The Wonder of a Silent Night
The Wonder of a Silent Night
The Heart’s Way for Creative Clinicians
Quite a few years ago I had the privilege of working with a wonderful group of faith-filled children and adults in the church I attended at that time. We were worshipping our Lord at Christmastime. The service was filled with singing and scripture reading and devotionals.
In preparing for this service, I happened upon a devotional message about one of the most beautiful of all Christmas carols, Silent Night. This devotional can be found in its entirety online at Center for Church Music Songs and Hymns.
Silent Night was first written as a poem in 1816 by an Austrian assistant priest named Joseph Mohr. He presented this poem to his friend, a church organist, named Franz Gruber, in 1818. STILLE NACHT was first sung on Christmas Eve in 1818. From Austria, this now famous carol was introduced around the world. It was first sung in German in New York City in 1839 and was translated into English in 1863.
The devotional story about Silent Night is quite interesting. It shows how music and faith can work together to create peace among the most unlikely of people. I hope you enjoy this story.
It was Christmas Eve, 1914, during the early months of World War I. When the Germans had left their country earlier in the year, they expected to be home by Christmas to celebrate their victory.
The young men, however, were not home by Christmas and the war dragged on for four more years – and Europe, and the world, would never be the same again.
By December of 1914, the war in the trenches along the 200-mile front line was proving to be a difficult and deadly form of battle. Christmas of 1914 was particularly cold, freezing the slush and water of the trenches in which the men hunkered down.
But, on December 24, along the trenches of the western front, British and Scottish soldiers heard a startling sound – the sound of singing. And it was a song they instantly recognized, even if they did not understand the words, as they were being sung in German. The song was Silent Night.
Shocked by this strange yet welcome sound, one by one, the English began singing “back” to the Germans their version of this beautiful hymn. Soon, voices on both sides filled the air with the lyrics of Silent Night.
As they looked across to the enemy trenches, the British and Scottish soldiers began to spot candles raised on poles. And even more incredibly, the English officers reported that some enemy troops were holding Christmas trees over their heads.
Soldiers from both sides, who had just hours before been killing one another, slowly began to leave their trenches to venture into the dreaded “no man’s land,” bringing good cheer and gifts from their food supplies – and to bury their dead.
Against all odds, suddenly, a one-day truce had begun; a truce that ignored all the rules of military conduct! Not everyone approved, however. Some officers tried to discourage the peace and good will between all of the soldiers. One Austrian soldier who was in a nearby area complained that during wartime “an understanding should not be allowed.” But what would you expect from a soldier named Adolf Hitler?
As you listen to, and perhaps sing, Silent Night this year, think back to that terrible time at the beginning of the last century. Both sides had sung of Christ for hundreds of years, but still engaged in a war that would take the best and brightest of an entire generation. Yet, against all odds, God’s peace prevailed for a brief season.
Merry Christmas to you, my friends,
Jeanine
This post has been updated from the original publication date of 2015. Additional resources are highlighted in blue.