December 9 - Silent Night

Silent Night

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end.”  (Isaiah 9:6a,7a)

When you hear the Christmas story, you get a picture in your head of what things must have looked like at the birth of Jesus. Sometimes it’s interesting to find out how others envision that scene. I read recently about a children’s Sunday School class that heard the Christmas story and sang the beloved Christmas carol, “Silent Night”. They were then asked to draw what they thought the nativity scene might have looked like. One little guy did a good likeness of Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus, but off to the side was a roly-poly figure. The teacher, thinking that the boy had somehow worked Santa Claus into the scene, asked him who that was. She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or even more worried when the boy responded, "Oh, that’s Round John Virgin!"

Europe in the early 1800s was a place of great war, turmoil and upheaval. Even after the Napoleonic Wars officially ended in 1815, it’s affects continued to take their toll. The year 1816 was one in which national and municipal borders were divided, changed and reset. Areas, such as the Principality of Salzburg, which had long been ecclesiastical provinces of the Church were put under national authority and secularized. Many industries and trades that certain communities depended upon were decimated by the wars and never recovered – spinning the economies into economic depression. At this time and in one of these communities, a small-town (Maria Pfarr) assistant pastor and Austrian Catholic Priest, penned the words to a poem that would one day echo through time and space. The words laid dormant, however, for another two years.

Shortly before Christmas in 1818, the organ in Joseph Mohr’s church broke and could not be repaired in time for Christmas. On December 24, Joseph Mohr went to the home of his friend, the musician-schoolteacher Franz Gruber, and asked Franz to write a melody and guitar accompaniment to his earlier poem so that it could be sung at the Midnight Mass. Set to a guitar accompaniment with two solo voices and a chorus, “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” was performed for the first time in St. Nicholas Church, Oberdorf, Austria – because of a broken organ. Since then, the song we know as “Silent Night, Holy Night” is largely considered the most translated and sung song in human history. It has been referred to by some as, “The Song Heard ’Round The World.” On Christmas Eve, 1944, on various fronts of World War II it has been reported that Allied and Axis soldiers alike stopped their fighting and sung together “Silent Night, Holy Night.”

Although it was written and composed by Catholics for a Catholic Eve mass, the song proved to be much more popular in Protestant than Catholic churches because of the meaning of its lyrics. We are all familiar with the famous stanza:

Silent Night, Holy Night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and Child.
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace.

It was a Holy Night…because in the birth of that little child, God had fulfilled a promise made to the people of Israel thousands of years before. God had promised to send a savior, a Messiah, an anointed one who would deliver the people from their oppressors and would free them from their sins.

It was a Holy Night…because all of God’s plans and purposes were coming together. The glorious night of Jesus’ birth was but the beginning of the story,that would lead some thirty years later to the glorious morning of Easter! The child that was born would grow up to be a teacher, a preacher, a healer, and most of all, a Savior.

It was a Holy Night…because it was God Himself who was born. This is the eternal mystery of God, that He is Three-in-One - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The child born to Mary was not an earthly child, although he was human. His father was not the man Joseph, although it seems Joseph lovingly raised Jesus through his early years.

No wonder the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14-RSV). On that Holy Night, a baby was born that would change the destiny of history…and change the destiny of every person who is willing to kneel at the manger.  This Christmas, take a few moments to be silent and remember He still brings peace in the midst of challenging places in our lives.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)    Sing “Silent Night” (or speak the words) on your own apart from others.

2)   Ask the Lord to offer His heavenly peace to you in the midst of your busyness.

Consider reading the Word today:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser