PEACE ON EARTH
Luke 21:28
In July of 1836, Henry met Fanny.
Henry was still dealing with grief. His first wife, Mary, had died eight months earlier following the miscarriage of their first child. Henry was devastated and left the U.S. to plunge himself into his studies.
It was in Switzerland that he saw Fanny. Henry was smitten with her beauty and her culture. However, Fanny did not show any interest in Henry. But Henry was not easily deterred. Though he had to return to the US, he continued to court Fanny by mail. In 1937 he proposed marriage, but was rejected. Rejected and far away, Henry would not give up. He was determined to win Fanny's heart.
In July 1839, he wrote to a friend: "Victory hangs doubtful. The lady says she will not! I say she shall! It is not pride, but the madness of passion"
Lucky for Henry, Fanny moved back to Boston to live with her family. There Henry resumed his courtship in earnest. He would often walk to see her. He would cross the Boston Bridge. In fact, the story of Henry’s many courting trips across the bridge were so well known, that when the bridge was replaced, years later, it was named after Henry.
Henry’s many trips and “madness of passion” must have worn Fanny down because on July 13, 1843 Fanny married Henry. They had a storybook marriage that was blessed with six children. Henry and Fanny were seldom ever apart.
Fanny doted over her children. On July 9, 1861, Fanny recorded in her journal:
“We are all sighing for the good sea breeze instead of this stifling land one filled with dust. Poor Allegra is very droopy with heat, and Edie has to get her hair in a net to free her neck from the weight.”
The following day, in an attempt to help her girls stay cool, Fanny clipped their hair. After trimming some of seven year old Edith's beautiful curls, Fanny decided to preserve the clippings in an envelope. While she was melting a bar of sealing wax with a candle to seal the keepsake in the envelope, a few drops fell unnoticed in her lap. A breeze came through the window, igniting Fanny's dress - immediately wrapping her in flames.
In her attempt to protect Edith and Allegra, Fanny ran to Henry's study in the next room, where Henry frantically attempted to extinguish the flames with a throw rug. Failing to stop the fire with the rug, he tried to smother the flames by throwing his arms around Fanny. In the effort he severely burned his face, arms and hands. Henry would recover. But, alas, his wife's burns were fatal. The next day she slipped into a coma and died.
Too ill from his burns and grief, Henry did not attend her funeral. For three years, the man carried on at his trade... But his family could see the terrible effect of the grief that he had locked in his mind and soul.
He ceased to care for his appearance and let his beard grow long… mostly because the scars made shaving almost impossible.
The first Christmas after Fanny's death, he wrote in his journal, "How inexpressibly sad are all holidays."
The entry for the second Christmas, December 25, 1862 reads: "A merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me."
The next year, Christmas of 1863, his journal was blank… his grief being so unbearable.
In December of 1864, Henry was sitting at his desk, trying to recapture the joy of the season ... the joy he saw in others.
These are the words he wrote ...
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.
Christmas can be a sad and lonely time for many people.
Those who are depressed when all the world is gay and jolly
Those who are lonely when the rest of the world is having family time
Those who are mourning when it seems that everyone else is celebrating
Those who are poor. . . . . . .when giving presents is the order of the day
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of those people... Mourning, still mourning after three years.
There he sat in his office, missing his loved one, when he heard the carolers in the street. He heard the bells from the local church peeling out one of the favorite Christmas carols.
The first verse of the song tells us that he heard the words of the carols.
He did not sing with them. He did not feel cheered by them. But he heard them.
Somehow, despite his intense mourning and heartbreak, the carols still had a certain “sweetness.”
I believe that “sweetness” was not for him… he meant that OTHERS thought they were sweet.
He did not… and that can be seen in the words of the second verse…
In the second verse you can hear his response.
I thought how, as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled a long thunder-broken song
Of peace on earth good will to men.
He reflected how all over the world, bells like those he was hearing, were singing out the same glorious song .... Peace on earth .... Good will to men.
But he had no peace, he felt no good will from God toward him.
The bells were a lie and the carols were a mockery of his tragic situation.
Then his thoughts took on a larger scale, he began to reflect on the situation in his world.
The year was 1864. The country was living through its darkest days.
Mourning, pain, destruction and meaningless death were all around them.
In the words of their President, they were "engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this nation, or any nation… could long endure" such a terrible fate.
Where was joy?
