Bells on Bobtail Ring Making Spirits Bright What Fun It Is to Ride and Sing a Sleighing Song Tonight

Bells on bobtail ring making spirits bright what fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight. Oh…..

I love that song. When I was young, I loved to sing it, sitting next to our Christmas tree, waiting for Santa. I couldn’t imagine Christmas without “Jingle Bells.”

Which is why I was shocked when I took a music history course, and our teacher made us study the origins of famous Christmas songs. I found out that “Jingle Bells” was not written as a Christmas song at all. James Lord Peirpont wrote that song in 1857 for people to sing – at Thanksgiving!

I was surprised by the origins of many of my favorite Christmas songs. Like this one: “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…” It is the best-selling popular Christmas song of all time. And it was written – by a Jewish man, named Irving Berlin.

And what Christmas party is complete without “Five Golden Rings?” That song started in France, and it was… a drinking song! Slightly-inebriated French partiers would sing verse after verse. And the first person who made a mistake with the lords a leaping had to kiss the person sitting next to them. (We will be doing that during the second collection tonight.)

And then there is the carol with a Philadelphia connection. In 1868, an Episcopal priest from Philly received a wonderful gift from his congregation – they gave him a vacation that lasted one full year. With pay!

The priest - Rev. Philips Brooks - gladly took his one year vacation –and the money – and he went travelling. All over Europe and North Africa.

On Christmas Eve of 1865, Rev. Brooks was in the holy land. He got on a horse, and rode about two hours through the countryside. And just as the sun started to set on that Christmas Eve, he came to the top of a hill, and he looked down on a little town, called Bethlehem. It was a peaceful evening. He could hear the distant bells of Catholic churches. The stars began to appear. Rev. Brooks realized that he might be near where those first shepherds had been keeping watch. He always remembered that moment.

When he returned home to Philadelphia, he sat with his church organist. The musician created a little tune to go with the words that Rev. Brooks had written. It’s a tune you know…..

We all know this carol. But have you ever stopped to think about that last line? The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. Hopes and fears. Isn’t that a concise summary of so much of our human experience? Hopes and fears.

I love this carol. More importantly, I love the Lord that we sing about in that carol. MOST importantly, the Lord loves us! When Christ was born in Bethlehem, he came to share all of the joys of human life – he came to bring us hope. And he also came to share all of the limitations of our human condition – he came to be with us in our fears.

The baby born in Bethlehem gives us hope. He became the man who proclaimed God’s good news to the world. He gives us hope, by announcing that God is with us! We are never alone! He gives us hope by announcing that God is forgiving. Every sin is washed away. He gives us hope by teaching us the truth. The truth that sets up free. He gives us hope by reminding us of what’s really important. People are important. Family is important. Service is important. Loving and forgiving. Important.

He gives us hope by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, calling for justice – and telling us that we can make a difference in our world by doing the same. He gives us hope by assuring us that God is always ready to give us another chance. He gives us hope by being crucified and rising from the dead. Because in that mystery, we are assured that death does not win; that life is eternal; and love, his love, never fails.

Many of us have hopes tonight. Youngsters are hoping that Santa will bring them presents. Teens are hoping that Santa gets them the right ipad. Parents have hopes for their children. Friends have hopes. We all have hopes for our world. In the end, all our hope is found in Jesus, the son of Mary. He is our hope.

The hopes and fears of all the years converge in Jesus. And that is important, because even on this hope filled night, many of us have fears. And our faith tells us that Jesus was born so that we could find strength to walk boldly in the midst of our fears. Some of us are fearful because of health problems. Some are fearful due to family strife. Some fears are about unemployment, mortgage payments, fiscal cliffs. We have fears about our nation’s future. Fears about violence. Fears about poverty.

We have fears concerning some of our actions in the past, our imperfection in the present, where our life is headed tomorrow. We have hopes…and fears.

And when we are afraid, Isaiah the prophet speaks to us in tonight’s first reading, and says: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. God is conquering those things that can harm his people. And he does so by sending his son. A child is born for us. And the angels sang “Glory.”

When we hope, we know that our ultimate hope is found in Jesus. And when we fear, we know that God’s own son has become one of us. He’s faced every fearful situation in life. He suffered. He carried his cross. He was rejected. He lost everything. He knows what human heartbreak is. And he is here with us, walking beside us, encouraging us, whispering words of love to us.

Something important happened when Rev. Brooks stopped on the top of that hill and looked at that little town in the holy land. He understood that the child who was born there that first Christmas night is the one and only one who can give us all we hope for, and sustain us in all our fears. He is fully God, and fully human. He knows how to give us life. He knows how to calm our troubled hearts. He is Emmanuel. God with us. God for us. God always beside us.

Christmas started in Bethlehem, and continues tonight. From the little town of Bethlehem, to the little corner of Short Pump. Christ is still with us. And that still makes me sing.

Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.