“Do you hear what I hear” is a song that was written in the 60s by Noel Regney, a man who fought against Nazi Germany in World War two. Later in life, he lived to see the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963. During the time of the Crisis, Regney felt the weight of the happenings in the world and felt the inspiration for the song come while walking through the streets of New York. Regney had noticed two little ones that were as joyous as could be and were completely unaware of the things that were going on in the world. It was then that the poetic verses came to his mind and he felt the urge to put pen to paper..
Regney paints the Christmas story in such a way that the message of the Savior’s birth is being shared similar to the way that the Gospel is shared today. The idea is, and has always been, that one person discovers the truth of Jesus and then shares it with his neighbor, his friend, his sister or brother, until it spreads further and further around the world.
At the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, many feared that the nuclear missiles could be used either by the American Government or the Soviet Union. The fact that Russia had planted missiles in Cuba, and the American government had planted missiles in Turkey struck uproar between the two countries.
While I can’t imagine exactly how the Americans felt knowing the risky, dire possibilities of the time, I can imagine the fear they might have experienced through dangerous events taking place and the uncertainty of the times. If anything has not changed in our world it is that at any moment, things could turn for the worse and feel very scary for any given country.
The message of this classic Christmas song is one that raises one of the most important questions that can be asked. “Do you hear what I hear” is a plea to the people to consider what the Lord has done through the Savior’s birth. The song is an appeal that prays that people all over the nations would come to know the baby born on Christmas night as their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The point is this, do you know the truth of the Gospel? Do you know the joyous truth that Christmas brings? Jesus' birth means that sin and death no longer reign over us because we have a Savior. Jesus' birth means that we can rejoice knowing that there is life for ALL creation!
The overall message of the song is one that is a call to bring people to the plan that the Lord had ordained for His people from the start! His plan is filled with goodness and light, as the song says, because His love for us is everlasting and eternal! What a joyful truth to reflect on this Christmas season! He truly will bring us goodness and light if we are faithful and put our trust in Him! Not only was it true on the night that He was born into the world, but also the promise of the Lord bringing goodness and light remains true now because the Bible tells us that He will redeem all things in time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) No matter what our world faces, or what hard days lie ahead, we can hope in the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, to surely bring us goodness and light!
Therefore, Rejoice! A savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! (Luke 2:11)
Some facts and information were taken from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/do-you-hear-what-i... and http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cuban-missi...
