This is the joyous time of the year. The Christian world is alive with the advent of Christmas, with the coming of the Christ Child.

The secular celebration of Christmas is festive and lively--there is Santa Claus in his many forms. There are the specials on TV and the annual Christmas recordings. There are advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines, and broadcast on radios and televisions. There are parties and games and an abundance of toys and food.

For most of us.

For some there is little in the world to celebrate. For some there is no tree and nothing to put under it. There are cold, inhospitable streets. There is loneliness for many, no family or friends, or at least no one close enough physically or emotionally to want to see.

For many of us, this season brings with it not joy and hope, but despair and loss. The promises of the season throw into stark relief the emptiness of the lives that are led.

Some years ago, we put together a tape recording with nearly an hour and a half's worth of music … all of it different versions of "Silent Night." Some friends heard us play it and asked if we could make them a copy. And then we started making other copies for other friends. Some have told us that when they have felt down during Christmas time, they put on that recording and the repetition of that familiar music and those familiar words take them back to what Christmas is all about.

"Heavenly peace." "Love’s pure light." "All is calm, all is bright."

During Advent each year, we celebrate Christ's coming once again, in four different ways. We celebrate in Peace; we celebrate in Hope; we celebrate in Joy; and we celebrate in Love.

Each year we do this, over and over again. We do this because each of the four is a different expression of the same thing. Think about it. Think about when you have felt peace. Did you not also feel hope? When you have love in your heart, have you not also felt joy? Peace, Hope, Joy, and Love. Have you ever felt any of these in their true reality without feeling the others as well?

This is what "Silent Night" tells us each year. It's the story of what the shepherds experienced that night over 2000 years ago. It's the angel telling them, "Fear not. For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day, in the City of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord."

The angel announces Jesus' birth and tells us to "fear not." Three decades later, the angel tells Mary Magdalene to "fear not," for Jesus has risen. And the resurrected Christ, on meeting the disciples, tells them, "Be not afraid."

There is much in this life that fear will lay claim to, if we grant it that power. But the earthly life of Jesus Christ, from the beginning to the end, tells us we have the most powerful reason there is to "fear not."

Maybe this is what Christmas is all about.