I’m as much
of a sentimental Christmas slush as the next guy. However, I agree with the Book of
Ecclesiastes: there is a time and season
for everything. Since mid-November, one
of my favorite radio stations has been playing non-stop Christmas music. Now, after six weeks, I’m going to scream if
I hear one more time “All I want for Christmas Is You.” Bah, humbug!
But there is
one song I do not grow tired of: “I
Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” The
song is based on the poem “Christmas Bells,” written by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow during the time of the US Civil War.
The fifth
and sixth stanzas, in which Longfellow laments the war’s destruction, were not
included in the song, but it does include the final two stanzas:
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."
If we look
back on 2016, we may very much feel the sentiments of the seventh stanza, seeing
so much hate in the world. Certainly, our
Lay Mission-Helpers very much live in seventh stanza situations around the
world. They witness heart-breaking
events and circumstances which certainly would make any one of us repeat the
words, “There is no peace on earth.”
But the
final stanza calls us to profound belief and hope: God is alive.
God’s justice is done. God’s love
and mercy bring peace, right here, right now in this Christmas season. Amid the cacophony of the hate and violence,
the bells ring “loud and deep” for us here and abroad. They sound out, beaconing us to live out the
same love, mercy, and tenderness found in that manger scene over 2,000 years
ago. Let us pause this season and listen
to their message, and then act out that message in the lives of those around
us.
Thank you
for your support of Lay Mission-Helpers in 2016, and let us continue to keep
each other in our prayers!
Chad Ribordy
Executive
Director
Lay
Mission-Helpers Association
