By Kyle Hufford, FiveCore Media general manager
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20 (NRSV)
Last year I read an article on the origin story behind one of my favorite carols, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” I’m a sucker for history and found this story compelling and still relevant today.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, one of America’s best known poets, wrote the poem “Christmas Bells” in 1863 that eight years later John Baptiste Calkin would put music to and become the carol we know today.
The gravity of the poem can only be understood within the context of Longfellow’s deep sorrow. Two years earlier his wife was tragically burned to death in their home, and just before Christmas, in the waning months of the Civil War, his son was seriously wounded in battle.
As he sat at his son’s bedside on Christmas Day, 1863, Longfellow—a 57-year-old widowed father of six children, the oldest of which had been nearly paralyzed as his country fought a war against itself—wrote a poem seeking to capture the dynamic and dissonance in his own heart and the world he observed around him.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on Earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on Earth, good-will to men.”
Despite Longfellow’s despair and the tragedy of war around him, he heard the bells on Christmas Day “loud and deep” proclaiming that Christ is alive.
The power of Christmas is that it reminds us that God is not dead and we can rest in the peace and hope Jesus promises us. I don’t know about you, but I really needed that reminder this year.
Merry Christmas, glory to God, peace on Earth and goodwill to all!
NOTE FROM THE EDITORS:
Merry Christmas and thank you for joining the Goshen College community through this season of Advent. Our hope is that you found the devotions as inspirational and comforting as did the writers. We invite you to join us again in February as students, faculty and staff again offer daily devotionals in the days leading to Easter. Until then, may God’s presence surround you and God’s love sustain you.
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20 (NRSV)
In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3All went to their own towns to be registered. 4Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
8In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for seeI am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors! 15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us. 16So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.