The beginning of Christmas is a silent night. It’s the part of the story where we hold our breath as we wait for the Messiah and watch the mysterious creator of the universe slip into the world as a weak, helpless human baby. In modern Christian culture, it’s mirrored by the morning of December 25, the calm before the sun rises and children charge downstairs.
Once we learn, however, that pure love has manifested itself among us, it’s time for a more complicated story to emerge. But before all that happens, it’s ok to take a minute to bang the drum and blow the trumpet. I love Christmas tunes that go overboard with exuberance and joy. They remind me of singing Christmas songs in my large family of six children, parented by two musicians. My favorite seasonal foot stomper is “Ding! Dong! Merrily on High.” Everybody is familiar with the song’s chorus, as famous as any part of the Christmas canon. Gloooooooooooooria, hosannah in excelsis! As kids, we went wild on that one.
However, “Ding! Dong!” is more subtle than it appears at first listen, and it’s the second stanza that grabs my attention because, like the arrival of Jesus, it connects divine and human. E’en so here below, below, let steeple bells be swungen, And io, io, io, by priest and people sungen.
The song’s three stanzas represent the Trinity. The first paints a grand picture of the glory of God the Father. In heav’n the bells are ringing; ding dong, verily the sky is riv’n with angel singing. The third stanza is about us humans, ye ringers; may ye beautifully rhyme your eventime song, ye singers.
So it’s the second stanza which connects heaven and earth, God and his children. The earth is below heaven, and down here humans have poured molten iron to make steeple bells to swing and bang. Below the steeple are priest and people doing their best to worship the Creator and the wonder of the Incarnation.
“Ding Dong! Merrily on High” was published in 1924 in a book by British composer George Ratcliffe Woodward titled “The Cambridge Carol-Book: Being Fifty-Two Songs for Christmas, Easter, And Other Seasons.” So the song’s now over 100 years old, but its explosion of joy is just as meaningful as it was in the Roaring Twenties.
Ding! Dong! Merry Christmas!
Click here to listen to the song. | Click here to find our Advent playlist. | Click here to find more Advent reflections.
