Everyone loves the Christmas carols! Today I am starting a series of messages based on the stories behind the writing of the carols, and the message in the carols themselves.
Take your hymnal and turn to hymn 98. The first carol we shall study is “I heard the bells on Christmas Day”.
Look down in the left hand corner of the page under the music staff and it tells us the words of the song were written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow’s name should be familiar to you because he wrote such poems as “Paul Revere’s Ride”, The Song of Hiawatha”, Evangeline” as well as “Christmas Bells”. Longfellow taught literature at Harvard University for 17 years.
The carol was originally a poem, “Christmas Bells,” containing seven stanzas. Two stanzas were omitted which contained references to the American Civil War. The remaining five stanzas were slightly rearranged in 1872 by John Baptiste Calkin who also gave us the memorable tune. At least three alternative tunes have been used for this song, mostly in secular Christmas, in churches, Calkins version is most popular.
As with any composition that touches the heart of the hearer, this carol flowed from the experience of Longfellow’s tragic death of his wife Fanny and the crippling injury of his son, Charles, from the war wounds.
Fanny Longfellow was trimming some of her daughter’s curls when she decided to preserve the clippings in an envelope. Melting a bar of sealing wax with a candle, a few drops fell unnoticed at first upon her dress. Soon the dress was in flames and Fanny ran to Henry’s study. He frantically attempted to extinguish the flames with a throw rug. Failing to smother the flames with the throw rug, he began using this hands and arms. Fanny Longfellow died the next morning at the age of 44. The trademark full beard arose from Longfellow’s inability to shave after this tragedy because of the burns he received.
Longfellow’s oldest son, Charles, was a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac. During the battle of New Hope Church, Virginia, Charles was severely wounded. The bullet hit him in the left shoulder cut across his body exiting out his right side. Henry was summoned to the hospital in Washington DC and brought Charles home for recovery.
Let us read the first stanza together as a people who fully understand it comes from a man whose broken heart had healed and felt life again. READ in unison.
What are my points of application for this song?
1. Peace --- The consistent ending line of each stanza is “peace on earth, good will to men” is taken from the scriptures in what the angels said to the shepherds. READ Luke 2:14 (the KJV worded it as the song)
There are different kinds of peace Longfellow could have referred to.
A. Peace from war
After the near death experience of his son Charles, Longfellow must have longed for the war’s end.
I know of no one who wants war, but sometimes wars are necessary to defeat evil such as the Nazi’s in WW2. We would love to see our soldiers come home and that there would be no war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Until that time comes, let us pray for our President and his staff to make wise decisions and peaceful solutions can be worked out among the world’s leaders.
B. Peace in relationships
One a more personal note, are you living at peace with everyone?
Is your home peaceful or do you argue and fight most of the time? Are you a peacemaker or someone who incites trouble?
Matthew 5:9 READ
C. Inner peace
If your soul is weary and in turmoil, then come to Jesus and learn that He is the Prince of Peace. Philippians 4:6, 7 READ
Let Jesus give you the peace that passes understanding. If you have not asked Jesus to come into your heart and become your Savior, then do that today. He will give you true peace. Trust Him today!
2. Grief --- Longfellow wrote this song out of the grief he felt over the death of his wife and critical wounding of his son. Many of you are grieving too. Read the third stanza.
A. In despair
Longfellow was “in despair”. Despair is a word that expresses to me lower level of emotion than even grief. The first Christmas after Fanny’s death, Longfellow’s journal entry reads, “How inexpressibly sad are all holidays…a Merry Christmas say the children, but that is no more for me”.
Maybe you are grieving even despairing the death of a love one, the loss of a job, a broken relationship or friendship or some other situation. Grief and despair covers many pains. In Longfellow’s grief, he was not able to emotionally hear the bells ringing their vibrant sound of peace and joy. Are you having a similar problem?
I have been told that Christmas is supposed to be the happiest most joyful season of the year, yet thousands of people can’t enjoy the holidays because of the grief they feel. If you are grieving today, and feeling the pain of loss of something very important to you, can you hear the bells ringing? Jesus said, “Blessed are they that mourn for they will be comforted”. (Matthew 5:4)
B. No peace on earth
The Civil War rages on. To the people in 1863 there was no end if sight for this terrible bloodbath.
Jesus told us about His Second Coming there will be wars and rumors of wars before He returns. War has always been with mankind and will be until Jesus comes again.
C. Hate is strong and mocks the song
With the strong words Longfellow uses to describe his emotions, words like “hate and mock” you can tell how low he had fallen into despair.
Maybe you feel you are where Longfellow was. Maybe you feel lower than a rattlesnake in a wagon wheel rut. Please don’t give up hope. That is what we want to talk about next.
3. Hope --- I hear in the fourth stanza the change in his broken heart of hope resurrected. Read stanza.
We must have hope to continue to live. Hope gets us out of bed each day. From the pain and grief Longfellow expressed in the third stanza there is a remarkable change in the fourth stanza. John 16:33 READ
Jesus’ followers are giving hope even in the midst of their difficulties. They are given comfort in their grief. Jesus told His followers “be of good cheer I have overcome the world.” Because Jesus has overcome the world, we can too!
A. Then pealed the bells
I have not lived in a community that had bells that rang regularly. So I cannot fully grasp the bells ringing aspect of Longfellow’s poem, but I have lived near a church one time that had chimes and played a song at five in the afternoon. I found it reassuring and uplifting.
B. God is not dead --- Nothing tests our faith like troubles. When God doesn’t answer our prayers and call for help as quickly as we think He should, we can become discouraged and even lose hope. Longfellow’s son recovered from his wounds and he came back to his faith in God.
God is not dead! Put your faith in Him and let Him change your heart and life. For some of you, believing in God means coming to your faith for the very first time. For others it is coming back to your faith from despair. Have faith in God is the call to each of us from this song.
I quote William Simon from the Reader’s Digest Merry Christmas Songbook, “As the bells continue to peal and peal, Longfellow recognizes that God is not dead after all, that right shall prevail, bringing peace and goodwill, as long as there is Christmas an its promise of new life”. William L. Simon, ed., Reader’s Digest Merry Christmas Songbook (1981)
C. Wrong fail/right prevail --- Sometimes we become so discouraged believing that evil is winning and good is losing. Once Longfellow’s faith was restored he saw that right was going to win after all and so should you. I like the play on words that Longfellow does with the contrast between “right and wrong.”
Your circumstances may not change, but when you have hope, the way you see those circumstances will change. Let Jesus restore your hope today so that you can see the difference your faith can make in life and allow you to hear the ringing of the bells of hope.
Conclusion:
This Christmas season if you are struggling with you faith, peace, grief or lack of hope --- come to Jesus and let Him restore you. If you have never asked Jesus to become your Savior, trust Him today.
Can you hear the bells of Christmas ringing? Bow your head and listen for the bells of Christmas to ring. (have ringing bells)
Prayer
