"Peace On Earth" (A More Serious Christmas Post)

(Disclaimer: I debated hitting "publish" for this post. I tend to go the way of "humorous" over "serious," but all this has been rolling around in my brain. So for what it's worth...)

When I was a young girl, the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" was a musical fixture around the holidays. Mr. Patterson, the organist in the church where I grew up, often played it -- as only seemed appropriate -- on the chime setting so it would sound like bells within the walls of the church.

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.

All these years, though, that is the only verse of the song I knew.

Several weeks ago, I was listening to the Casting Crowns version of the song on the radio, and I heard verses of this song that were unfamiliar to me. At first I thought that these verses were added just recently, but when I looked up the lyrics, I learned not only that they were verses from the original song, but also that they were penned by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

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.

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.”

I think the song struck a chord with me (no pun intended) because the next-to-last verse sums up how I feel sometimes. As a Christian, I probably shouldn't feel that "there is no peace on earth," but sometimes it can be difficult to feel goodness -- whether because of trying circumstances, struggles, bad things happening to good people, unexpected tragedy, silence when we want an answer, and the list goes on. (Incidentally, Longfellow's life was fraught with tragedy; if anyone had reason to doubt the message of "peace on earth, good will to men," he surely did.) But like the speaker in the song, I find that these doubts eventually give way to the knowledge and assurance that God is still here. Goodness does exist.

This past week, that assurance came by way of a story that captured Darryl's and my attention the week before Christmas -- the story of the Greens. We don't know them directly, but we are good friends with several people who are good friends of theirs, and their situation has been very much "Tweeted" and "Facebooked" over the past few weeks. The Monday before Christmas, they welcomed a baby who had been diagnosed early in the pregnancy with Trisomy 13. I'm not an expert on the disease, but I do know it involves severe chromosomal abnormalities, and that many babies who have it do not even survive to be born, and if they do survive, each day is considered a miracle and a gift.

After a few days of life on this earth, Baby Hallie died just past midnight on Christmas Eve morning. The day before her death, her father wrote this blog post. I encourage you to read it.

For me, it is a beautiful reminder that "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep."

It is a reminder that, even in the midst of uncertainty and heartbreaking sadness, the message of "peace on earth, good will to men" does indeed prevail.