Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
The theme for the second Sunday in Advent is PEACE. There’s a certain irony in the fact that when I get to this week in Advent I usually find myself singing one of my favorite Christmas hymns, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” which is taken from a poem titled “Christmas Bells,” written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The poem was written in 1863 in the middle of our Civil War — a time when peace was far from most people’s day to day reality. Longfellow’s wife had died in a terrible accident not long before and then his eldest son, who had joined the Union Army, was severely wounded in battle, just barely surviving after a long, painful recuperation. The poem begins with the first stanza celebrating the Christmas bells singing out Peace and Goodwill, but a few stanzas in we hear Longfellow voicing the reality of war and his current belief in any lasting peace with these words: “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!’"
It’s not until the final stanza that his faith in God’s peace reasserts itself: “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 irony comes in because it is that middle verse which attracts me to this hymn. I’ve actually been singing this carol to myself, off and on, all year now — this horrible, no good, very bad year in which we’ve been stuck for too many months now. And it is exactly in times such as these that we need to keep reminding ourselves and each other of words of peace and goodwill and hope. The middle verse sometimes seems so undeniably truthful, so apropos right now — “For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men,” but it’s that last stanza that I truly need to hear now — over and over — “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.’”
Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” Read the words of Scripture and of good, wise people, like Ms. Roosevelt, and – just maybe -- listen to your own heart.
I was reminded of this earlier this week when facebook of all things, gave me back one of my own “memories” – a post I had written four years ago for the Second Sunday of Advent (and that I don’t remember writing at all): This second Sunday in Advent may we all experience peace. Not the peace that comes from sitting back noticing nothing, doing nothing, but the peace that comes with doing the work our hearts call us to do -- standing where our hearts call us to stand. In a world run by nonsense our brains may become chaotic, but our hearts tell us truth.
So go and be a peacemaker; believe in it and work at it; trust God and trust that the right shall prevail; find peace inside yourself and offer it out whenever and wherever you can.....and listen to the longing of your heart.
Amen.
The poem was written in 1863 in the middle of our Civil War — a time when peace was far from most people’s day to day reality. Longfellow’s wife had died in a terrible accident not long before and then his eldest son, who had joined the Union Army, was severely wounded in battle, just barely surviving after a long, painful recuperation. The poem begins with the first stanza celebrating the Christmas bells singing out Peace and Goodwill, but a few stanzas in we hear Longfellow voicing the reality of war and his current belief in any lasting peace with these words: “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!’"
It’s not until the final stanza that his faith in God’s peace reasserts itself: “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 irony comes in because it is that middle verse which attracts me to this hymn. I’ve actually been singing this carol to myself, off and on, all year now — this horrible, no good, very bad year in which we’ve been stuck for too many months now. And it is exactly in times such as these that we need to keep reminding ourselves and each other of words of peace and goodwill and hope. The middle verse sometimes seems so undeniably truthful, so apropos right now — “For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men,” but it’s that last stanza that I truly need to hear now — over and over — “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.’”
Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” Read the words of Scripture and of good, wise people, like Ms. Roosevelt, and – just maybe -- listen to your own heart.
I was reminded of this earlier this week when facebook of all things, gave me back one of my own “memories” – a post I had written four years ago for the Second Sunday of Advent (and that I don’t remember writing at all): This second Sunday in Advent may we all experience peace. Not the peace that comes from sitting back noticing nothing, doing nothing, but the peace that comes with doing the work our hearts call us to do -- standing where our hearts call us to stand. In a world run by nonsense our brains may become chaotic, but our hearts tell us truth.
So go and be a peacemaker; believe in it and work at it; trust God and trust that the right shall prevail; find peace inside yourself and offer it out whenever and wherever you can.....and listen to the longing of your heart.
Amen.
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