I'd like to hear the bells on Christmas day... but instead I got a sign...and a call to action

I'd like to hear the bells on Christmas day...

but instead I got a sign...

and a call to action...

I listen to a fair amount of Christmas music. Most of what spends time playing on my devices and on my turntable is non-traditional Christmas music from the likes of Over the Rhine, The Killers, or Bill Mallonee. However, I do like a traditional song now and then as well. One such song I enjoy every year is, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

As the city of Anchorage moves through Advent, the Christmas greetings are competing with newspaper headlines like "2 people are dead after 3 weekend shootings in Anchorage." So, in this Advent season, I offer these thoughts on "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" as my prayer for Anchorage and as a call to action.

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" opens with these three verses:

1. 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.

2. I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th’unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

3. 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.”

There is a sign in front of the Lake Otis Postal Mall down the street from where I work. It is one of those moveable letter signs that enable the owner to change the message. For the past number of months, this sign has read "Peace For Real."

Those plastic letters rest in their slots, day after day, bearing witness to the violence of a city that will surely break its record for number of murders two years in a row.

But more than that, the sign is a cry. Those three words cry out to all who pass by (going northbound)—to the citizens of our city—to pay attention to what is going on. They urge us to consider what it would take to see peace in Anchorage.

Yet, that trio of words is even more than a witness and a cry; it is a prayer. Silently and stalwartly, those twelve letters echo psalms of disorientation in the Old Testament where God's people voiced what was wrong with the world and asked for God to intervene.

The sign down the street distills the lyrics of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" when Longfellow writes, “There is no peace on earth... For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.”

The song continues:

4. 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.”

While I agree that God is not dead or sleeping—and that in the end God will prevail—the reaction I have witnessed to the violence in my city has not been marked by the people of God calling out to God in any large or united way. More often than not, the reaction I have witnessed has been a call for more police, stricter law enforcement, and tougher sentences for criminals. I have yet to see the church in mass do what the sign down the street is doing... bearing witness, crying out, and praying.

What if we were to see and witness the violence as God's people?What if we were to pray, and pray again, and pray one more time?What if we were to cry out till there was action?

In his re-worked version of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," David Bazan sings this new verse:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
We’re only what we sow and reap
If we are ever to get along
Then we ourselves must right the wrongs
For peace on earth, good will to men (2)

I think Bazan is on to something that Longfellow may have missed. We have some responsibility here—right now—to do something. I also know that it is often hard to know just what to do. Maybe you have an idea. If so, share it. Here are two ideas I know about:

First, the Anchorage Peacemaking Fellowship (UPF) is seeking people from around the city to spend 2018 answering the question: "How should the people of faith in Anchorage respond to the violence in our city?" You can find out more about the UPF and how to apply here.

Second, on Friday, January 12, 2018, a group of a dozen churches is gathering to pray for the city and begin the process of discussing how the church might seek the peace of the city. The event, ACTIVATE, will happen at 7pm at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium. Details will be posted on this blog soon.

I believe that if the people of Anchorage—in particular those who follow Jesus—would bear witness, cry out, pray, and act, we would see the world revolve from night to day. We could see Peace for Real.

The conclusion of the song goes like this:


5. 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! (1)

Wouldn't it be wonderful if, at this time next year, we could sing Longfellow's words in a city that has seen a reduction in violence - in a city where the murder rate has gone down?

What if we could stand together as the people of God in Anchorage and sing that song knowing that we had born witness to the violence, cried out to God, prayed, and seen God work, because we were willing to get to work?

Grace and Peace to you and to all in our city this Christmas.

Joel Kiekintveld

(1)
"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"
Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807–1882
Music: John Baptiste Calkin, 1827–1905

(2)"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"
Additional Lyrics by David Bazan
released on the record Dark Sacred Night