The Christmas music has died down in the department stores, and the JANUARY SALES signs have taken its place. The relatives have mostly headed back home to work and to school, and the needles are falling from the real trees as we take down the ornaments and store them away for next year. The after-celebration reality has settled in, and for many the post-Christmas-depression is lurking around the corner as we vacuum out the car and sweep up the glitter and styrofoam packing balls from the living room. The jingle of Christmas bells have been silenced by the 6:00 news, and bewildering lead stories are shattering the spell of “joy to the world.”
Perhaps now is the perfect time to break out another carol, a timeless, unconquerable carol for the spirit. It was written in 1863 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow after the death of his wife, and following the departure of their oldest son to fight in the Civil War without his father’s blessing.
From that Christmas of 1863 until the present, people have entered the “season of peace” when the world and their personal lives were in chaos. No, this year is certainly no exception, yet the Peace Jesus came to bring is not and never has been at the mercy of the current lead story.
The Song that started with the angels one night on a Judean hillside cannot be silenced by the dissonance of opposing political or religious factions or the cacophony of war.
There has to be a Song! No one can live without hope! The gift of “the Song” is the best gift of all. Let us fill our own hearts with it. Let’s fill our homes with it and our cars with it as we travel back to our regular routine. Let’s give it to those who mourn and to those who struggle with debilitating illnesses. Let’s sing it in the ears of our children as we tuck them into bed, and take it to the discouraged and the lonely. Because, as Longfellow wrote those decades ago: God is not dead nor doth he sleep! The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.
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.
I 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.
Then 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.”
In the gray winter of our days, let’s not only believe but practice with our last breath and action, the lived-out message of the new life of Christmas and the new life of the resurrection, LIFE WINS! LOVE IS STRONGER!
