I've heard that St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf Germany is where the song we know as "Silent Night" composed by Xaver Gruber and Joseph Mohr was first sung in 1818.
Silent Night--Dr. Jim Schaap wrote in his blog that Christ didn't show up with a pleasant knock on the door. He said "Jesus intrudes into our humdrum, shocking us with his sudden presence." In the beginning was the Word and the Words were from Christ, not with a knock but with power, and whoosh in 60 million years or 6 thousand years or 6 days the world was. That's what we know about God, He draws, asserts and changes. It was the same thing the day God said it was time and Christ was born. A quiet knock? Hardly. With a rush of dragons and Angelic swords and fists in the midst of eternity Christ came.
He might have come silently, maybe he didn't cry? Maybe he came on December 25th in the midst of a perfect Middle Eastern snow. But I don't think so.
Maybe we got one night of peace before Joseph had his dream to flee to Egypt, before the wise men received their dream to take a different route, before Herod murdered a throng of children? Maybe the wail of the hungry was not heard that night? Maybe thieves remained in their lair? Maybe we got one silent night before Rome tortured the Jews and it's own people, before the Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus? Maybe we got one silent night before Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Saddam Hussein? Maybe we had a few quiet moments before Sarajevo, Darfur, Ethiopia, and Columbia? It's possible we had a moment before Columbine. Maybe there was one single night before 9/11/2001 when silence reigned. Maybe the Angels got a few z's before 11 Israeli Athletes were murdered at the world's ultimate celebration of peace, the 1972 Olympics. Before Nero and many others burned and tortured Christians, maybe time stood still for one night?
Maybe the Angels took one night off? Maybe the rocks were not crying out? Maybe all of creation does not groan and plead for the day of the Lord? Maybe that night Simeon and Anna were not fervently praying that the Messiah would come soon? Maybe the Elect gave God one night for His angels to gather in a happy sing-a-long. Or maybe not.
I'm quite sure the night was not silent, but deafening. The night was not silent, but it was most holy.
7 comments:
I can not answer all these may-be's. But I do know that when Our Lord re-entered my heart I did have a moment of silents. I was dead drunk on my motorcycle running red lights dead stopping green lights. Mad at the world I was. Then a bungee cord got stuck in my primary the bike went down. I came off was running on my tiptoes and never fell down when I and the bike came to a stop. All those voices and sounds rushing in my head stopped at the same time. And then there was this over whelming silents. A few moments later I could hear the soft rain. In that moment of silents I was born again. It was my Holy night. May God bless you and yours. And may you have a very Merry Christmas.
I liked this post and your reflection. :) I agree it may not have been silent, but it for sure was holy.
One of our favorite CD's during this time of year is the Nativity soundtrack. It is where I first heard the song "Labor of Love" the first line is "it was not a silent night." She doesn't focused on all that you wrote but rather that the fact that labor is loud and painful and not silent.
I think what I was trying to say was maybe just maybe for a moment or two it was. Our Pastor said had there been room in the hotel it would have been horrible. Noise drinking loud talking laughing. But our Jesus was born in that manger for a reason. It had more peace than the hotel. I'd like to believe that just for a few moment there was silents and peace. Then the world went back to it self.
Thanks to both...I guess in my mind peace is not the same as silence.
Well it is not. Every time I guess. But when it is , is it not but great? And by the way you are a fantastic writer.
A wonderful reflection on that Silent Night. Never thought about it that way. Thanks for sharing your thought with us. And yes, you are a good writer, you have a way with words that most of us feel deep within our self but can not express, So continue to write, we will be blessed by it.
Rick: Just wanting to wish you and your lovely wife a very Merry Christmas! Thanks for your posts even though I don't understand them like maybe I should. I guess I need to be more connected to Jesus Christ then I am.
fasthair
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