Christmas With The Tabernacle Choir

Reading his words today, we ask when conflict rages and pain, grief, and loneliness overwhelm us, where is the music of hope and peace? For Henry, the answer to that question has everything to do with Christmas. After Fanny's death, he had written, "So strong is the sense of her presence upon me that I should hardly be surprised to look up now and see her in the room. Death is a beginning, not an end." On that Christmas morning, it is clear to Henry that war, injury, and even death are not the end. The rising sun turns the icy river to silver and the windows of the Longfellow home to gold. Henry's children, bundled in winter wool, are whisked past snowy fields, through wooded hills and valleys, along the road to home. They look up, blinking and giggling in this falling snow, and they hear the sounds that make Christmas Christmas. They hear the bells. From his desk, Henry hears them too. Renewed, he plunges his pen into fresh ink, joyfully drawing it across a sheet of snow white paper. (swelling orchestral music) I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play And mild and sweet, the words repeat Of peace on Earth, good will to men In those bells, the message is clear. On Christmas day, a child was born in a stable. Of that child, Henry writes, "Though in a manger thou draw breath, thou art greater than life and death." And so he is! Then rang 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 As the bells ring on, Henry dips his pen again and again. Because Christmas lives on, Fanny lives on. Charles lives on, a nation lives on, and we, each one of us, may live on as well in hope and peace forever. Then 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 (bells ringing musically) Good will to men (audience applauding)