The Local Story behind the Carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas in 2020, many are wondering has there ever been a more difficult season to work through Christmas.  We are experiencing a medical crisis with thousands dying and many more sick from the pandemic.  We have severe racial and political unrest and even a financial crisis taking place.  Families are not permitted to gather or are strongly discouraged from doing so, and it appears this Christmas of 2020 is going to be different than anything we have ever experienced. 

It would be easy to think we have it tough and we are alone in humanity and history in what we are experiencing.  As we turn the pages back in our local history to the time of the Civil War in the Fredericksburg area, we are reminded of what our country and even our local community was experiencing on Christmas.  In December of 1863, our country was at war, right in the middle of the Civil War between the North and the South.  The Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania and Orange areas locally became a strategic location for the war, that many called the eastern theatre of the Civil War.  There were several major battles and campaigns in our area.  Just one year prior in December of 1862, nearly 17,000 casualties occurred in the Battle of Fredericksburg.  

A few months later and a few miles west, at the Battle of Chancellorsville over 30,000 casualties in the Wilderness of Spotsylvania.  A year after Chancellorsville, and a few more miles west, another 30,000 casualties occurred in the Battle of the Wilderness in Locust Grove.  A few days later and a few more miles south east, another 30,000 casualties at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse. 

Christmas for the country and for our local community in the years of 1863 and 1864 was a disaster to say the least.  Each one of these conflicts had several hundred thousands of troops marching through the locals’ properties, taking 

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As I take a moment to think of the Love that God has for all humanity, I think about Adam & Eve. They had it made! God loved them so much that…

On Sunday, we lit the candle of peace.  We began Advent by discussing HOPE.  How the world needs hope.  Too many are filled with despair.  Thankfully we serve the God…

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Hope is something we probably have mixed feelings about.  Again and again, hope seems to have disappointed us so many times in the past.  Our disappointing experiences with hope are not so much from hope itself failing us, but rather what we have placed our hope in.  Hope by itself has no great qualities, brings no great results or satisfaction.  But what we place our hope in makes all of the difference.  The Bible speaks of things that we should be cautious of placing hope in.  The things in life that we can misplace our hope in are many and various from people, things, ideas and more.  Some things in the Scriptures that we should be careful not to place too much hope inside of include military might (Isaiah 31), our own wisdom (Proverbs 26:12), our own righteousness (Ezekiel  33:13),  and even riches (Proverbs 11:28).  Placing our hope in these various places often leads to disappointment.  In fact Proverbs 25:19 say’s “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble (more…)

 I heard a story a while back about a father who was sick and his three sons were constantly experiencing friction and difficulty in their relationships with each other.  The dad, wanting his children to see that they were indeed stronger together shared a strange request.  He asked them to each bring 2 sticks to his hospital bed.  With each son present with their sticks, he asked them one by one to attempt to break one of the sticks.  They did so easily.  Then the father asked them to combine each of their remaining sticks together and attempt to break them.  The object lesson needed no explanation.  The point was obvious.  They were stronger together.  Many times in life we can find ourselves like those sons, at odds with those close to us or just find ourselves drifting from family, friends, co-workers, the church, the community…..Remember we are stronger together.   (more…)