Silent Night,Stille Nacht

When Joseph Mohr, a priest in a small mountain village in Austria, asked the musician Franz Gruber to compose the music for a Christmas Eve poem he had just written, neither had any idea that this simple Christmas hymn would become one of the most popular carols of all time. Silent Night was first sung in German at midnight mass in 1818 in the village of Obendorf. Legend has it that the organ was broken and Gruber played it on his guitar instead.

When Joseph Mohr, a priest in a small mountain village in Austria, asked the musician Franz Gruber to compose the music for a Christmas Eve poem he had just written, neither had any idea that this simple Christmas hymn would become one of the most popular carols of all time. Silent Night was first sung in German at midnight mass in 1818 in the village of Obendorf. Legend has it that the organ was broken and Gruber played it on his guitar instead.

The simplicity and dignity of this hymn mirrors and honors the humble birth of the Christ Child. One can almost hear the villagers stomping the snow off their boots as they enter the tiny church late that Christmas Eve and the guitar sounds broke the silence of the cold night air.

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
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace.
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.  

Translated into most of the known languages, our family joins others whose Christmas memories are impacted by this beautiful hymn. It was my mother’s favorite. Our son sang it in Spanish in front of our whole church as an 8 year old. Our strongest memory of Christmas during the years we lived in Austria is hearing Silent Night sung repeatedly in German, the language my husband’s mother sang it in as a child. In honor of Mohr and Gruber’s offering and our family’s German heritage – Stille Nacht:

Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht!
Alles schläft, einsam wacht
Nur das traute, hoch heilige Paar,
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh!  

Somehow the words and melody of this hymn made its way out of the village into the rest of the world and God multiplied the honoring of Jesus by 2 simple believers. Doesn’t it make you wonder what God might do with your offering of worship of Him this eve of Christmas Eve?