Advent poem for 21st December: Christmas Bells by Longfellow

Poem

"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!

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!"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Reflection

We may walk round humming carols and thinking loving thoughts but the harsh fact remains that all over the world, every day, people are dying in acts of violence.

We would be foolish to think that it will all stop for Christmas, but what we need to do is hang on in faith to that promise, that is described in the last verse, there will be justice, and there will be peace.

Prayer

Lord

We think of all those who are away from home in areas of conflict

We think of all those who have lost someone they have loved in war or other acts of violence

We ask that your love and hope with act as a guiding light to all those who need it

Amen