14
DECEMBER
GOD IS NOT DEAD, NOR DOTH HE SLEEP
Revelation 21:1-5
The year was 1863. It was Christmas Day when countless people spoke of "peace on ear th,
good will to men" (based on the KJV of Luke 2:14). But famed poet and Har vard professor,
Henr y Wadswor th Longfellow, was morose. Still grieving the loss of his wife to an accidental
death two years earlier and dealing with the more recent injur y of his oldest son in the
War between the States, he was transformed by the church bells pealing throughout
Cambridge, Massachusetts, on this holy day designed to celebrate the bir th of the
hope-giving Christ child.
The result was the poem, "I heard the bells on Christmas day." It originally contained seven
stanzas, though only five are well known. You can easily find them online or look them up
in a book of Christmas carols. The poem would be put to several tunes over the years; two
have par ticularly endured. Some hymnals or choir books print both of them.
I am par ticularly struck ever y year by the last two verses. Because of the Civil War and his
personal loss, Longfellow understandably penned,
"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!'"
