Do you think they debated just…not doing it?” This is why. They went because of fear. Fear for their lives if they didn’t go. And this census was going to be yet another tool of oppression, it was for taxation purposes that would further impoverish the poor - taking land and resources from the working class and farmers. All in the name of “peace - Pax Romana.”
This is the backdrop to the Nativity scene - this Christmas story of angels and Shepherds and a baby in a manger.
And so we ask - in this story, which is louder? The backdrop of fear or the Good News of Christ being born, Jesus, Emmanuel, God-With-Us, God-Enfleshed entering into our world.
Okay…deep breath. We’ve heard of fear this evening. We’ve heard of the historical context of Jesus’s birth and considered how it is similar to our world, a world saturated with fear. Again, deep breath - now, let’s hear some Good News and let it ring out louder than our fear.
“Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’”
“Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people!”
Do not be afraid!
The angel proclaims to the terrified Shepherds in the field that they are bringing Good News - Good News literally translates - the Gospel. Gospel is a term that we are well acquainted with in the church. We call Scripture the Gospel, we call the stories of Jesus’s birth, life, death, and resurrection in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John “The Gospels.” Preachers proclaim the Gospel! We bring Good News - the Good News of Jesus.
What we don’t realize in the church is that “Gospel” is a co-opted term from the Roman Empire. In the time of the angels appearing to the Shepherds in the field - “Gospel” was a politically charged term. The birth of a Roman Emperor or the conquest of a new region was proclaimed - “Gospel” by the Roman Empire. Except this “Gospel” this “Good News” was not “Good News of great joy for all the people!” The Gospel of the Empire was not joyful and it was not good. And certainly not good for all people.
So the Angel appears and uses this politically charged term but says it’s news of Great Joy for All the People? Immediately the angel signifies, my Gospel, God’s Gospel, is better than that other “good news” - that “fake good news” is you will - THIS Good News will be louder.
And then a whole HOST of angels appears in the sky singing praises to God. The word used for host here is actually also a military term. It’s basically used to describe a whole army. We don’t know exactly how many angels were in the sky singing praises to God but it’s possible that there could have been a legion, 5,000 to 6,000 angels singing God’s praises. Or a whole army of angels - and the Roman army was about 450,000 people during Jesus’s life. We don’t know but use your Biblical imaginations to imagine a host of angels in the sky - more than the eye could ever count, a whole army’s worth of angels echoing the Good News, the Gospel, of Great Joy and singing God’s praises.
Was the Good News of the Angels, multiplied over a whole host of heavenly voices - was that Good News louder than the backdrop of fear that was the Roman Empire during the Rule of Herod?
YES! Good News of Great Joy for All the People - echoed over and over and over again, enough times to outweigh the negativity bias of a world steeped in fear.
And now, consider the Shepherds, they were terrified when the angels appeared - rightfully so - but by the time they finished hearing the Good News, the Gospel, proclaimed by the angels, they went with haste to see for themselves. And after they encountered the baby Jesus in the manger, just as the angels proclaimed, Scripture says: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.”
So my question to us this evening is - how can we be like the angels and the Shepherds and proclaim the Good News of Great Joy for All People - loud enough, joyfully enough, lovingly enough, and over and over and over and over and over again - until this Good News is louder than all of our fears, than the fears of the world, from anything that would hold us back from this Good News?
Good News is louder than Fear - IF we allow it to be. If we echo it. If we magnify it. If we return from this place, glorifying and praising God for all we have heard and seen.
In a world of fear, choosing joy is a powerful act of resistance. In a world of bad news, choosing Good News is a radical form of discipleship. In our world, joining the angels in proclaiming joy and love and praising God is counter-cultural, brave, faithful.
What would your life look like if you chose, today, here, and now - to be like the host of angels and praise God with all your heart and voice? What would it look like if you chose, today, here, and now - to let all your words, your actions, your whole life - repeat the sounding joy that Jesus Christ, God-With-Us, came into this world to bring Love and Salvation to All People? What would it look like if you chose, today, here, and now - to be like the Shepherds who were changed by the Good News and returned glorifying and praising God?
