Stille Nacht

On Christmas Eve of 1914 in the first year of battle (17 million died in the course of the war) one of the most unusual events in military history took place on the western front. The weather abruptly became cold, freezing the water and slush of the trenches in which the men were bunkered. ‘No man’s land’ was covered in snow that Christmas eve afternoon.

On the German side, soldiers began lighting candles. British sentries reported to commanding officers that there appeared to be small lights raised on poles or bayonets - the British held their fire. Even more amazing, British officers saw through binoculars, that some enemy troops were holding Christmas trees over their heads with lighted candles in their branches. The message was clear: The Germans, who celebrated Christmas on the eve of December 25th, were extending holiday greetings to the enemy.

Within moments, the British began to hear a few German soldiers singing a Christmas carol. It was soon picked up along the German line as soldiers joined in harmonizing. The words were these: “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” British troops immediately recognized the melody as “Silent Night, Holy Night” and began singing in English. The singing quickly neutralized hostilities and, one by one, British and German soldiers began laying down their weapons to venture into no-man’s land separating the two sides. So many soldiers on both sides ventured out that superior officers were prevented from objecting. An undeclared truce erupted and peace broke out.

That night, enemy soldiers sat around a campfire. They exchanged small gifts—chocolate bars, buttons, badges, and small tins of processed beef. Men, who only hours earlier had been shooting to kill, were now sharing Christmas festivities and showing each other family snapshots. The truce ended just as it had begun, by mutual agreement.

But in one particular area some higher ranking officers who were at a considerable distance from the action ordered artillery fire upon ‘no man’s land’ and soldiers on both sides scattered back to their trenches.

“Silent Night,” the carol that briefly stopped World War I, is the most recognizable of Christmas songs and can be heard in shopping centres, churches, parks and on TV around the planet. Ironically, the world might never have had this piece of music had it not been for a last-minute crisis at a church in the tiny village of Oberndorf, Austria. The year was 1818 and within the church of St. Nicholas the mood was hardly one of joy that Christmas Eve afternoon. Curate Joseph Mohr, age 26, had just discovered that the organ was badly damaged. For the music, Mohr turned to Franz Gruber, a friend who was more skilled at composing than he was. Gruber was a teacher at nearby Arnsdorf. Mohr realized the only music for that evening would be led by guitar. The two agreed that Mohr would play his guitar and sing tenor while Gruber sang bass. Following each stanza, the church choir would join in on the refrain. The world now joins in year by year.

The insanity of that vicious war could not have been interrupted by such heavenly peace by any other spirit than the Spirit of God heralding the universal unifying truth of the birth of Jesus as saviour of the world. Every human being has this message planted deeply within them (the Logos), and only the Holy Spirit can awaken hearts in any situation, at any time, no matter how conflicted or violent, to draw people to Jesus.

What was really happening that day – in eternal terms? 2Corinthians 4:18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

This is a foretaste of what we can expect as the world becomes more and more conflicted and divided in these days, that Jesus becomes the light in hearts blinded by darkness and separation. Satan’s weapon is darkness and the darkness is the lie, and the lie is that we are separated from God and from one another; while Holy Spirit’s message is that we are made one in Jesus Christ. The next move of God will be the grace that awakens the conscious awareness of that love and unity with Jesus and the Father and one another, through the power of the Holy Spirit.