One of my favorite Christmas carols is “I Heard the Bells of Christmas Day.” This tune was originally penned by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1863. Longfellow wrote this poem with the narrator hearing Christmas bells during the Civil War, delving into the emotion of what it was to hear the bells ringing out amid war and hate. This poem was later set to music and while many of the stanzas of the Civil War aren’t used in the singing of the carol today, the poem still holds deep meaning.
This Christmas, I find myself drawn to this carol. For towards the end of the carol, these words are sung:
“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!”
In our lives these days, we have despair. We experience hatred. We have war. These make it hard for us to find the peace that God offers to us. Then there is the ever-rising cost of living and issues surrounding food access. And if that isn’t enough, there are those of us who are experiencing the holiday season without loved ones.
It can become so much that we become numb. We get weighed down with the grief and heartbreak of it all. It is as if the world around us these days is mocking the peace and joy this season offers.
Yet, in the words of another poet, Madeleine L’Engle, “Love still takes the risk of birth.”
God chooses to be born into this mess. God chooses to take on human flesh and enter into the chaos of the heartache of our world — choosing to be with us in it all.
It does me good to remember this. To read the stories of the prophets. To hear the words of the apostles. To read and cite the ancient liturgies of this season. For in these moments and in these words, I am reminded that God chooses us. God chooses love. God enters into the chaos and sits with us.
God enters into the chaos and sits with us.
Love enters into our world again this season and does so with joy. This makes the waiting more bearable. Knowing that God chooses to come in and flip the world upside down, to challenge all that we know, I find peace. I find comfort. Knowing that God chooses to come and sit with me in my mess and the chaos that surrounds me.
But it is more than that. God comes and sits with me. And God comes and challenges me to do something. To not be passive in my waiting. That I have to get up and do. That I must do my best, whatever that looks like, to work against the powers of the world. That is what God did when God took on the form of a child and lived among us all those years ago.
It wasn’t a picture-perfect moment. It wasn’t that Instagram-worthy post. God came as a baby to a teenage mother in a world that was torn apart and ruled by a heartless leader. Love still chose to enter into this world, through the sounds of a crying baby, to remind the world of its worth.
And God comes and challenges me to do something.
And so, this Advent as I find myself anxiously awaiting this child once more, I am reminded that even in this chaos — “love still takes the risk of birth.”
And my heart sings. I find joy and comfort in this love and the glimmers of this love around me. I find myself defiant as I sing my favorite Christmas carol. I throw back my head and proclaim this season:
“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.”
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