Silent Night, Holy Night

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” — Luke 2:8

“Silent Night, Holy Night” is one of the most popular Christmas carols. And no wonder since it inspires us to worship Jesus along with the shepherds on that holy night ages ago when God became man and was laid in a manger. Just as the shepherds kept watch over their sheep at night, God the Father was keeping watch over God, His Son Jesus, sleeping in heavenly peace.

This is a message we all want to hear especially now with our world in a state of turmoil and uncertainty. God is also keeping watch over us, His children. His glories from heaven afar still stream into our hearts this Christmas season as we walk in God’s pure light. We breathe a sigh of relief remembering that our Savior was born and our hearts and voices break out in the words of this carol that is pure worship.

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 dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
The carol found a foothold in Joseph Mohr’s mind when he penned the words in the form of a poem in 1816. He put it aside waiting for the time that would be right for a song to be born from it. It took two years for Mohr to find that perfect melody and it would be in answer to a dilemma; a broken organ.

A travelling group of actors performing the Christmas story came to perform in the little church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Alps. Since the organ was broken the assistant pastor, Josef Mohr, invited them to present their drama in a private home. The presentation touched Mohr’s heart so strongly that he couldn’t get it out of his mind.

Meditating on the Christmas play he took the long way home that night by mistake. The longer path led up a hill from which he looked down on the village. Mohr gazed down at the peaceful village covered in snow. The scene made him think of that poem he had penned two years ago. The poem was about shepherds on a peaceful hillside, watching their sheep at night. Their quiet reverie was shattered as suddenly a host of heaven’s angels came upon them proclaiming the birth of Christ.

He knew the poem would make a perfect new song for their Christmas Eve service tomorrow night. But he didn’t have any music for it. He hurried to his friend, the church organist, Franz Xaver Gruber. In a few hours Gruber wrote the music which could be played on a guitar. And so it happened that on Christmas Eve, the Oberndorf congregation was the first church to hear the now beloved, captivating carol Silent Night, Holy Night as these two men sang it to the accompaniment of Gruber’s guitar.