I breezed through Barnes and Noble Booksellers last night, not seeking any book, but seeking a grande non-fat latte at the Starbucks counter inside, and a place to work while Chandler and his girlfriend were roaming the mall and looking to go ice skating at a rink set up for the holidays. I was tempted to browse because the look and smell of new books, and the time to read them, is such a diminishing reality in our computer-driven culture.
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
I heard the story this weekend about someone who discovered a framed poster in front of someone’s house with the sign “FREE” stuck to it. Closer examination revealed that it was a very large poster made up of motivational sayings all in different colors and calligraphy — sayings like, “In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can,” “Quitters never win, and winners never quit,” or “If you can dream it, you can do it,” “Mistakes are proof that you are trying,” and of course, the Nike mantra: “Just do it.” And if you got close enough to this motivational tool, you could see a couple stickers on the bottom with a handwritten message from the current owner: “This isn’t working for me,” and “You can have it.”
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, goodwill to men.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
We finally wrestled the Christmas boxes down from the attic this week, put the ornaments on the tree, the wreath on the front door and garlands around the front door frame, and now all over the house, little Christmas knick-knacks we have collected over the years grace window sills, the fireplace mantel, the coffee table, the dining room table and even the backs of the dining room chairs. The picture above is what I see right now as I write this. And there are bells everywhere. I can’t sit down at the dining room table without ringing a bell. We even have little sleigh bells from a few Christmases ago that you can wear around your wrist. Bells to go.
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, goodwill 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.
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.
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, goodwill 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, goodwill 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, goodwill 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, goodwill to men.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The three stanzas prior to the conclusion of this poem — later to become a Christmas carol — make a pretty convincing argument for despair. And I find it surprising, and somewhat shocking, that Longfellow embraces despair so strongly here. You wonder if he’s created a hole too big to climb out of. Indeed, upon first hearing it, I wondered if that last stanza is strong enough to offset the depression.
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, goodwill to men!”
– From the poem “Christmas Bells” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I read an article yesterday that was both revealing and disturbing. It was about terrorism in America and it carefully and statistically outlined how the large majority of terrorist attacks in this country in the last year have been backed by white supremacy groups and loose cannons with hate-filled agendas emboldened by hate groups on the internet. Suddenly the major threat of terrorism is not coming from outside groups, immigrants and Muslims; it is coming from within. These are groups who are anti-black, anti-brown, anti-women, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBT — pretty much anyone who isn’t white and male, which can actually translate to all of us as anyone who isn’t like me. It is the spirit of the age, and it is gaining ground.
Christmas Bells
A poem by Henry Wadsworh Longfellow, 1863
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!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, goodwill 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, goodwill 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, goodwill 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, goodwill 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, goodwill 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, goodwill to men.”
(Note: The bolded stanzas are the ones most often used as hymn lyrics.)
Henry Wadsworh Longfellow, one of America’s most revered poets, wrote the lyrics to this hymn in 1863. He was deeply saddened by the Civil War. Though it has been applied since to other wars, most notably both World Wars of the 20th century, it was the noise of the cannons of the Civil War — a war in which his son was injured — that drowned out the bells of Christmas in Longfellow’s world in 1863. “I have only one desire,” he said at that time, “and that is for harmony, and a frank and honest understanding between North and South.”
If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled in his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart! – Ebenezer Scrooge
There is a reason why the overbearing curmudgeon, Ebenezer Scrooge, Charles Dickens’ famous character from his Christmas classic, The Christmas Carol, plays so well every year. There are a lot of Scrooges out there, and indeed, probably some Scrooge in all of us. I’ve certainly got a good share of his humbug spirit in me. “A fine excuse to go picking a man’s pocket every December the 25th.,” rolls right off my tongue. It’s clearly why Marti pulls out the story every year, and why we try to see the play as a Christmas family tradition. I know she is hoping some of the reformed Scrooge at the end of the story rubs off on me. Well it does, but not until the very end.
Relationships are important because love is important. Love is God’s idea, and the main ingredient for a healthy relationship. God is love, but He wanted someone to love so He made us, and He made us in His image so we could have the capacity to love back. This is why relationships are everything.
John Fischer The Catch 