I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men!
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
What unexpected words to use for the Christmas Eve message of the angels. What is wild and sweet about the birth of Christ — the coming of the savior? Plenty.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift was given
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive Him still
The dear Christ enters in
Fixing ourselves is way overrated. Just ask Moses. Moses was the guy who brought the Ten Commandments to earth only to find that before he could get down the mountain with the stone tablets inscribed by the very finger of God, the people he was leading had already egregiously broken the first one.
Our inability to follow the laws of God was captured for all of us on the face of Moses in the form of a veil with which he hid his face for the rest of his life. Its original purpose to protect the people from the bright glow from being with God was soon usurped by the somewhat devious plan to keep them from seeing that the brightness didn’t last (2 Corinthians 3:13). In other words, he might as well have been saying all along about the law, “This isn’t working for me.” And indeed, it wasn’t. It was never supposed to. All the motivational sayings in the world cannot penetrate a veil that we all wear of inadequacy about the law and self-improvement.
The only hope for us in this regard is the hope that came to us that first Christmas. Christ Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth that He might be born into the hearts of all who believe. This is the part of Christmas you don’t hear that much about. You hear about His coming as the savior of the world, but not so much as our enabler, but that’s what He is. He is not born in us just so we can be buddies, but to enable us to do His will. It’s called the new covenant, the old one being forever hidden by failure and coverup behind the veils we wear, like Moses. You and I with unveiled faces are being transformed into His image by the Spirit who lives in us (2 Corinthians 3:18). He does what we can never do, and He does it through our human flaws, just as we are, so His grace can be easily detected as the source of the transformation (2 Corinthians 4:7).
So this Christmas, focus on Christ being born in you. Maybe that’s why He was born the first time into a smelly stable. Not that much different from being born in us.
O Holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today
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.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The concluding stanza to this poem, and indeed, the statement that resolves the conflict the writer created is a truth you and I believe, though all around us indicates something else. This is, indeed, what faith is — something you believe against all odds — something you believe, not because you are exerting a great deal of mental and moral fortitude, but because you have been given the ability to believe. Faith is self-evident. You believe because you believe.
The skies opened, the undeniable words were spoken: “Peace on earth, good will to men,” and then the skies closed and all was just as it was prior to the angelic announcement. The sudden silence must have been as deafening as the choir. So did Jesus bring peace on earth? Where is the evidence of it?
Indeed, just two years after this child was born there was a massacre of all Jewish male two-year-olds by King Herod, fearing that a King of the Jews had been born that would challenge his kingdom. “Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more’” (Matthew 2:17-18). Peace on earth? Where? On what earth? Certainly not this one. This child didn’t bring peace; He brought death and destruction on His entire nation.
But Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. He (and we) are not vying for political power. Peace is a real thing; it’s just that it’s a personal peace. Jesus brought peace with God. He destroyed the enmity that was between God and us because of our sin. And He brought His kingdom to earth, and it’s an invisible kingdom. All of the things Christ brought to us are spiritually experienced and understood. “My kingdom is not of this world,” He told Pilate, and Pilate and many others since then — even some Christians — have been unable to grasp that.
So “Peace on earth; good will to men,” is something we have already, and something we are living out every day in spite of whatever the world around us shows us. Christ brought it to us, and we carry it out to the world through His Spirit who lives in us. We are Grace Turned Outward. We are peacemakers because we have His peace, and we are bringers of good will because we are living out the life of Christ through His power, bringing kindness and good will to those around us.
So this Christmas, focus on Christ being born in you. Maybe that’s why He was born the first time into a smelly stable. Not that much different from being born in us.
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin
Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in
Jesus was born into straw poverty on a silent night because that’s the way He continues to come into the world again, and again and again. He quietly steals His way into the straw poverty of our souls — no fanfare — only angels notice and sing. (The Bible says the angels make a pretty big deal of it when even one sinner comes to Christ, but, of course, we don’t hear that.)
