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| Billie Silvey |
| December 2006 |
| Good Will to Men |
| On Christmas Day in 1863, a year after his son was severely wounded in the bloody American Civil War, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem, “Christmas Bells.” A decade later the poem was set to music composed by John Baptiste Calkin, becoming a Christmas carol we still sing, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” These are some of the words: 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 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.’ The Civil War divided the country and its people, even family members. A later American poet, Robert Frost, wrote about that sort of division, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” God doesn’t love a wall. He doesn’t like the barriers we build between ourselves and others--barriers of gender, race, socioeconomic status, religion. God wants us to get along with those around us--with people in general, with those closest to us who are often the hardest to love, even with our enemies. At the end of World War II, Berlin was divided into four sectors--the American, British, French and Soviet. Then, in 1961, a wall surrounding the three western sectors was conceived by the East Germans and supported by the Soviets. The city and its people, even families, were separated by 96 miles of barbed wire and concrete averaging 11.8 feet in height. Two American presidents spoke against the wall. In 1963, John F. Kennedy identified with the split city by declaring “I am a Berliner.” Then, in 1987, Ronald Reagan challenged the Soviet leader Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Finally, in 1989, the wall was breached to international celebration, and the Cold War came to an end. Now both Israel and the United States are building walls to keep out their neighbors. Again, these walls separate families, keep workers from their jobs and farmers from their markets. Jesus came to tear down the walls that separate us from each other. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14). Jesus himself is peace, and he came to bring peace in all our relationships. He wants us to have loving relationships in our families and in our church families. He wants us to work well with our bosses and coworkers and employees. He wants us to get along with our neighbors and friends and those difficult people in all our lives. “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” whether it divides a nation, a city, or each of us as individuals from those we should be living with and loving in peace and good will. |
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