What would it look like if you chose, today, here and now, that you would let your whole life be one where Good News is louder than fear? A life of joy, a life of love, a life of true peace, a life marked by hope in God’s promises, a life that is changed forever, changed for the Good, changed by the Gospel, because we hold on to Good News that the angels proclaimed that first Christmas?
Our world is full of bad news. Our world is full of negativity. Our world is full of fear. It doesn’t need echoing by us. It doesn’t need repeated by us. Our world doesn’t need us to be multipliers of fear, division, and hate. The world has enough of that. And that is not the way of Jesus.
What our world needs - what God is asking us to do - is to be bearers of The Good News of Great Joy for All People - that the God of Love loved us so much that God came to this Earth to be louder than all the Fear, to break the powers of Sin and Death, and give us a new life, a new way, marked by Joy and Love.
Let’s practice that now. Let’s practice echoing and magnifying the Good News of Great Joy for All People. Repeat after me:
Do not be afraid
Do not be afraid.
I am bringing you good news!
I am bringing you good news!
Of great joy for all the people!
Of great joy for all the people!
Good News is louder than fear!
Good News is louder than fear!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
May it be so. Amen.
Let’s turn to the backdrop of fear that this Good News was proclaimed during. Luke sets up the background of fear in his Gospel.
The Gospel of Luke starts with the words “In the time of Herod…” It has long been said that Luke was the more historical of the Gospel writers and he wanted to cement the story of Jesus’s birth in the historical narrative. This opening sentence, however, conveys more than just the year in which these events took place. It also lets us know what kind of world Jesus was born into. It is the important backdrop for everything that is about to happen.
Saying “In the time of Herod…” would be synonymous with saying
“In a time of rampant oppression,”
“In a time of economic disparity,”
“In a time of uncertainty,”
“In a time of instability.”
Perhaps this sounds not to unlike our world today.
Luke continues in the second chapter, in our Gospel reading this evening, in the Christmas story, to let us in on the background of all that was happening in the world that Jesus was born into.
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.”
In his book “The Politics of Jesus,” Obery M. Hendricks describes the horrors of Roman occupation that the Empire called “Pax Romana” - a “peace” that was achieved through violence, fear, and suppression. For instance, around the time of Jesus’s birth, in the city of Sepphoris - just three miles from Nazareth - 2,000 people were crucified by Roman forces for rebellion. In Wednesday Bible, when discussing the great inconvenience of traveling to Bethlehem for a very pregnant Mary and Joseph, one participant asked, “Why go? Do you think they debated just…not doing it?” This is why. They went because of fear. Fear for their lives if they didn’t go. And this census was going to be yet another tool of oppression, it was for taxation purposes that would further impoverish the poor - taking land and resources from the working class and farmers. All in the name of “peace - Pax Romana.”
This is the backdrop to the Nativity scene - this Christmas story of angels and Shepherds and a baby in a manger.
And so we ask - in this story, which is louder? The backdrop of fear or the Good News of Christ being born, Jesus, Emmanuel, God-With-Us, God-Enfleshed entering into our world.
Okay…deep breath. We’ve heard of fear this evening. We’ve heard of the historical context of Jesus’s birth and considered how it is similar to our world, a world saturated with fear. Again, deep breath - now, let’s hear some Good News and let it ring out louder than our fear.
“Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!’”
“Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people!”
Do not be afraid!
The angel proclaims to the terrified Shepherds in the field that they are bringing Good News - Good News literally translates - the Gospel. Gospel is a term that we are well acquainted with in the church. We call Scripture the Gospel, we call the stories of Jesus’s birth, life, death, and resurrection in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John “The Gospels.” Preachers proclaim the Gospel! We bring Good News - the Good News of Jesus.
