The Neighborhood Podcast
This is a podcast of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina featuring guests from both inside the church and the surrounding community. Hosted by Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing, Head of Staff.
The Neighborhood Podcast
"When You're Afraid, Give Me Your Hand" (December 21, 2025 Sermon)
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Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing
Texts: Isaiah 41:5-10 & Matthew 1:18-25
Fear is loud, but solidarity speaks louder. We open with Isaiah’s steady promise and follow the quiet courage of Joseph, then bring those ancient words into modern halls and fellowship rooms where meals are served, grief is carried, and neighbors sleep safely one floor beneath the sanctuary. The thread is clear: Emmanuel is not just a name; it is a way we move, link arms, and refuse to let anyone stand alone.
I share how our community learned to hold hands in hard seasons: preparing space for women without housing, organizing meals, responding to food insecurity, and shouldering a stretch of losses that could have unraveled us. Along the way, we pay attention to the small acts that often carry the most weight—rides given, prayers whispered, casseroles delivered—each one a living echo of “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.” Joseph doesn’t enter the story with a trumpet blast; he enters with a decision to stay. That same quiet resolve builds the kind of church that can bear another’s burden.
Guided by Howard Thurman’s “The Work of Christmas,” we name the charge that begins when the carols fade: find the lost, heal the broken, feed the hungry, release the prisoner, rebuild the nations, bring peace among others, and make music in the heart. This is discipleship in plain clothes, where theology takes shape in hospitality, presence, and practical help. If you’re looking for what Advent means after the lights come down, you’ll find it wherever people cross the room to take a hand.
Listen, share with a friend who needs courage today, and subscribe for more reflections that turn scripture into lived hope. If this moved you, leave a review and tell us: what’s the next small act you’ll take this week?
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Let us pray. Emmanuel, we turned off alarm clocks. We poured cups of coffee. We slipped shoes onto our feet and combed back flyaway hairs. We traveled to this room and settled into this space, all in hopes of drawing closer to you. So as we hear your word read aloud, help us to feel your presence in our midst. For we are reaching out our hands, we are reaching out our hearts. Speak to us now. With hope we pray. Amen. Today's first lesson is from Isaiah chapter 41, verses 5 through 10. The coastlens have seen and are afraid. The ends of the earth tremble. They have drawn near and come. Each one helps the other, saying to one another, Take courage. The artisan encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths the hammer with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil. Saying of the soldering, It is good. And they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved. But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend, you, whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_00:Our second scripture lesson comes to us from Matthew's Gospel, chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. Let's listen again for what God is saying to God's church. Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us. When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus. Friends, holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Friends, today's theme, sub-theme in our What Do You Fear, insisting on hope, this Advent sermon series is When you're afraid, give me your hands. Both of these passages that Doug and I read have to do with solidarity. You can hear those words in the first one that Doug read from Isaiah 41, where God is saying to a very fearful people in exile, do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. And then, of course, in the Matthew text that we just read, it is another beautiful act of solidarity between Joseph and Mary. Joseph, as the text says, being a righteous man, planned to not make a scene about the drama that had come across their relationship and decided to divorce her quietly. But then in a dream, as everything happens in a dream in Matthew's gospel, an angel comes and tells Joseph, No, I'm calling you to be in solidarity with Mary. For she for the angel knew that they needed one another, and indeed we need one another. I love the fact that the beginning of Jesus' earthly life, before he has ever taken his first earthly breath, people are already working together to usher him into creation. And that is the message of Christmas. And my brief remarks today are simply to express gratitude and wonder for the many ways that I have seen you all as your pastor take each other's hands and link arms in solidarity with one another. I get a bird's eye view to see all the ways, both big and small, that this congregation has come together to support one another and our neighbors. You all supported me earlier this year by holding my hand when I about lost my mind writing my thesis, but I got through it with y'all's help and with your prayers and with your blessings. You held my hand and we linked arms together. This summer, this congregation came together to take the arms of and link our take the hands of and link our arms with a dozen or so women who were experiencing homelessness that were sheltered in the floor right beneath where we sit today this summer. Y'all came together to prepare the space, to organize meals, to serve meals and other acts of hospitality, and my heart just bursts to see the way that your hearts bursted to show love to our neighbors. We collected over a thousand pounds of food just a few months ago when SNAP benefits were in question. You all came together this summer when we had a sling of deaths of longtime members of this congregation. That was a particularly tough period in the life of this congregation. I got to see the ways that we held each other together in Christ's name. And this year, as we step into the fourth year of my time being your pastor, I have been so grateful for the ways that you all have come together in Christ's name. And the ways that I mentioned today were pretty big and pretty public. But the good news of the gospel, every advent, is that God bursts into our lives, sometimes in some very small, subtle, but no less beautiful ways. There was no great fanfare when Joseph was visited by the angel in the dream, and yet what he chose to do, what he and Mary chose to do together, started the process of healing and reconciliation that you and I continue to this day. So, friends, keep up the good work, for whenever we do this work, we are joining the work of Mary and Joseph to usher Christ into a fearful and broken world. But that fearfulness and that brokenness will not have the final say. So I close this day with these words that I share up most every Christmas from Howard Thurman called The Work of Christmas. He once wrote, When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins. To find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among others, and as we are doing so abundantly today, to make music in the heart. Friends, in the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us God's beloved children say.