Silent Night

Not only is this my favorite Christmas carol, I just heard this week that, when surveyed, it is the favorite Christmas carol of our nation. Interesting.

What is it about this carol that has touched the heart of Canadians?

Silent Night, Holy Night
All is calm, all is bright...

For me there's memories attached to this song so I'm a little biased but I think that this well-loved carol carries something nostaligic, something peaceful.

Peace.

When it comes down to it, isn't that what Christmas is about? Peace. A child coming to bring peace to a world at odds with it's creator. God reaching down to restore relationship with those He loves.

Peace.

Isn't that what our world is longing for?

A while back, I heard a story that took place in Germany during world war II. It was Christmas Eve. Troops from both sides fought straight through the holiday season. Night had fallen and the firing had stopped for the evening and soldiers huddled in the trenches likely thinking about their families at home and of Christmases past, wondering if they would see home again. Some were likely thinking of the significance of the season and praying for peace. It was in this context that one lone soldier began to sing: "Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright..." It didnt take long before the voice of other soldiers joined the one. In the temporary quiet of a war ravaging the country side, there was a moment of peace in which many voices in many languages rose together in harmony. It was a moment when enemies became brothers and barriers of nations fell. It didn't take long before a celebration broke out in the space between the opposing trenches. These men that only hours before had been looking down the barrels of guns at eachother were now toasting eachother, celebrating the holiday season and laughing together like brothers.

One one silent night, in the calm of the storm, in a world at war with itself, a child was born to bring change...to bring peace and so we sing, "Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright..."