What we don’t realize in the church is that “Gospel” is a co-opted term from the Roman Empire. In the time of the angels appearing to the Shepherds in the field - “Gospel” was a politically charged term. The birth of a Roman Emperor or the conquest of a new region was proclaimed - “Gospel” by the Roman Empire. Except this “Gospel” this “Good News” was not “Good News of great joy for all the people!” The Gospel of the Empire was not joyful and it was not good. And certainly not good for all people.
So the Angel appears and uses this politically charged term but says it’s news of Great Joy for All the People? Immediately the angel signifies, my Gospel, God’s Gospel, is better than that other “good news” - that “fake good news” is you will - THIS Good News will be louder.
And then a whole HOST of angels appears in the sky singing praises to God. The word used for host here is actually also a military term. It’s basically used to describe a whole army. We don’t know exactly how many angels were in the sky singing praises to God but it’s possible that there could have been a legion, 5,000 to 6,000 angels singing God’s praises. Or a whole army of angels - and the Roman army was about 450,000 people during Jesus’s life. We don’t know but use your Biblical imaginations to imagine a host of angels in the sky - more than the eye could ever count, a whole army’s worth of angels echoing the Good News, the Gospel, of Great Joy and singing God’s praises.
Was the Good News of the Angels, multiplied over a whole host of heavenly voices - was that Good News louder than the backdrop of fear that was the Roman Empire during the Rule of Herod?
YES! Good News of Great Joy for All the People - echoed over and over and over again, enough times to outweigh the negativity bias of a world steeped in fear.
And now, consider the Shepherds, they were terrified when the angels appeared - rightfully so - but by the time they finished hearing the Good News, the Gospel, proclaimed by the angels, they went with haste to see for themselves. And after they encountered the baby Jesus in the manger, just as the angels proclaimed, Scripture says: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them.”
So my question to us this evening is - how can we be like the angels and the Shepherds and proclaim the Good News of Great Joy for All People - loud enough, joyfully enough, lovingly enough, and over and over and over and over and over again - until this Good News is louder than all of our fears, than the fears of the world, from anything that would hold us back from this Good News?
Good News is louder than Fear - IF we allow it to be. If we echo it. If we magnify it. If we return from this place, glorifying and praising God for all we have heard and seen.
In a world of fear, choosing joy is a powerful act of resistance. In a world of bad news, choosing Good News is a radical form of discipleship. In our world, joining the angels in proclaiming joy and love and praising God is counter-cultural, brave, faithful.
What would your life look like if you chose, today, here, and now - to be like the host of angels and praise God with all your heart and voice? What would it look like if you chose, today, here, and now - to let all your words, your actions, your whole life - repeat the sounding joy that Jesus Christ, God-With-Us, came into this world to bring Love and Salvation to All People? What would it look like if you chose, today, here, and now - to be like the Shepherds who were changed by the Good News and returned glorifying and praising God?
What would it look like if you chose, today, here and now, that you would let your whole life be one where Good News is louder than fear? A life of joy, a life of love, a life of true peace, a life marked by hope in God’s promises, a life that is changed forever, changed for the Good, changed by the Gospel, because we hold on to Good News that the angels proclaimed that first Christmas?
Our world is full of bad news. Our world is full of negativity. Our world is full of fear. It doesn’t need echoing by us. It doesn’t need repeated by us. Our world doesn’t need us to be multipliers of fear, division, and hate. The world has enough of that. And that is not the way of Jesus.
What our world needs - what God is asking us to do - is to be bearers of The Good News of Great Joy for All People - that the God of Love loved us so much that God came to this Earth to be louder than all the Fear, to break the powers of Sin and Death, and give us a new life, a new way, marked by Joy and Love.
Let’s practice that now. Let’s practice echoing and magnifying the Good News of Great Joy for All People. Repeat after me:
Do not be afraid
Do not be afraid.
I am bringing you good news!
I am bringing you good news!
Of great joy for all the people!
Of great joy for all the people!
Good News is louder than fear!
Good News is louder than fear!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
May it be so. Amen.
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