Again, everybody, Merry Christmas!
Requested by Thewhiterabbit, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day–and listen to the lyrics. God does not sleep, He cannot fail. He will carry out His work of peace and righteousness… and He will heal us.
Sung by Johnny Cash.
Sorry to be so late with this hymn request, but I’m way behind in my work today and just can’t help it.
Requested by Erlene, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, by Casting Crowns. I’m used to hearing this sung to an altogether different melody; but this is nice, too.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote these verses in 1863 at the height of the Civil War, and on the heels of personal tragedy: his wife died in a fire, and his son was severely wounded in battle.
Sung by Burl Ives, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
Ach, there go my water-works again! I can’t help it. I’m overcome by the beauty and the love of Christmas, and all the Christmases in my life.
This just in from Erlene, a request for I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. This carol brings a lot of Christmases back to me. I chose the Bing Crosby version.
“Peace on earth, good will to men” will indeed come to pass: for the LORD hath spoken it.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote these words in 1864. His wife had just died in a fire that burned down their house, and the nation was in the third year of the Civil War–to this day, the bloodiest war ever for America. That any man could write such a hymn as this, still sung 150 years later, displays the image of God in us.
And nobody sang it like Burl ives…
There was a lot more to Burl Ives than singing “Jimmy Crack Corn.”
This carol defies the evils of a fallen world. What more can we add to that, but “Sing Louder!”