Christmas Bells – December 23, 2001
This is the season for bells to ring the joyous sounds of Christmas. But bells are more than just a sound of Christmas. We sing about bells and deck our streets and homes with real bells, with pictures and lighted representations of bells. People around the world tell stories of how all the bells on earth rang when the baby Jesus was born. But have you ever stopped to wonder why bells?
Look back to the time when bells were a major part of daily life. Before modern communication, bells were used to signal danger, or herald the time of day. Bells announced important events—births, marriages, or deaths. Today, we still ring bells to gather people to school, to work, to worship.
Bells have been used for decoration and cheer. Small bells tinkled from belts, capes, cloaks, shoes, and jewelry. Horses’ bridles and saddles were decked with bells, as were the carriages that bounced over rutted roads. The clear sounds of the bells brightened people’s lives.
It’s fitting, then, that bells came to be the sound of Christmas. The ringing of Christmas bells announces the most important news ever heralded to man—the glad tidings that Jesus Christ was born into the world. Christmas bells proclaim that because of Him, our lives can have joy. “Be of good cheer,” He said, for “I have overcome the world.”1 Christmas bells invite us to turn to Him, even the babe born in Bethlehem, on that silent, holy night.
Program #3775
1. John 16:33.