Silent Night, Holy Night

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

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior is born
Christ, the Savior is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth “

Probably one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs, I definitely wanted to include it this Christmas week with the “Hymn of the week.”  I enjoy hearing this song played on a single instrument – a piano, a violin, or a guitar.  At least to me, “Silent Night” is most beautiful when played on a single instrument with a simple tune.  I recently came across the story behind this great song in one of my hymn devotion books, and wanted to share it with you.

On December 24th, 1818, a young assistant pastor named Joseph Mohr at the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria saw the need for a simple song to be played at Church that night at the Christmas eve service.  (Isn’t it interesting that this song was written by one of the pastors of the St. Nicholas church?)  He wrote a couple of verses to a song that he wanted sung by a couple of soloists while accompanied by a guitar that evening.  There is some speculation that he needed a song to be played on guitar because the church organ was broken.  (If true, isn’t it interesting how God used this “hiccup” with the organ to inspire Mr. Mohr to write this song?)  He went to a layman in the church who was a musician asking for help with a simple tune to go with the words of his simple poem.  That layman was Franz Gruber.  The song was played for the first time at a Christmas Eve Mass service in Austria that year, and has eventually become one of the greatest and most well-known Christmas carols of all.

Couple of comments on the lyrics:

• “All is calm” – For a father of three, this phrase has always been funny to me.  I have been present at the birth of my three children.  Nothing was calm prior to their births.  Our hearts were filled with anxiety, excitement, and some impatience.  Then when the babies arrived, some things calmed down, but “all was not calm.”  I wonder, however, if the author of this hymn had it right at Christ’s birth.  If one is in the center of the Lord’s will (like Mary and Joseph were), and one knows confidently that the Lord has worked all things out according to His time (like He did for Mary and Joseph), and if one recognizes the numerous confirmations that everything is going to be alright that God sends, shouldn’t we be able to say “all is calm?”  Maybe Mary and Joseph were at the point that they knew God’s plan, that they knew He had provided for them, and they realized all the little things God had done to prepare the way for His Son, that their spirits were at peace, and all was truly calm.  I sure like to think so, and sure wish I could have that calm in my life too.  The key to the calm is understanding God has a plan for me and for you.  Understanding that He is in control, and to be looking for the confirmations of His plan in our daily walk.  And yes, “all can be calm” in your life today.

• “Dawn of Redeeming Grace” –  I really love this phrase.  Yes, Grace had come to earth in the form of a baby, but it was only the dawn of that Redeeming Grace.  Redeeming Grace required a sacrifice that wasn’t to take place for another 33 years or so.  The true redemption of mankind came when Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice on a hill called Golgotha.  But with the dawn (with His birth), we knew the “Day of Redemption” had arrived.  With the dawn, the night and the darkness had to flee.  Just as the dawn comes and the sun brings forth it’s light, so did the baby come and the Son brought forth His light.  I am thankful for the “dawn” because it is beautiful, and I am thankful that it is also a reminder of the sunset that was to come where my sins and your sins were atoned for.

One of the things that has become an important part of my family’s Christmas tradition is the Silent Christmas Eve service at North Cleveland Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tennessee.  The service includes music, communion, the lighting of candles, and is really a time of focusing on Jesus during the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.  But as the name indicates, it is a silent service.  There is no speaking or singing in the service.  Participants are asked to remain silent from the time they leave their car, throughout the service, and then remain silent as they leave to go home.  We use a printed program combined with the familiarity of Christmas songs played by the organ/piano to follow the order of worship.  One of the things that is great about this service is that the Lord speaks through the silence.  Through the quietness and the intentional focus on the Lord, He speaks to me, and I am fairly confident that He speaks to everyone in the sanctuary.  It reminds me of the story of God speaking to Elijah in the still, small voice.  

As you will recall, in I Kings 19, God was speaking to Elijah.  A strong wind came, but God was not in the strong wind.  An earthquake came, and God said that He was not in the earthquake.  And then came fire, but God was not in the fire.  No, God told Elijah that He was in the still, small voice.  This Christmas, I wonder, if God may be saying to you in the midst of the all hub-bub around gift-giving, “I am not in the gift-giving.”  Or maybe in the midst of Christmas parties or family get-togethers, maybe God is saying “I am not in the middle of those things either.”  Not that there is inherently anything wrong with gift-giving or family get-togethers, but maybe He is trying to speak to you and me in the still small voice…in the silence. 

He is, as He has always been, waiting in the quiet place.  Waiting for those to seek Him.  We are promised in Scripture, “If you seek me, you will find me.”  Maybe this Christmas can be a time for all of us to seek Him and find Him.  Maybe even find Him speaking to us in the silence.  Speaking in the Silence of the Night.