{"id":12374,"date":"2016-12-21T08:33:34","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T13:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=12374"},"modified":"2016-12-21T08:38:06","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T13:38:06","slug":"worship-wednesday-i-heard-the-bells-casting-crowns-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=12374","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wednesday – I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day – Casting Crowns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: CastingCrowns.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Adapted from the Archives<\/sup><\/p>\n

Then the angel said to them, \u201cDo not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord\u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cGlory to God in the highest, a<\/span>nd on earth peace, goodwill toward men!\u201d \u2013\u00a0<\/span>Luke 2:10-11, 13-14<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In December, 1863, American poet and scholar Henry W. Longfellow received his wounded son home from battle. It was Christmas time, and the U.S. Civil War raged on. Having already lost his wife years earlier, Longfellow nursed his son, Charley, back to health. His own thoughts, in turmoil over all that was happening around him, he poured out in the poem \u201cChristmas Bells\u201d.<\/p>\n

Longfellow clearly took comfort from God as he wrote, ending the poem with this stanza:<\/p>\n

\u201cGod is not dead, nor doth He sleep; <\/em><\/strong>
\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Wrong shall fail, <\/em><\/strong>
\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Right prevail, <\/em><\/strong>
\n \u00a0 \u00a0 With peace on earth, good-will to men.\u201d*<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I Heard the Bells <\/em>is a Christmas carol, not a worship anthem. Yet, given the continuing wars and hardships of our day,\u00a0we must tend the fires of our hope. God is the \u201clifter of our heads\u201d (Psalm 3:3<\/a>). He is the One who\u00a0gives strength to our \u201cweak hands and shaking knees\u201d (Isaiah 35:3<\/a>). He will do as He\u2019s promised. He is faithful.<\/strong> When you hear the bells ring where you are this Christmas season, take heart in that. We must continue to pray for His peace on earth…and in our own hearts.\u00a0 We can be vessels of His good-will toward our neighbors, both very near…and far away.<\/p>\n

Worship with me\u2026<\/p>\n

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (Lyric video)<\/a><\/p>\n

I heard the bells on Christmas day
\nTheir old familiar carols play
\nAnd mild and sweet their songs repeat
\nOf peace on earth good will to men<\/p>\n

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\n
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And the bells are ringing (Peace on Earth)
\nLike a choir they\u2019re singing (Peace on Earth)
\nIn my heart I hear them
\nPeace on earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

And in despair I bowed my head
\nThere is no peace on earth I said
\nFor hate is strong and mocks the song
\nOf peace on earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

But the bells are ringing (Peace on Earth)
\nLike a choir singing (Peace on Earth)
\nDoes anybody hear them?
\nPeace on earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
\nGod is not dead, nor doth He sleep (Peace on Earth, peace on Earth)
\nThe wrong shall fail, the right prevail
\nWith peace on earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

Then ringing singing on its way<\/p>\n

The world revolved from night to day
\nA voice, a chime, a chant sublime
\nOf peace on earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

And the bells they\u2019re ringing (Peace on Earth)
\nLike a choir they\u2019re singing (Peace on Earth)
\nAnd with our hearts we\u2019ll hear them
\nPeace on earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

Do you hear the bells they\u2019re ringing? (Peace on Earth)
\nThe life the angels singing (Peace on Earth)
\nOpen up your heart and hear them (Peace on Earth)
\nPeace on earth, good will to men<\/p>\n

Peace on earth, Peace on earth
\nPeace on earth, Good will to men<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

YouTube Video \u2013 Casting Crowns performing I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Casting Crowns\u2019 Mark Hall On Christmas<\/em> (Teaching Vignettes)<\/a><\/p>\n

Christmas Carol Soldier<\/em> \u2013 Story of Charley Appleton Longfellow & the occasion for H. W. Longfellow\u2019s writing of the poem\/lyric<\/a><\/p>\n

The Story Behind I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day<\/em> \u2013 Tom Stewart<\/a><\/p>\n

*Longfellow\u2019s poem Christmas Bells<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: CastingCrowns.com Adapted from the Archives Then the angel said to them, \u201cDo not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord\u2026\u00a0And suddenly there … Continue reading Worship Wednesday – I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day – Casting Crowns<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[926,813,2126,1618,2340,794,50,33,837,433,610,47,946],"tags":[2877,1170,1846,4033,1586,798,1836,4036,4032,677,1835,122,4034,4035,49,360],"class_list":["post-12374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attending-or-focus","category-christmas","category-community","category-courage","category-displaced-peoples","category-faithfulness","category-god","category-inspired","category-peace-on-earth","category-pray","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-wednesday-worship","category-worship","tag-caregivers","tag-casting-crowns","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-bells","tag-civil-war","tag-faithfulness-2","tag-god","tag-good-will","tag-henry-w-longfellow","tag-hope","tag-jesus","tag-peace","tag-peace-on-earth","tag-wars","tag-worship","tag-worship-wednesday"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-3dA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12374"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12381,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12374\/revisions\/12381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}