“Don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you which will be of great joy to all the people. This very day in David’s town your Savior was born — Christ the Lord.”

So said the angel to the shepherds. By traditional accounts those words were spoken 2010 years ago. Yet on this Christmas, as with all Christmases since the first one, the words are fresh and reassuring.

Certainly the world has become more complicated than it was for the simple shepherds who tended their flocks throughout the day and night. But their sense of fear at the sudden appearance of a heavenly host would be identical to what any of us would sense today.

Human emotions, after all, are constant. Regardless of the century, fear is fear, love is love and joy is joy.

“Don’t be afraid!” the angel said. And the exclamation point, present in all translations of the Christian Bible, indicates the words were spoken as a command said strongly and with conviction.

Perhaps Christmas is a time we can put aside fear in all its forms. If so, how glorious to be relieved even if for one day, of all the insecurities that color our days otherwise.

“I am here with good news for you, which shall bring great joy to all the people,” the angel said.

Joyfulness in spirit and in life are certainly evident in many for whom Christian faith and certainty are present every minute of every day. While there can be no life without sadness, without disappointment, the life of those who have heard the Good News the angel said is first and foremost filled with “great joy.”

Why? Because a Savior was born and lives. Jesus, a teacher, a leader, the Son of God and the Son of Man.

Around the world, now 20 centuries after the angel spoke to the shepherds, people know about Christmas. For many it is a holiday marked by the giving of gifts. It is a happy time.

But for Christians, it is more than a happy time. It is a time when they are not afraid. It is a time when joy fills their very being. It is a time when they celebrate that their Savior is born. Our wish for all our friends and readers this Christmas is both a happy and joyous time.

Two thousand and ten years is indeed a long time but we read the angel’s words anew every year. They are fresh. They are reassuring.

Don’t be afraid. There is good news.