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Bells that peal with Christmas joy
Many years ago I knew a Unitarian minister whose favorite Christmas carol was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” This carol had never stood out to me, so out of curiosity I looked more closely at it and found that it had seven verses, was written around the time of the American Civil War, and dealt with finding peace during the most difficult times. It quickly became one of my favorite carols, as well.
Some years after this, I was visiting some family at Christmas and felt a great need for peace, rather than dysfunction. I had been playing this carol on the piano earlier that day, and, late that night, after all was quiet, the following two verses from the carol came to thought:
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