Do You Hear the Bells?

This weekend I saw the movie I Heard the Bells by Sight and Sound films, the organization that puts on those incredible biblical stage productions in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Branson, Missouri. It’s the tender, surprising story of how Henry Wadsworth Longfellow came to write the poem that would become the Christmas Carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” 

The next day, my husband, who has a book about everything, gave me a book about bells. “The Sound of Bells” by Eric Sloane is about the role of bells in American life, which is a lot more interesting than you think. Before telephones, radio, or social media, people’s lives were governed by bells. Bells told them when to go to school and come home for dinner. They announced the time of day, when the next train was coming, and where the cows were. They sounded the alarm when fires broke out or danger threatened. Town criers rang bells to call people to the square for the evening news. Bells near the sea tolled for the tides and the arrival of fishing boats. Sleigh bells, which we think of as purely ornamental, were basically car horns warning pedestrians to watch out, as sleighs were quieter than EVs, and there were no sidewalks.  

Church bells chimed for weddings, tolled for funerals, and called the faithful to worship. They heralded the arrival of major holidays like Independence Day and Christmas Day. They “rang in” the New Year, literally. On Christmas Eve in New England, there was a midnight “Devil’s Knell” rung for Satan, who supposedly died when Christ was born. On Christmas Day, church bells rang from seven in the morning until four in the afternoon.

In  I Heard the Bells, the bell is a symbol of the hope Christ’s coming brings into a dark world. Longfellow experienced this in a profoundly personal way. Through much of the film, he is in mourning and despair, dealing with personal tragedy and the desolation of a nation broken by the Civil War. The poem starts out sounding like any other Christmas song, full of joy and good cheer:

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 to day,
    A voice, a chime,
    A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

But then the tone changes, darkens, as the reality of the poet’s world intrudes:

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!”

Pretty grim sentiments for a Christmas carol. Such feelings can easily overwhelm us, especially in the days we’re living in. So much hate and division, so much evil in the world, so much sorrow. Jesus told us what it would be like in the end times—perhaps Longfellow, surrounded by death and darkness, thought the world was coming to an end. 

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places… 

At that time many will turn away from the faith 

and will betray and hate each other, 

and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 

Because of the increase of wickedness, 

the love of most will grow cold, 

but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matt 24: 7-13)

There were plenty of reasons to despair then, as there are now. But Longfellow doesn’t end his poem there. After the long night of struggle, after years of battling his demons and doubting God’s goodness, Longfellow sees the dawn, Christmas morning, and hears the bells once more.

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."

In his book on bells, Eric Sloane laments that the ringing of bells to celebrate America’s Independence had been replaced by fireworks—he even campaigned to have a proclamation passed in Congress to make July 4 “National Bell Ringing Day.”  At 2 pm on July 4, Americans are supposed to stop what they are doing and ring a bell. I never knew this until I looked it up for this blog.

I think it might be a nice idea—not just for Independence Day. On Christmas morning, before you get your coffee or put the egg casserole in the oven or open a present, ring a bell. Think of Longfellow, through the long, dark night, hearing the bells of Christmas morning and remembering hope. 

Ironically, I wrote the script for a Christmas movie at my church ten years ago called “Do You Hear”—it happened to be about bells. A teenage girl rediscovers Christmas through an encounter with a mysterious stranger who helps her “hear the bells.” If you are interested in seeing it, here’s the link.

If you haven’t heard the song “I Heard the Bells” in a while, listen to it here. 

Merry Christmas!