Every ministry has a moment when it must pause, look around the room, and remember how it got here. Not through accident. Not through wishful thinking. But because somebody passed it down, and somebody passed it around.
of the
Your gift means more than we can say. You are helping us keep the Gospel of Welcome alive and moving, reaching people who might never otherwise hear a word of grace spoken directly to them.
You built this community. Your continued partnership strengthens the daily work of teaching, praying, counseling, and creating a place where everyone is welcome and no one stands alone. We are grateful not only for your gift, but for the heart behind it.
With appreciation, I have asked John and Marti to send you John Fischer’s industry-recognized Wide Angle album as our gift for your participation.
Herb Hellums
Chairman, Eyes Wide Open Annual Campaign
And on behalf of
— and —
Tami, from Pensacola, Florida
Dick, from Lantana, Texas
Christina, from Colorado Springs, Colorado
James, from Mt Pleasant, South Carolina
Darin, from Schuyler, Nebraska
David, from Chehalis, Washington
Joanne, from Lynden, Washington
Richard, from Nashville, Tennessee
Carol, from Melrose, Massachusetts
Rob, from Sacramento, California
Roger, from Whittier, California
Rebecca, from Cullman, Alabama
Cynthia, from Harlingen, Texas
Keith, from Portland, Oregon
Daniel, from O Fallon, Oregon
Steve, from Nashville, Tennessee
John, from Coralville, Iowa
Wayne, from Modesto, California
Gary, from Sidney, Ohio
Allen, from Exton, Pennsylvania
Mike, from Cambria, California
Joe, from Sugar Land, Texas
An Anonymous gift from the State of Washington
Stewart, from Gunnison, Colorado
Noel, from Blue Hill, Maine
Lisa, from Sunland, California
Daniel, from Hershey. Pennsylvania
John, from Ft Mitchell, Kentucky
Neil, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Bob, from Iowa City, Iowa
Herb, from Blue Mountain, Mississippi
John, from Los Altos, California
Laura, from Campbell, California
This song captures so many of the themes of Eyes Wide Open that we thought we would list some of them here followed by the lyrics of the song.
Wide Angle calls those who embrace it to:
see things from a different perspective.
get a bigger window on the world.
anticipate the unfamiliar as an adventure.
not fear change.
shed the status quo.
identify with the pain and suffering of others.
break out of your own silo.
embrace humility.
fully experience life.
Wide Angle
More than what I used to see
Wide angle
More than what is near to me
Where I once was afraid to open up my eyes
Now this wide angle
Has changed my fear into surprise
Beyond the reaches of my point of view
Beyond the motions I go through
There’s a world of wonder; there’s a world of pain
There’s no way that I can stay the same
Give me a …
(Chorus)
Only seeing what we want to see
Only doing what we know
All the while believing that we know it all
When the lens we’re looking through is much too small
Give me a …
(Chorus)
So fill my eyes and ears with the laughter and the tears
Let the dance begin; truth will always win
(Chorus)
The trees are still standing.
I was born and raised in southern California. During the Christmas season, we would always have an evening where our family would drive to certain areas of town that were famous for decorating magnificently for Christmas every year. My favorite part of this annual outing was that we would always end our evening driving down the much-anticipated Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena where 135 huge deodar cedar trees line both sides of the street and all are strung with colored lights in December. The tradition of Christmas Tree Lane goes back to the 1920s. By the 1950s, when I experienced it, the trees were huge making the display of lights almost overpowering.
by Marti Fischer
(For those who don’t feel “merry” yet)
’Twas the night after Thanksgiving, and all through the town,
The glitter shone upward while some hearts sank down.
The leftovers rested in dishes with care,
But a hush in my heart said, “I still need repair.”
At The Catch, prayer and counseling are not separate departments.
They are one living, breathing ministry — a spiritual triage center where people find covering, care, and Christ-centered strength the moment they reach out.
This is where heaven and humanity meet.
This is where lives are held.
This is where the broken come — and leave changed.
Below we fill you in briefly on our Prayer and Counseling Ministries.
John Fischer The Catch 