<font color="#0033cc">Interesting quote from Mark Hall off the Casting Crowns site.</font> </p>
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<font size="2">Take Peace on Earth's lead single, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." The poetic lyrics penned by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow document how hope emerged from a crisis of faith the writer experienced after he lost his wife in a house fire and soon saw his son crippled in the Civil War. "He wrote about how every year when these Christmas bells ring, it reminds him that there's peace on earth, good will toward men, " explains Hall. "But this time around, the reality of the world he lives in at that moment rushes in. The verses change, and suddenly he's saying, 'But there is no peace. There's war, and there's hate. And this hate mocks the song of the bells.' He's working through his understanding of Christmas. And as the bells keep ringing, he just has this moment when he realizes God is not dead, nor does He sleep. Good will prevail. God is going to save the day." The timelessness of the song's potent hope-filled message is glaring to Hall-especially in light of today's world events. "This generation needs to hear this song, " he says. "My kids need to hear this song." In a creative musical twist, Hall decided the carol's song of the bells should actually be sung by the bells. Thus a boys choir personifies the bells and hypnotically sings the "peace on earth" refrain. "The bells remind us of hope, " he explains. "And when you hear a child sing, it's the same thing. It reminds us today might be dark, but this is what tomorrow sounds like." As a resulting irony, there are no literal bells used in Hall & Co.'s version of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." </font></p>
