At a worship and music committee meeting a while back, someone jokingly suggested that the choir sing, "Hakuna Matata" as the anthem. You may recognize that song as being from the cartoon musical, "The Lion King." The title is a Swahili phrase that means, "no worries."

Now we do have some standards to keep up at this church, and the thought of our choir taking on the role of an animated warthog does not quite meet those standards. Nevertheless, if there was ever a Sunday when we might be tempted to use that anthem, this would be it. In fact, with some qualifications, it might even be possible to call the second candle on our advent wreath, the Hakuna Matata candle.

More traditionally, that candle is referred to as the peace candle. But looking over how the concept of peace connects with the Christmas scene and how it relates to the coming of Christ, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are two meanings of peace in the Bible.

One of those is meanings is simply the absence of war. This is the definition of peace that we use most often. When we pray for peace in the prayers of the church, what are we asking for? We are usually asking for an end to violence and warfare.

When people express the wish for world peace, they’re usually thinking of an end to bloodshed and armed struggle.

And so when, in the Christmas story, we hear the angels proclaim, "Peace on earth," that’s probably what we have in mind. God is promising a future world in which all the fighting stops. That is certainly something worth praying for. And for those who are trapped in the midst of warfare, the prayer for peace is urgent, desperate, and overshadows any other prayer we could offer.

There is a second meaning of peace in the Bible, however, a much broader meaning, that is closely related to Hatuna Matata. It is a meaning that applies to every person, in every time and place, whether they live in a bomb-shattered neighborhood in Iraq or a quiet farm in rural Iowa.

We see this up close in the Christmas story. Notice that in Luke’s account, whenever messengers from God arrive, what is the first thing they always say?

"Do not be afraid."

When the angel appears to Zephaniah, announcing the coming birth of John the Baptist, the first words out of his mouth are: "Do not be afraid."

When the angel appears to Mary, we hear these same words: Do not be afraid.

When the angels appear to the shepherds out in their fields, what’s the first thing they say to the shepherds? "Do not be afraid."

In the Christmas story, the messengers of God always come bearing the same message. Do not be afraid.

I did a little checking up in the Bible, and I discovered this is not something that happens only in the Christmas story. It happens throughout the entire Bible when God or a messenger of God, or a vision of God appears to a significant character of faith.

In Genesis, God appears to Abraham in a vision and the first words out of his mouth: "Do not be afraid."

God appears to the slave girl, Haggar, in the desert, with the words, "Do not be afraid."

God appears to Isaac during a time of conflict, and he uses these same words.

Daniel has a vision from God, who tells him twice, "Do not be afraid."

Moving into the New Testament, we find several instances in which Jesus calms Peter, the disciples, Jairus, and others with those very words, "do no be afraid."

On Easter Sunday. What is the first thing the angel says to the women who come to the tomb?

"Do not be afraid."

In the Acts of the Apostles, when Paul is imprisoned, he twice receives visions of a visitation from God. Both times, the vision begins, "Do not be afraid."

In Revelation, John’s vision begins with God telling, "Do not be afraid."

In other words, from the first book of the Bible to the last, whenever God comes near to humans, the first and most urgent message he brings is: do not be afraid.

Dig a little deeper, and we find that it’s not just God and the mysterious messengers from God who are saying this. It is all the leaders of God’s people, time and again saying the same thing to those around them. Joseph, the son of Jacob, Joshua, Samuel, Boaz, David, Jonathan, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel—all of the good guys in the Bible-- come to the people with a word from the Lord and so often the first words they say are: do not be afraid.

If you look up all the directives that Moses gave to the Israelites, guess which one is repeated most often? Which one does he say again and again? What is the most persistent message he drills home to those in his care?

Do not be afraid.

Whenever God comes near to us, the first message that we hear is, do not be afraid. The first thing on God’s agenda whenever God encounters us is to get rid of our fear.

This gets even more fascinating when we see what it is that God wants to leave in its place. Again, we see a pattern repeated time after time. John 14:27 says it best:

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you." We find a dozen other places in the Gospel where Jesus says, "Peace be with you," or words to that effect.

And look what his followers do throughout the Epistles.

There are literally dozens of instances where Paul or Peter, or whoever else was writing these books says, "Peace be with you."

