MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2022 - CHRISTMAS CAROLS - PART I

 MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2022 - CHRISTMAS CAROLS - PART I

This week I want to look at Christmas Carols, Christmas Songs, Holiday Songs, and Snow Songs.  (In other words, I’m not sure where I’m going!!  Will I hit on “Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer”, or “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”? 

I do have some favorites, some of interest, and others I might just pass on.

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First - a song/carol that I’ve talked about in the past:

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet their songs repeat
Of peace on Earth, goodwill 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, goodwill to men

Then rang 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, goodwill to men

Then ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men

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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

'I Hear the Bells on Christmas Day' was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Dec. 25, 1863, in response to the near-fatal wound his son, Charles Appleton Wadsworth, received at the Mine Run campaign in Virginia in the Civil War.  

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I like the section”"There is no peace on Earth, " I said For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men”

At times in this troubled world, hate seems so very strong - hate between people is strong.  Russian invades Ukraine, Iran and other Islamic Nations hate each other, North Korea shoots off missiles toward Japan, Conservative Christians hate liberal Christians, and LGBTQ+ are hated.

BUT - GOD IS NOT DEAD - the wrong shall fail, the right prevail!!! 

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(And, some humor - “You're a poet and don’t know it cause your feet are longfellows.”)

And, one more hymn carol today:

It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,
from heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
to hear the angels sing. 

Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains,
they bend on hovering wings,
and ever o'er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing. 

And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing! 

For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
and the whole world sends back the song
which now the angels sing.

And, a comment.  While not a requirement, this Christmas carol doesn’t mention “Christmas”, “Jesus”, or “the babe in the manager”.  The writer was Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts - and some analyze that Unitarians don’t accept Jesus.

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So, two religious Christmas Carols today.  What will tomorrow bring?

LOVE TRANSFORMS

LOVE CAME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, © DECEMBER 5, 2022