The Pendragon's Hall

It is easy to get caught up in current events sometimes and forget their transitory nature. Yes, our world is a mess, but after all, that is nothing new. It was just as big a mess 2,000 years ago when Jesus was born. Think on that this Christmas season.

When I'm depressed about the state the world is in, I often like to consider the Christmas poem of my favorite poet: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. You may know this poem for it was also made into a song. He wrote it at the height of the Civil War when so many young men from his community were fighting their own countrymen. I hope it ministers to some of you as it has to me over the years:

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 earth revolved from night to day;
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then from each black, accursed mouth,
The cannon rumbled in the south
And with its sound the carol drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearthstones of a continent
And made forlorn the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then 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."