Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) wrote a poem entitled, “Christmas Bells.” It was turned into a song with which we all are familiar. Longfellow wrote the poem as a 57-year-old widowed father of six children, the oldest of which had been wounded and nearly paralyzed in the Civil War. The poem captures the conflict in his heart.
He heard the bells on Christmas ringing from his home in Cambridge, he knew the promise of the angels in Luke 2:14 of “peace on earth,” but what he saw around him was a world of injustice and violence.
Like the psalmists of old, he wrestles with what he sees in this world, and what God has promised. I think we might have thought the same thoughts in this difficult year. But like the psalmists of old, Longfellow remembers that God shall prevail. Reading Christmas Bells this morning gave me hope … I pray it does the same for you.
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.”