Sandra McCracken on Christmas Songs That Hold Joy and Sorrow: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Good Faith

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

5 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What Do Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Johnny Cash Have in Common?

Singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken joins Good Faith for a short bonus episode on the Christmas songs that can hold joy and sorrow at the same time. Sandra explores the story behind "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"—from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's grief to its enduring promise of peace in the midst of hardship. She also reflects on the influence of Johnny Cash's version and shares what it was like recording the song with Cindy Morgan. A warm, reflective listen for anyone heading into the season with hope and heaviness.

Get your Good Faith mug by donating to the Good Faith podcast today!

Mentioned In This Episode:

Sandra McCracken's Christmas EP I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Sandra McCracken's single I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Johnny Cash's The Christmas Spirit album
Johnny Cash's single I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Leonard Cohen's Anthem

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Listeners, I have some exciting news for you. We have never given away good faith swag.
0:07.5	Until now, for the first time ever, you can get your own Good Faith camping mug in our brand new look.
0:15.1	Imagine sipping your coffee with us in the morning or using it around the campfire with friends.
0:19.6	And as you consider your year-end giving, any donation of $50 or more to Good Faith will receive
0:26.4	this mug as a thank you.
0:28.3	To support these conversations and grab this inaugural piece of Good Faith swag, just
0:34.1	click the link in the show notes. Welcome to the Good Faith podcast, where friends who follow Jesus help each other make sense of the world.
1:07.3	I'm D.T. Sloughman, the producer of this podcast and director of content at Good Faith. The Good Faith
1:14.4	podcast is produced by a nonpartisan 501C3 organization. One of our friends here at Good Faith who
1:23.2	helps us make sense of the world is singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken. And when we found out
1:29.5	Sandra had recorded a new Christmas EP, we thought that's exactly who we want to have on
1:37.8	our Christmas Day episode. That's right. We're going to drop a Good Faith episode on December 25th with Sandra talking about
1:47.4	the things she loves about Christmas music, the hard parts of the season. She's going to talk
1:55.2	about new music and why Christmas music in particular is so resonant with so many of us.
2:02.8	I know you'll want to tune in for that conversation.
2:06.5	But there was a lot more than we were able to drop on this upcoming Christmas episode.
2:11.5	So we thought it would be fun to release it now so that you could hear Sandra talk
2:16.5	about things that will help your heart get ready for
2:21.0	the season. And if you feel so inclined, you could go listen to that Christmas EP and her version
2:27.2	of the song, I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Here's Sandra McCracken.
2:37.0	I heard the bells on Christmas Day.
2:44.0	This is Sandra McCracken, and I'm so grateful to be here.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 2 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Good Faith, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Good Faith and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.