Do you hear them?

Christmas can be a great time, but Christmas can always be a sad time.   Holidays are super hard for people who are missing a loved one or whose families are not getting along.    Society has created expectations for the "perfect Christmas" that nobody can achieve, no matter how hard we try.  So today I want to ask you, "What do you hear when you hear Christmas bells?"

Do you hear the joyous sounds of expectation for the celebration of a newborn king?   Or do you hear the pain of regret, the music of sadness and grief?

You may know that the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" was originally a poem written by Longfellow on Christmas Day 1864.    What you might not know is that  it was written from the experiences of his life at that time involving the tragic death of his wife and the crippling injury of his son Charles.

When listening to this song the other day, I realized that this is the true beauty of Christmas.... that God's son entered this world as a baby to meet us where we are.  At the very heart of Christmas is a God who saw humanity and wanted to get close to us.  God wanted to become man so that he would know what it was like to be us.... not just when we were experiencing the peaks of joy -- but also when we were in our deepest valleys.

Emanuel.  God with us -- not just on the days when we are excited about life and feeling on top of the world -- but God with us ALL of the time.

So wherever you are, let these words speak to you as a reminder of what Christmas is all about -- that God is not dead or asleep but instead is with us, ensuring that the wrong will fail and that right will prevail and that the end result will always be peace on earth and goodwill to man.

"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!​