I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- American Poet and professor. Who’s other notable works include Paul Reveres Ride and The Evening Star wrote the lyrics/poem back on Christmas Day in 1863.
Longfellow was no stranger to the suffering of trials and pain that this life sometimes carries with it.
His married Mary Potter in 1831 and just four short years later, Mary passed away at the age of 22 after complications from a miscarriage. The death of his wife rocked him to the core.
About 4 years later, he met Francis, “Fanny” Appleton and love hit him hard. He began to court her but was doubtful of his efforts. In July 1839, he wrote to a friend: "Victory hangs doubtful. The lady says she will not! I say she shall! It is not pride, but the madness of passion".[53]
His friend George Hilliard encouraged him in the pursuit: "I delight to see you keeping up so stout a heart for the resolve to conquer is half the battle in love as well as war".[54]
During the courtship, Longfellow frequently walked from Cambridge to the Appleton home in Beacon Hill in Boston by crossing the Boston Bridge. That bridge was replaced in 1906 by a new bridge which was later renamed the Longfellow Bridge.
The courtship failed…and 4 long years passed until one day he received a letter from the headstrong and independent Fanny, agreeing to Marry Him.
The couple had a wonderful relationship and had 6 children together. Their 3rd child died at just one year of age.
However, tragedy really struck their home on July 9, 1861.
There are mixed reports as to how it happened, but Fanny was trimming her daughter’s hair when all of the sudden, her dress went up in flames.
Describe the panic…
She rushed to Longfellow’s study where he was taking a nap and he woke suddenly, and tried his hardest to extinguish the flames. He grabbed a throw rug, but it was insufficient to put out the fire, and he eventually used his own body to smother the flames, taking on severe burns to his own face and arms in the process. Scars he carried the rest of his life as a reminder to that tragic day. In fact, because the burns to his face were very severe, Longfellow grew his trademark beard from then on and never shaved again…
The next day, on July 10th, the love of Longfellow’s life passed away from the burns.
Like I said, Longfellow was no stranger to the suffering of this life…but what inspired this carol that we are learning about today…came another year and half after his wife’s untimely and tragic death…
In March of 1863, his oldest son Charles, unbeknown to Longfellow, enrolled in the Union Army and went to war, notifying his dad through a letter.
In late November of 1863, during the Mine Run Campaign in Virginia, Charles was shot. The bullet hit him in the left shoulder cut across his body exiting out his right side. Henry was summoned to the hospital in Washington DC and brought Charles home for recovery.
It was on that Christmas day in 1863, that Longfellow penned the words to his Poem, “Christmas Bells”…
The Poem turned into a Christmas Carol is a story of Suffering and Hope…let me read it for you.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and mild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And 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!
Till 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!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
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!"
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."
The Song is a story of hope in the midst of heartache…light in the midst of darkness and I truly believe there is something here for us today…but let us take a look at the Christmas Story, and in particular…the story of my namesake.
Joseph.- A tradesman, carpenter.
A young man…betrothed to fair young maiden named Mary.
Turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew and Chapter 1…
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
Let your imagination run here because, I am sure Joseph’s was…
Are you kidding me?
What about our plans…
How could you cheat on me?
Because he was faithful to the law, but didn’t want to disgrace Mary…he thought…
I’m just going to quietly divorce her…be done with this and move on…
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
In the midst of the first storm…
BUT GOD…
This is the bells ringing through the sound of the Canon fire in Joseph’s story…
But just like life has the tendency to do…another storm comes, another battle rages, and more suffering enters our lives…
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
Joseph and his betrothed wife now have to travel…and just like traveling in today’s culture when your in your 3rd trimester is a bad idea…thing about it back then…
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Riding on a donkey while being pregnant…
No one will open up a guest room for us?
There weren’t inns back then…and his own family wouldn’t let them stay in their guest rooms…
God are you kidding me?
I am trying my best here to do what your asking me to do and i can’t do anything about having to come back to Bethlehem to register…we had to do it…and now, my wife has to give birth to your son and we have to swaddle him in cloths and the only place where we can lay him is in this food trough…
BUT GOD…
But even in that place… The Carol bells rang through and hope arose through the heartache
God sent the shepherds to encourage Mary and Joseph…
But God…
You know there story isn’t over yet…there is still more suffering on the way…
Because, now Herod is out to get their son.
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
BUT GOD!!!
Here are the carols bells ringing… Here is God providing a way…
I know this verse is in reference to temptation, but I believe it implies to this situation as well…
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
but God provided a way out for them…
See if you go back in the story…the wise men brought gifts of Gold, frankincense and myrrh.
These are gifts for a king, not a newborn baby!
But these are exactly the gifts that Joseph and Mary would need to not only finance their trip south, to Egypt but also could have possibly financed Jesus’ education and ministry…
And so I’ve got to ask you this morning… do you believe that God is a BUT GOD…
Then rang the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor does He sleep…
“BUT GOD demonstrates his love toward you in this…while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you.”
