Hosanna in Excelsis by David Leeman

Author:David Leeman [Leeman, David; Leeman, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2020-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

22

Ding, Dong! Merrily on High

I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

LUKE 2:10

December 17

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

TEXT: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

b. February 27, 1807, Portland, Maine

d. March 24, 1882, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Longfellow was a child prodigy, beginning school at age three, reading classical literature, and writing poems by age six. By nineteen, he had graduated from college and was made a professor of modern language at Bowdoin College. Soon he was a professor at Harvard University. At only twenty-seven, Longfellow was already one of America’s most respected scholars. With a loving wife and a beautiful home overlooking the Charles River, life was good—at least until his wife became ill and died. He remarried seven years later, and he and his second wife had five children. Longfellow achieved great wealth and fame and honorary doctorates from Oxford and Cambridge. His second wife died tragically while she was lighting candles and her clothes caught fire. In an attempt to put out the fire, Longfellow was severely burned; from then on, he wore a full beard to conceal the scars on his face. On the heels of this personal tragedy, the Civil War began. Longfellow hated war, and this one hit even closer to home when, without his permission, Longfellow’s son enlisted, only to eventually be severely injured.

By 1862, Longfellow’s once wonderful world was upside down. On Christmas 1863, he wrote the poem “Christmas Bells,” which became this carol. It was a dark poem, and were it not for the final stanza, it would be absent of any hope. Two original, deleted stanzas speak of cannons with “black, accursed mouth,” rending the continent like an earthquake and drowning out “peace on Earth.”33 But in the pealing of church bells, Longfellow was reminded there is a living God. Though we do not know the depth of his religious convictions, God restored hope through what Longfellow knew the church proclaimed.

TUNE: John Baptiste Calkin

b. March 16, 1827, London, England

d. May 15, 1905, Islington, London, England

John Baptiste Calkin was born into a musical family and was taught by his father. He wrote much for the organ, including numerous transcriptions, and he scored many string arrangements, as well as original sonatas. Yet, were it not for the decision to write a tune for Longfellow’s poem ten years after it was published, we might never have heard of Calkin or any of his music.

As you sing this hymn … there may be circumstances in your life causing you to fully identify with the words “in despair I bowed my head.” Life can be so cruel that bells or the music of Christmas do not bring any joy. But God places something far better than bells in our lives when our peace is gone. His Holy Word will ring clear with words of comfort, direction, hope, and promises. Do not listen to the world’s music. Instead of bells, it may sound sirens. Instead of assurances of God’s love for you, it will tell you a lie that “there is no peace on earth.

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