Fear and Longing Share a Border (Advent Week 1)
We start Advent with a simple line: “In the days of King Herod…” The author of Luke doesn’t open with candlelight or carols. They begin with the world as it really was, a world shaped by empire, violence, and fear. A world where people woke up wondering what the next decree, tax, or punishment might bring. A world where the powerful guarded their thrones, and ordinary people tried to make it through the day.
We know a world like that.
Maybe not with palaces and crowns, but with headlines that make our stomachs tighten. With uncertainty about what comes next. With grief beneath the surface. With fears that settle into our bodies—fears we don’t always name, but that shape us just the same.
Advent begins right there. Not in perfection, but in the real world we inhabit.
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Scripture – Luke 1:5-13
5 In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
8 Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.
11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
In the time of Herod — naming the world we live in
Zechariah had lived long enough to see his nation lose independence and come under Roman occupation. He had served faithfully through decades that felt darker, not lighter. When Luke writes, “in the time of Herod,” he is telling the truth about the times.
Advent asks us to do the same.
We don’t pretend everything is fine. We tell the truth about the world we live in, trusting that God shows up in the real, not the ideal.
So we ask ourselves:
Where are the Herods in our world?
Where are the Herods in our week?
Where are the Herods in our own hearts?
Naming the world honestly clears space for hope to break in.
Fear and longing live together
When the angel appears to Zechariah, he is deeply troubled, even terrified, (ταράσσω, tarassó) shaken to his core. This isn’t a small startle. It is the kind of fear that rises from years of disappointment, from dreams deferred, from longings that felt too fragile to carry anymore.
Zechariah and Elizabeth longed for a child. They longed for a lot of things; they longed for a Messiah. They longed for God to act after generations of silence.
And longing often lives right next to fear.
Most of our fears sit beside something we desire deeply:
The fear of being alone, right next to the longing for belonging.
The fear of loss, beside the longing for stability.
The fear for our children, next to the longing for their future.
The fear of change, beside the longing for something better.
Fear and longing share a border.
Advent invites us not to push either one away, but to notice what aches inside us and to name it honestly before God.
“Your prayer has been heard.” God enters the fearful place
Before the angel speaks of miracles, before anything changes at all, the first words are recognition:
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.”
Not answered.
Not resolved.
Heard.
God is already present in the places where fear and longing meet. God is already listening in the places we feel most raw. God hears the prayers we whispered years ago and the ones we’re almost afraid to pray now.
Bibliography
Lee, Boyung, Rev. Dr. “The First Sunday of Advent: In the Time of Herod, We Long for God to Break In.” In What Do You Fear? Sermon Planning Guide: Advent–Epiphany. Developed by Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity. A Sanctified Art LLC, n.d. https://sanctifiedart.org.
In keeping with transparency, this post was developed with the help of AI editing tools. These tools support the creative process but do not replace human reflection, discernment, or authorship. All sources are fully cited, and all other content is my original work.
