I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet, the words repeat
Of peace of earth, goodwill to all!*
Lyrics: Henry W. Longfellow (1864)
Music: WALTHAM (Calkin)
Listen:
Traditional lyrics and tune
Jason Castro version
Casting Crowns version
Read the story of the writing of the poem “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”
I remember several Christmas’ when my family sang this song together at church. Good memories. We don’t hear church bells very often anymore, but perhaps we can all think of certain songs, traditions, or events that bring with them a flood of memories. One of the powerful strengths of traditions, especially at holiday times, is in the “old familiar” that brings comfort, calm, and a sense of inner peace.
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 of earth, goodwill to all!*
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem entitled “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” in the years following his wife’s untimely death from burns sustained when her dress caught fire at home and his son’s near-paralysis and death in the Civil War.
“There is no peace on earth…for hate is strong…” is a message with which we might all identify in recent years. We might be tempted to bow our heads in despair and give up hope. We might be tempted to pay back hate with hate, mocking with mocking, or unkindness with unkindness. That, however, is not the path of peace on which Christ leads his people.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
Of peace of earth, goodwill to all!*
If we listen, we can hear the voice of our Savior, loud and deep, perhaps, or else still an small as a whisper echoing through our hearts —
God is not dead, and God is not sleeping!
The heart of God aches, too. God knows, God understands, and God feels it all just as we do. Wrong will go down in defeat, and the right will find victory, but that battle is God’s alone. While we are here in this world, we must live in and among the brokenness, sickness, and myriad evils. Our ultimate hope is that the light of God shining in us and the love of God poured out through us might bring some wrong to right, sickness to wellness, and evil to good (Mat 13:24–43).
Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace of earth, goodwill to all!*
This is the peace of God — broken made whole, lost ones found, and relationships made right. We, the children of Almighty God, are the voice of hope in our world, a chime of joy, a sublime chant of Christlike love and peace. We can never know, from day to day, who is listening…who is watching…and who is searching. May our lives be “wild and sweet,” repeatedly incarnating the love of Christ in our family, our church, and our world.
*The original lyrics read “goodwill to men,” but in keeping with the message of the angels in Scripture, the meaning is clearly “humanity” or “all people.”