It was nation against nation, state against state, brother against brother, father against son.
At Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Shiloh and Fredericksburg the ground was covered in blood.
Young lives were wasted to gain a single inch that would be lost again within the hour.
The hatred and venom spewed from both sides.
There was no peace on earth ... No good will towards anyone on the other side.
With that in mind, Longfellow penned the third verse
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 toward men.
Who knows how long he allowed himself to wallow in his own self-pity.
Maybe it was days ... maybe only hours.
ELABORATE ON WALLOWING
Let me ask you a question:
What would you guess is the hardest thing about training a seeing-eye dog?
They are very smart dogs. Maybe it would be training them to heal, or stop at a curb, or know the red light from the green one, or not chase a cat and drag his owner.
Well the truth is, the hardest thing to train them to do is ... LOOK UP!
Dogs usually keep their eyes focused about 18 inches above the ground. They rarely look up unless they hear something.
**** That is why so many deer hunters use tree stands .... Deer hardly ever look up.
Well, the average blind person is about five to six feet tall. Thus, the dog has to be taught to look up and look out for things that could hurt the blind person.
If a dog cannot be trained to look up he will not qualify as a seeing-eye dog.
And so it is with Christmas. Like the blind person ... we get in trouble when our focus is downward… when we focus at the earthly level.
We focus on the pain, the loneliness, the troubles.
As long as we do we will be depressed, lonely, sad, have no peace and feel no good will to men.
Longfellow lived that way, with his focus down, for three years following his wife's death.
He still felt the pain as he heard the carolers and the bells.
But like that seeing eye dog, he found success when he looked up…
When he turned his eyes on Jesus, on God the gracious Father who loved him so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son ....
When he lifted up his focus ..... he found peace, and good will.
Listen to the last verse, which should come before verse 4.
Til, 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.
Did you hear that?????
THE WORLD REVOLVED FROM NIGHT TO DAY!!!!!!!!
Most people would interpret this phrase to mean… the earth revolved around the sun and it was the next day
I don’t think that is what Henry meant.
I believe Henry meant that HIS LIFE turned from night to day.
I believe… Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's life turned from the night of mourning and anger, and blaming God, and self-pity…
to the light of praise, or faith, or thanks to God.
Henry’s world revolved from night to day.
Much of the world still lives in darkness and coldness or bitterness, hatred, sorrow, guilt, pain, mourning, and depression.
How did Henry’s world revolve???
HE LOOKED UP!
He turned his eyes and his heart to God.
Sadly, many have never learned to LOOK UP, to look to God, to have faith, to praise him.
*** I do not make light of clinical depression, which may take medication and therapy to overcome. I am not making light of mourning for loved ones, of loneliness. I don't want to make it seem like they are unchristian or minor.
But I do want you to know that as hard as your struggles are to overcome… There is hope!
The best way to overcome them is by LOOKING UP!!!
Look up, praise God, Praise his majesty, his holiness, his greatness, his grace, his love, his mercy.
Then look at what happened when Longfellow had looked up, had seen the hope, had found the joy.
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 toward men.
The bells sounded louder, sharper, more beautiful… than they had when he was in his funk.
What he could not hear, when his focus was earthward ... he could now hear, as though for the first time.
And a thought of joy came to his mind ... A thought that released his mind from the dungeon of despair.
That thought was this... GOD IS NOT DEAD, NOR DOTH HE SLEEP
Do you see what he has been thinking?
He heard the carols of God's love ... but he felt no love ... To him God must be dead ... or asleep.
Either God COULD NOT (dead) or WOULD NOT (asleep) help him, hear his prayers.
But now, when he looked up, when he saw God ... night turned to day, sorrow turned to joy, God was alive and awake ...
GOD WAS REAL!!!!!!
INVITATION
Someone has made famous the expression, "The long night of the soul."
Longfellow's night lasted for three years.
I'm not going to tell you that your night will end today ... That your night will turn to day in just a few minutes.
BUT I AM TELLING YOU that IT CAN BEGIN TODAY!
Today can be the day when you change your focus
From the problem to the answer
Today can be the first step.
Today you can come forward and I will pray with you about your night, your sorrow, your problem.
I will continue to pray for you after today.
This church can join you in prayer.
I want you to know there can be Peace on Earth
More importantly... there can be peace in your life.
I encourage you, today, this day
To LOOK UP, YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH."
