A Thought for Christmas- 2014

Over the last few weeks, with all the violence and protests occurring, I've found myself humming the little bits and pieces of a Christmas song (at least the little bits and pieces that I'm able to hear) whose words words were originally written as a poem. 

It was composed on Christmas Day on 1863, when the civil war was at its zenith.

It's times like this we are reminder that, no matter how advanced we are or boast that we are, humankind is a violent species. 

Even when the cause is just.

It's easier for us to hate and respond with our aggression than it is to forgive.

Christmas reminds us that God pours Himself into our existence and shows us that not only is forgiveness and grace is not only possible but neccessary.

Here is the poem:

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!”

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.”

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow