To Our Great Friends & Allies:
The entire staff at 23 North Front Street joins you in celebrating the birth of the King of Kings this Christmas! This season is unequaled in its significance in the history of the world, and on the present and eternal course of our own lives.
We’re mindful that so many of the people we serve are engaged in hard and difficult battles this winter. From extending full legal protection to the unborn to rescuing children from violent schools, your work is nearly impossible to stop to experience the amazing gift of Christmas.
But our prayer for all you weary warriors and workers in the field is expressed so beautifully in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Civil War poem I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. When darkness and fatigue set in, failure encircles and the outcome of today’s fight seems hopeless, these six simple stanzas extend enthusiastic, joy-filled hope. Take a minute to read the following lines with fresh eyes or perhaps for the first time:
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.
I thought how as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll’d along th’ unbroken song
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair, I bow’d my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song,
Of Peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearthstones of a continent,
And made forlorn, the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With Peace on earth, good will to men.”
Mr. Longfellow was quite right. He is not dead nor doth He sleep. The consequential cause you’re fighting has a forgone conclusion. The result is in His hands. The goal for the solider is trust — to be faithful, unyielding, truehearted and dauntless in the struggle for life, liberty and the pursuit!
Once again, Merry Christmas to you and yours! It remains our honor to serve alongside you.
Gratefully,
Jeff Coleman
Churchill Strategies
23 North Front Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101