Faith and Sight

I believe! Help my unbelief…

Archive for the tag “peace”

15 Dec 2011

Dwelling in dust, or shaking it off

I have often wanted to be so much, but I am humbled, gladly. I need a Savior.

This morning I started doing that thing I do, where I vaguely remember one random verse and it takes me on a bible escapade. Below, I present what’s left of Isaiah 26. God forgive me, I’m sure his scripture is better left unscrambled.

O LORD our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but your name alone we bring to remembrance.

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

In the path of your judgments,
O LORD, we wait for you;
your name and remembrance
are the desire of our soul.

My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

O LORD, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.

O LORD, in distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.

The earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no more cover its slain.

O LORD, you will ordain peace for us.

Posted in Learning Something and tagged | Leave a comment
24 Dec 2010
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The Bells of Christmas Day

Several years after the tragic death of his wife, and during the midst of the civil war in which his oldest son was injured, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow sat down at his desk on Christmas Day, 1864.  He wrote this poem:

Christmas Bells

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 today,
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.”

Longfellow knew suffering. After his wife’s death he said he was “inwardly bleeding to death.” At times he questioned his continued sanity. I imagine him sitting at his desk that day, hearing the bells and looking at the brokenness around him.

For a new interpretation of the poem and familiar Christmas Carol, look up Casting Crowns’ “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” For the New Testament scripture that Longfellow was referencing, read Luke 2.

Posted in On Faith, Other People and tagged , ,

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