Some of the best Christmas music invites us to listen. In “Do You Hear What I Hear?”, a lamb invites a shepherd boy to listen to a song high above the trees, then a king pleads with his subjects to listen to his message about a Child sleeping in the night. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” invites us to hearken (listen) as angels sing of a newborn King and peace on earth. The first line of “Winter Wonderland” asks if we are listening to sleigh bells. Each song is upbeat and pleasant. It is joyful. Festive. Hopeful, even. As we listen, the lyrics cheer our hearts.
The Anti-Christmas Song
Yet sometimes brokenness around us and within us plays another song in our ears that drowns out the sounds of the season. Its jarring notes of grief, pain, sorrow and despair play like a soundtrack on repeat, reminding us of all that is wrong with our world.
We can sense these dueling melodies of joy and sadness in the lyrics to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem set to music, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Only when we consider the tragic events in the poet’s life do the words begin to make sense: Within three years, he had lost his second wife to an accident, the American Civil War had begun and his oldest son, Charles, had been severely injured in the war. The first tragedy pierced his heart like a dagger. Each new hardship twisted the blade in the wound.
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!”
Can you feel the heaviness in Longfellow’s heart? Listen long enough to the melody of today’s headlines, and your heart will likewise sink as they mock the song of peace on earth.
The Sweet Song of Hope
Surprisingly, Longfellow’s tone changed in the final verse:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1863
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
His despair had turned to hope and his sorrow to joy — but not because anything in his life had changed. His wife was still dead. His son was still recovering from his injuries. His country was still in turmoil.
Amid the gloom of the present, the poet heard the faint melody of another song. Slowly but steadily, it rang like the church bells outside his home. Louder and stronger it grew until it overpowered the other melodies which had weighed him down. It was the song of Hope. “God is not dead; nor doth He sleep!” The sovereign God was alive and well and ruling from His Heavenly throne. Hope had come to stay in Longfellow’s heart.
This hope was based on his faith in God. Yes, evil was winning for now, but hope reminded him the wrong would eventually fail. Yes, all that seemed good was failing, but hope reminded him the right would eventually prevail. Listening to the song of hope gave him assurance peace would come to earth, beginning within his own heart. It was the best song ever.
Listen to the Right Song
Perhaps the refrains of joy and sadness are competing for your attention this Christmas. You want to remember the birth of Christ, celebrate the season and all its festivities, but your rational brain is telling you there is nothing to celebrate. Perhaps the thought of celebrating something that happened so long ago seems foolish in light of recent hardships and losses.
When your heart (or your circumstances or current events) tells you to give up hope, don’t listen to it. Instead tell your heart about the God of Hope. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13) Joy and peace can be yours because the God of Hope is alive and well. Someday He will bring everlasting peace to the world. Trust Him like Longfellow and He can bring peace to your heart today.
Enjoy this beautiful rendition of Longfellow’s hymn.
Article by Cam Edwards
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