The Night Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Caught a Flicker of Christmas
By: Michael Murray
Tags: Spirituality, Christmas, Christmas Songs, Religion, Hope

I heard the bells on Christmas day,

Their old familiar carols played

And wild and sweet, The words repeat

Of peace on Earth, good-will to men

If there’s one Christmas carol that sums up 2020 for me, it’s “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

The lyrics come from a poem Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in 1864. (Isn’t that an amazing name, by the way?!)

It has been musicalized many times, including by the Christian band Casting Crowns. But my favorite version is the one my friend David Burleson wrote for the Christmas EP God at First Sight. (You can watch David sing the song here.) I think David’s composition perfectly captures the journey the poem takes us on.

It begins as a standard Christmas carol. The narrator reflects on the angels’ words on the night Jesus was born: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14, NIV). They are, as the narrator points out, familiar to us.

But then things take a turn. Sentiment doesn’t match up to reality. The narrator is suffocated by grief:

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.”

I love how honest that verse is. Hate is strong and seems to mock the promise of Christmas.

2020 has been a rough year. A global pandemic, racial, injustice, political division. And that doesn’t even touch on the “normal” bad things that happen in any given year. Tragedies occur every day that don’t make it to the news headlines.

“There is no peace on earth” sounds like a proper response to many of life’s catastrophes.

I was having a discussion about God with a friend this week. She told me the story of a tragic circumstance in her life and then said, “What did I do to deserve that?”

It’s a natural question to ask.

And she didn’t do anything to deserve the horror she endured.

Not surprisingly, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” was born out of tragedy.

In 1861, Henry’s wife, Frances, burned to death. Her dress caught fire while she was sealing envelopes with hot wax. Henry tried to save her and was burned badly in the process. He couldn’t even attend his wife’s funeral due to injuries.

On Christmas 1862, he wrote these words:

A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.

And the tragic circumstances weren’t over. The next year, Henry’s son Charley joined the Union army. In November 1863, a bullet went through his back, barely missing his spine. He was released from the military into Henry’s care.

On Christmas day that year, Henry “heard the Christmas bells ringing in Cambridge and the singing of ‘peace on earth.’” But the joyous celebration didn’t match the brokenness Henry was experiencing. We understand why he bowed his head in despair.

Where have you bowed your head in despair this year?

One of my favorite things about David’s musicalization of the poem is the tension we feel. After the narrator cries out in despair, there is a 25-second musical interlude. 25 seconds of no words. 25 seconds to soak in how tragic this world is.

In those 25 seconds, I imagine the narrator putting his hands in his pockets and walking down the snowy sidewalk, head still bowed. He slowly walks away from the sound of the bells, because, well, where can God possibly be in all this?

And then — although he’s walking away from them — the sound of the bells grows louder. He lifts his head and looks back toward them. And he is reminded of the hope of Christmas:

Then pealed the bells, more loud and deep:

“Our God’s not dead, nor does He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on Earth, good-will to men.”

He can’t manufacture this hope from inside himself. It can only come from an outside source, manifesting itself in the ringing of bells.

It’s the hope of a God not asleep; he can’t be asleep because he’s crying in his mother Mary’s arms. And he has entered into the mess to take it all upon his shoulders. We look forward to the day when all the wrongs of this world will fail at the hands of Jesus, and there will be true peace on earth.

On that morning in 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow caught a flicker of Christmas as he heard bells ringing. Maybe it lasted only a moment. But it was long enough for him to pen these hopeful words while experiencing despair.

Peace on Earth, good-will to men

Peace on Earth, good-will to men

It’s my prayer that this week, we would all catch a flicker of Christmas, if only for a moment.