Peace so Heavenly

There was a conundrum at a church in Austria on December 24, 1818, that produced one of the most beloved and cherished Christmas Carols of all time, which is still being sung 200 years later today.

When the organ broke at the St. Nikolai Church in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, it was clear that it could not be repaired before Midnight Mass.  So the priest there, Father Mohr, asked the church's musician Franz Gruber to compose a song that could be performed on the guitar.

The resulting song began with the words "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht", which translates into English as "Silent Night".

Here is a great video with the song in its original German.

There is something so simple and tender about this hymn, which speaks so richly the simple grandeur of what the Feast of the Lord's Nativity is all about.

The first verse gives us a window into the precious scene of the Blessed Mother Mary with her Child Jesus--with father Joseph included in the original German lyrics beholding their Child--and He sleeps so quietly in the "Heavenly Peace" that His birth brings to our world.

The second verse takes us to the shepherds who see the angels sing out praises that announce the glorious news of the birth of Christ the Messiah, Lord, and Savior.

And the third verse speaks to how from the Christ Child radiates a glorious Light because this Child is a great King Who, by His birth in our world, brings us salvation.

We behold the great gift of this Child Who was born in this world to die and rise again so that we may die to sin and live in Newness of Life.  Such a great gift bring us Light, Joy, and Peace, as nothing else can.

People use the word peace so much in the month of December leading up to Nativity Day, and that came to people's minds in a special way 150 years after "Stille Nacht" was first sung, when a sense of peace came to the world from above.  The astronauts of Apollo 8 had a special live broadcast from their space vehicle orbiting thousands of miles above the surface of the Earth on the evening of December 24, 1968.

They read from the account of creation in Genesis 1, and viewers saw images of the Earth.

Here is a video from their broadcast.

Mark Kurlansky concludes his book 1968: The Year that Rocked the World, with detailed accounts of the many chaotic events that happened in the United States and throughout the world, with the story of this broadcast, and the immense, healing effect it had on people.

With all the terrible happenings that year, people could get a different perspective on the world from above, seeing a fragile yet beautiful sphere of blue, green, and white.  To hear this message from brave astronauts who went up into space at great risk was a great healing gesture to the world, that offered great reassurance that everything could be made right again.

Indeed, the Feast of the Nativity is truly reason for celebration because the Divine came to Earth, which is a mind-boggling idea in and of itself.  And when the Divine came to Earth, born as a baby, we could see our world, and ourselves so differently, as we behold how God could love us so much that He would come to identify Himself as a person like us to set everything aright and bring us, the people He created in Love, back into a relationship with Him.  Now we can focus our gaze upwards in the hope that we will, one day, be with Him in Heaven because He came to Earth to make that relationship possible.

So we truly rejoice as we make our way there that in Christ alone, we have Peace that has come to us from Heaven.