THE BELLS OF ADVENT

     Today, December 1^st, 2024 is the first day of Advent and we light the candle of Hope.

But let me go back to a place in which I was imagining a future that was bright and good and affirming for all people. I hoped that goodness and love would lift us to a new place of security where we could all live in peace. But this dream was dashed, I have not been the least bit hopeful but in despair. How can we find hope in a world at war. A world full of people that are broken and chaotic and self-serving.

     The words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow come to mind. On Christmas day in 1863, he wrote a poem that rekindled his faith and gave him hope. It was during the times of the American Civil War; Longfellow’s wife had died and his son was wounded and missing and his grief consumed him until Christmas morning when he heard the church bells begin to ring. The poem, “Christmas bells” or better known to modern people, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. He wrote the poem “to capture the dissonance he felt between the world he saw and the optimistic message of peace on earth and good will to me”.  

Christmas Bells

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.”

You see, Advent is about the mystery and magic of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ not a babe in the manager (Bethany Pyle). And Longfellow’s poem brings hope as we refocus and meditate on Christs’ glorious return when “the wrong shall fail and the right prevail” and true peace will reign on earth.

More about Henry Wordsworth Longfellow and the writing of “ Christmas Bells”