I have many favorite Christmas carols, but if you asked me about my favorite secular Christmas song, it would have to be “Silver Bells.” A couple of different stories are told about the writer’s inspiration for this song including the Salvation Army Bell Ringers and a bell that sat on the writer’s desk, but when I hear the song, I hear church bells.
There’s a spot in Candler Park in
Atlanta where we used to go to visit our daughter, and as we ate our lunch on
outside tables, church bells would play hymns on the hour. I wondered how many
people recognized the songs, but still they played ringing out the good news. "Silver
Bells" reminds us that as we go about our business here at Christmas, God is trying
to interject himself into our days through those ringing bells.
The other day, I sat in a fast-food
drive through line and had just received my food. Three lanes must merge into
one to exit. The driver to my right was stationary, so I thought he hadn’t
received his food. I pulled forward about a foot, but he did as well. It was
the kind of thing that we often laugh about because it was so synchronized. But
when I made eye contact with the young man in his truck, I realized that was
not the present circumstance. Though I couldn’t hear him, I could tell by his
gestures and facial expression that he was spewing obscenities at me. I was so
shocked at his rage, for a moment I was motionless. Then I held up my hand for him
to go first, and he floored the gas.
I sat there as other cars
followed him trying to understand what would drive someone to that kind of fury
over nothing. Was it what had been done to him or was it a result of choices he
made? Or both? I wanted to cry, and not just
that he had hurt me, but I wanted to weep for a world of pain. That encounter
was likely the only one that young man and I will ever have in this life. After
I overcame being stunned by it, I realized God had entrusted me with the situation,
and what I could do was pray God’s healing touch would come to him, and he
could know how great God’s love is for
him.
The encounter reminded me those
silver bells ring out compassion for those who have no compassion. They ring
out love for those whose hearts are hard. They ring healing for the raw edges
and deep wounds and heartbreaks. They ring hope for those who are sad. They ring
out a news of salvation so great, it’s almost unbelievable. And yet it is true.
Amazingly true.
All the time, and in every place,
even in the fast-food drive through line, God is trying to reach us and the
whole world with the good news that “Today in the town of David a Savior has
been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
So, maybe “Silver Bells” is not a
secular song after all. When you hear those bells ring, give thanks that our Lord
is speaking his compassion, love, healing, and hope into the world and into our
hearts.
May you have the merriest of
Christmases. With much love.
To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.com
Beverly Varnado copyright 2022