DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?
I. A Shadow Has Fallen Across the World
A. The horrors of war seldom touch all the people of the United States. The last time that happened was 9/11, and even with the two wars we have fought since, Iraq and Afghanistan, the touch of war seemed far away unless you had a son or daughter in harm’s way.
B. There was once a man who lived in the midst of the horror of war. He bore the name of Christmas; he was a Frenchman with the name of Noel and he was a musician–a very good one. When the Nazis descended upon his country in World War II, they drafted this young man into the German Army. Yet, he despised the Nazi occupation so much, and hated their perverse ideology, and saw the shadow of the Nazi hand reaching out to consume the world, that he became a member of the French underground. He was told to stay in the uniform of the German Army and he listened well, and told the allies of German movements and plans. Noel had to do things that make men detest war, things that horrified him years later. Once, he had to lead his own men into a trap where French fighters ambushed and killed them–he, himself, was shot during that action.
C. But the war ended, the shadow of tyranny retreated for a short while, only to rise up again in the Cold War with half of Europe and Asia caught in the grip of Communism.
D. Noel had moved to America–New York actually–and had become a great composer and musician, and for a while, peace came to his soul, until the Fall of 1962, until the Missiles of October. Anyone my age or older remembers that autumn well. I was very young, only 7, but even I could see the worry on my parents’ faces. Russia had sent missiles to Cuba, and dared the United States to do something about it. Once again a great shadow fell across the world, and for a time, it seemed we might be annihilated in a nuclear holocaust. I remember in second grade, bringing home plans for building a fallout shelter, plans given to us by the school in a futile attempt to calm citizens. But everyone knew, that if the missiles of October flew, the world as we knew it would come to an end. And no one knew that better than the man who French name was Christmas, the musician named Noel.
II. A Song of Hope
A. He went walking the streets of New York on a fateful October evening. He saw the grim faces, the worried stares, the fast pace of a people who seemed to know that Death stalked them.
B. Noel went to work as he always did, this time however deep in thought. How could the world do this again? How could man be so stupid? How could we unleash such an unimaginable evil? Later he would say, "I never thought I’d write a Christmas song. Christmas had become so commercial. But this was the time of the Cuban Missile crisis. In the studio, the producer was listening to the radio to see if we had been obliterated...[Later after work] en route to my home, I saw two mothers with their babies in strollers. The little angels were looking at each other and smiling. All of a sudden, my mood was extraordinary." The night wind was ruffling their hair, and the two little ones, Noel said later, reminded him of new born lambs. A phrase entered his mind, "Said the night wind to the little lamb, ‘Do you see what I see?"
C. And in his mind’s eye he saw the missiles, launched like locusts by both sides in what would be a hopeless war. He thought of the rockets flying to their targets, exhaust blooming horribly bright in the night sky. What would be brighter than that terrible sight? Ah, thought Noel as he looked at the babies again, a star, a star, dancing in the night with a tail as big as a kite–a tail as big as a kite.
D. Noel picked up speed as he walked home, his mind spinning with hope. And the little lamb, he could speak to the shepherd boy–"Do you hear what I hear, ringing through the skies shepherd boy?" For a moment the sounds of explosions, so often heard by Noel in World War Two distracted his thoughts as the sounds of hundreds of nuclear warheads exploding in the atmosphere made him shake in the October night. But he remembered his mother telling him of the song the angels sang on another night of fear so long ago–angels appearing to shepherds singing, "Glory to God in the highest, a savior has been born." Surely that sound could overcome even the tortuous fury of atomic bombs bursting in the air. Yes, thought Noel, a song, a song high above the trees with a voice as big as the sea.
E. He looked at the faces of those he passed on the streets of New York–so worried, so fearful, so anxious. What could take away their fear; what could calm their hearts? Who was the one the angels sang about so long ago? And so he had the shepherd boy say to the mighty king, who in Noel’s mind, represented all those leaders throughout the centuries who held the power of life and death, who that evening had names like Kruschev and Kennedy, "Do you know what I know, in your palace warm might king? (He had he shepherd say] A Child, a Child, shivers in the cold, let us bring him silver and gold." Strange words, thought Noel, but they had come into his mind like all his songs, as if they were sent by God himself. A shepherd boy who had heard the angels sing, spoke to the king about a promised Child, the Savior of the World.
F. And in Noel’s song, the king, unlike so many of the world’s rulers past, and present listened and thoughts of violence evaporated, thoughts of extinguishing countless lives disappeared, thoughts of dominion, power and rule dissipated as a humble king said to the people everywhere, "Listen to what I say–pray for peace people everywhere! Listen to what I say." Noel knew who the Child was, just as the king in his song knew–the king shouted out to the people, "The Child (not just any child, but The Child, the one promised from of old who would be Wonder-Counselor, God Hero, Almighty and Everlasting) the Child, the Child, sleeping in the night, He will bring us goodness and Light, He will bring us goodness and light!"
G. Noel was ecstatic; he couldn’t wait to get home to see his wife, herself an accomplished musician and composer. But the people he passed, their faces had not changed, only Noel, the man who was named for Christmas, remembered the Jesus Christ banishes the shadows, restores the peace, and gives hope to everyone. When Noel got home, he jotted the words down, showed them to his wife who immediately put words and notes together, and one of the most beloved Christmas songs was born–Do You Hear What I Hear–a Christmas song born in the midst of the Missiles of October, a time of shadows and fear so deep that it is seen as a miracle that peace proved stronger than war, and we are still alive.
III. The Shadow Returns, But Hope Prevails
A. In years to come, the song was recorded and still is recorded by hundreds of artists. Bing Crosby was the first to make it a hit in December 1963. Later in life, Noel remarked on how many people did not pick up the song’s message of peace. "I am amazed that people can think they know the song and not know it is a prayer for peace. But we are so bombarded by sounds and our attention spans are so short."
B. I thought about this story and the writing of a Christmas carol by a man named Christmas, because, as the Pope said last week, "It seems as if a shadow has fallen across the world." Again. And no wonder. Nuclear fears are growing again with Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and North Korea’s expansion of its nuclear missiles. The fear of terrorism grips us, and the terrible economy makes us wonder about the future of our families. Can we provide, can we protect, can we endure?
C. The Christmas song, Do You Hear What I Hear, is still recorded and sung, though something troubling is happening. When it is recorded now, the last verse is often left out. Whether intentional or not, such an omission bespeaks our culture’s uncomfortableness with the Child known as the Christ. We are uncomfortable with the fact that there is only One God and his Son Jesus Christ is the Savior–not Buddha, Mohammed, or Confucius. There is only One who can give us peace; there is only one by whose name we are saved–and that is Jesus the Christ who is revealed to us this day as Emmanuel, God with us.
D. Noel Regney died in 2002, but his most famous song still lives on. May we listen to the fullness of its message, for if we do, we will not give up hope, no shadow will conquer the light that burns in us, no terror will stalk us at night, and death will not destroy us forever, for the Child, the Child sleeping in the night, he will bring us goodness and light, he will bring us goodness and light.
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