Ringing the Wild Bells

As you enjoy these final days before Christmas morn, take a moment to ponder these words from Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Tennyson wrote this poem in 1850, the year he was named Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, and his lines resonate with both the joy of Christmas and the mourning of challenges better left in the past -- so fitting as we bid farewell to another pandemic year:

Ring Out, Wild Bells

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
   The flying cloud, the frosty light:
   The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
   For those that here we see no more;
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
   And ancient forms of party strife;
   Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
   The faithless coldness of the times;
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
   The civic slander and the spite;
   Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
   Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
   Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

As we celebrate the birth of the Christ child, mourning disappointments of a difficult year and looking ahead with great hope to God's promises in 2022, let us be a people who ring in peace and love, healing and renewal, all in the name of Jesus. May God bless your Christmas week with His full joy.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Jennie