Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men

A week has passed since the horriffic shootings in Newtown, CT.  And yet it seems like much longer.  Throughout the week we've watched the grief of those most closely affected by this tragedy be played out over and over on television.  There have been endless conversations about guns and gun control and mental health.  There has been a lot of finger-pointing. 

Through it all, I find myself remembering these words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

"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."

 

Those words are part of Longfellow's "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", written during the Civil War, a time of great misery and heavy hearts on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Our country is deeply divided today, even as it was in the mid-1800s.  Our issues are different, but the division is still there and perhaps you, just as I do, sometimes wonder how or when or if we will ever come together. Longfellow's words may provide some encouragement to us in the 21st century just as they likely did to those in Longfellow's day.  Because in the 21st century, as in all centuries before, peace is not found in circumstances or in politicians or in legislation.  Peace is found in a Person.  In the Prince of Peace. And His name is Jesus. "For He Himself is our peace."  (Ephesians 2:14)

 

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

 

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.

 

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.

 

Yet 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.

 

Then 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.

 

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow