The angel announces to St. Mary that she will be the bearer of God's Son to the world.  The message begins by saying "Do not be afraid."  God has  a way of breaking into our lives and changing them ... casting away darkness, putting sin to flight, binding up old wounds, making whole again that which feels broken, declaring pardon for wrongs we've done and asking us to forgive where wrongs have been done to us, casting light and love on the whole world over ... again and again and again.  So often, that annunciation, that announcement of God's, begins by reassuring us not to be afraid. 
     This kind of God - God who loves when it doesn't make sense, forgiving when we might think something or someone is beyond forgiveness, making whole what we believe to be broken and gone forever, opening our eyes that we might see again goodness - this kind of God shows us a new way to live by beginning in love.  That changes us and change, even when it is for the better, makes us uneasy and anxious mostly because it seems too good to be true.  But in the annunciation to St. Mary that she would give birth to the Redemption of the world the angel reminds all of us that with God, nothing is impossible.  This last Sunday of Advent is all about our letting go of our fears in our lives and believing that as impossible as it may sound, absolutely nothing is impossible with God.