As I read through the familiar Christmas texts this year, there was something that jumped out at me that I’d not paid as much attention to before, and that is how many times in those first couple of chapters of Luke that “fear” is addressed. A form of the Greek word “phobos”, translated as “fear” or “afraid” appears seven times in Luke 1 and 2. Year after year we latch on to the familiar images of adoring parents, a cooing baby and humble shepherds, but this year I was struck by the fact that this story is also full of anxiety.