The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.
Buddy the Elf
On Christmas Eve in 1818, while preparing for a special mass service he had been planning for months, Joseph Mohr, assistant priest at St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria,
discovered that the sanctuary organ would not play. Despite struggling with the instrument for hours, the organ remained hushed, “its voice as still as a dark winter’s night.” So Mohr paused. And he prayed. Asking God for any measure of inspiration, a way to bring music to his congregation on one of the most meaningful days on a Christ-follower’s calendar, he recalled a poem he had written two years previously – Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!
Discovering the original manuscripts, he braved the cold with only hours to spare and made his way to the home of Franz Gruber, a schoolteacher and part-time organist at St. Nicholas. Pleading with Gruber, Mohr talked his friend into writing music that the choir could easily learn and present that evening, accompanied only by a guitar.
What should have taken weeks was accomplished in mere hours. The choir learned the piece, and just after midnight, Silent Night was first introduced in this simple, somewhat
unknown, little village. From Austria to Prussia to New York City, the song had become America’s most popular Christmas carol by the time of the Civil War – having been translated into English. Stories have been told testifying to a four-day ceasefire between the Union and the Confederacy, starting on December 25 with both sides laying down their weapons and coming together to worship, read Scripture, share gifts, and sing Silent Night.
What began as a simple, straightforward declaration of praise to make an important celebration even more meaningful… is as powerful today as it was on the night it was sung in St. Nicholas Church.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth… Jesus, Lord at Thy birth
With the angels let us sing
‘Alleluia to our King;’ Christ the Savior is born… Christ the Savior is born.
Let’s go spread some Christmas cheer!