From this it is pretty clear that one of the main themes of the Bible, of God’s revelation to us, is this combination of taking away and giving.

Do not be afraid; my peace I give to you.

God comes to get rid of the fear; and to leave peace in its place.

Advent is about the coming of Immanuel: God with us. Immanuel comes to us, to get rid of fear and to leave peace in its place."

Why is getting rid of fear so closely connected with gaining peace?

When we were discussing the state of race relations in the church during our adult education last month, we found that we could trace almost every problem to one thing: fear.

In this nation, we have had so many instances of multiracial congregations trying to live out God’s vision of peace and sharing, and almost every time, it is fear that wrecks everything.

An influx of whites comes into the church, or an influx of blacks, or an influx of Hispanics, and suddenly fear enters in. Nobody wants to be in the minority. Everybody fears what might happen if they become the ones who stick out, who aren’t like everyone else. So whenever the racial balances tips one way or the other, it triggers a mass exodus of people who don’t want to be a minority in a church. Which is why fewer than 5% of congregations today are integrated in any meaningful way.

Fear is the root of virtually every relational problem among nations in the world today. Fear turns neighbors into enemies.

Fear creates insane military arms races. Fear of others causes us to demonize them and they to demonize us. Fear that we might not get enough of the world’s resources sparks cutthroat competition between nations.

Fear causes us to circle the wagons and declare that’s it’s us against the world. Fear causes us to focus solely on survival, on protecting me and mine, on getting all I can get for me and who cares what happens to anyone else? Fear prevents us from fulfilling the great command to love the Lord our God with all our heart and strength, and our neighbor as ourself.

God does not like fear. Whenever God comes near to humans, the first thing God says is, "Get rid of that fear. Fear isn’t going to get you anywhere. Fear is paralyzing you, fear is strapping you down, locking you in, walling you off. Fear is robbing you of a full and productive and meaningful life. Fear is preventing you from being the people you were meant to be."

Getting rid of fear is more easily said than done, which is why God and the messengers from God have to keep repeating that message, from the first book of the Bible to the last. It is why Immanuel keeps coming to us; it is why God keeps drawing close to us. Because without God, there is no escape from fear; it will dog us for the rest of our days. Without God, peace is impossible.

The good news of the Bible is that the closer God comes to us, the more fear is replaced by peace. As the Psalmist says: The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.

God and fear do not live in the same place. They cannot coexist. When God arrives, fear has to leave.

God gets rid of the fear and in its place brings peace. Not just peace as in the absence of bullets flying and bombs exploding. But peace in the form of freedom. Freedom from those terrible shackles that prevent us from being the people we were meant to be, living the way God intended for us to live.

Advent is the time for preparing for the coming of Jesus. The first thing we need in order to prepare is hope. We need to cling to the idea that God is there, God is faithful, that there is a future that promises something good. Hope comes from the words of the prophets, from the promises of God in the Bible.

When we have hope, when the candle of hope burns brightly, we are ready for the next candle. We are ready for Hakuna Matata. We are ready for the peace that is freedom from fear so that we can live in full confidence as children of God.

That peace is not something we can achieve by ourselves. It comes with the reality of Immanuel, of God coming to us. As God draws near to us this Advent, he comes with the same words he has used since the beginning of time:

Do not be afraid.

Isaiah 40 describes what happens when God comes near:

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.

He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart

He gently leads those that are with young.

He gives strength to the weary,

And increases the power of the weak.

It ends with these words, the same words that brought comfort at Terry Taylor’s funeral yesterday.

Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

They will run and not grow weary,

They will walk and not be faint.

Exit fear. Enter peace.

When we share the peace with each other in church, we are saying Hatuna Matata. We declare that when God comes to us, we no longer need to live our lives in fear; we live in God’s peace.

Does this mean no worries for the rest of our life? Well, that’s a little simplistic, and that’s probably why we don’t sing Hakuna Matata as an anthem.

What Hakuna Matata does mean for us is this: With God as your shepherd, though you walk in the valley of the shadow of death, you will fear no evil. You will be at peace.

The 2^nd Advent candle burns today to remind us that in the events of Christmas Day, for which we are preparing:

God is coming near

Fear is leaving

Peace is at hand