A Candle of Peace on a Silent Night - December 6, 2020

hope, peace, joy, love, and good news...

This morning in the name of that Child who was born long ago to become the Prince of Peace, we light the Second Advent candle as a candle of Peace.

Peace… That’s a hard thing to find these days. Time seems to get away from us this time of year and we get trapped in the buy-wrap-send syndrome. In the past couple of weeks, We have gone from Black Friday, to Small Business Saturday to Cyber Monday as we pursue the relentless shopping frenzy of this season. It is so easy to get involved in all the opportunities and stresses that come our way this time of year. I don’t think that there is a war on Christmas, as some folks like to say, but I think that we lose sight of the real meaning of this season. I hope it doesn’t require a “Grinch” moment of revelation to find comfort and peace in our lives.

We are a people who are constantly seeking peace. We search for peace daily in our personal lives, in our community, our nation and this world. It always seems to be something that the human race constantly strives for, yet unfortunately falls short.

The People of Israel were looking for peace too… In today’s reading from Isaiah, God tells them that it is near, that they have paid their penance… “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.”

They are told to prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness and to build in the desert a highway for our God. Anticipation is filling the words of the prophet. Something big is coming. Something wonderful.

Isaiah promises that “the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together..”

We know what is coming, the nativity, the first Christmas, the birth of our Savior… but they didn’t know… they are told to "Cry out!" and they asked "What shall I cry?" How should they respond?

The voice first reminds them of who they are… what they are…

“All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.”

The word of our God will stand forever even after we are gone.

They are told to go tell these good tidings on a mountain… spread the word… let everyone know...

“Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"

“See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”

Isaiah gives a wonderful vision of a coming shepherd to guide God’s people. It is a vision of a people at peace. Jesus Christ will be our shepherd and give us peace. How safe and peaceful it would be to be swept up in the arms of this shepherd? Our fears would disappear and we would no longer be afraid.

In the Gospel of John 14:27, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

What a beautiful calming thought… Finding peace while we go through the trials of life will take time. It will also take effort and faith. But peace will come. It always has throughout the ages.

Over 20o years ago, villagers were gathered together to attend Christmas Eve mass in St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. This was not long after Napoleon's wars had taken their toll on Europe and devastated the countryside. They too were a people in need of peace and comfort.

Their Church was subject to repeated flooding from the nearby river and the last flood had severely damaged the churches’s prized organ… so they had no music for Christmas Eve mass. Their young priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before from Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg region, where he had worked with a pilgrim church and where, coincidently, He had happened to have written the lyrics of a new hymn. It was a song with some sorely words of comfort.

With his Church facing a music-less Christmas Eve, he had an idea. He brought the words of his song to his choir director, who was a local schoolmaster and organist, and asked him to compose the music for a guitar accompaniment for the Christmas Eve service.

What transpired was a song with a simple melody that could easily be played without an organ. So It was on Christmas Eve, 1818, Joseph Mohr, the young priest who wrote the lyrics, played the guitar and sang along with Franz Xaver Gruber, the choir director who had written the melody.

It is a song about a calm and bright silent night and the wonder of a tender and mild newborn child. It is a song that we sing in this very church every Christmas Eve. It has become a beloved hymn of peace throughout the world.

It was first performed as Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht. We of course now know this famous carol as “Silent Night.”

The words evoke almost a lullaby… 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."

A repairman who had come to fix the church’s organ was enamored with the song and took a copy to his home village. There, it was picked up and spread by families of traveling folk singers, who performed around northern Europe. In 1834, the Strasser family performed it for the King of Prussia. In 1839, the Rainer family of singers debuted the carol outside Trinity Church in New York City.

Silent Night has evolved and has been translated into over 300 languages with many different arrangements for various voices and ensembles. It has been sung in churches, in town squares, even on the battlefield during World War I, when, during a temporary truce on Christmas Eve, where soldiers sang "Silent Night," simultaneously in French, German and English. It was truly a song of peace.

St. Nicholas Church was eventually destroyed by the repeated flooding of the river and today has been replaced with a small chapel appropriately called the Silent-Night-Chapel. The Franz Xaver Gruber Museum and the Joseph Mohr School honor the creators of this classic carol. The Stille Nacht Gesellschaft—or Silent Night Society—hosts a virtual Silent Night museum, tracks events, and promotes the use of all six verses of the song, which in the words of the Society president "[encourage] peace and [demand] responsibility for the globe."

I believe that We could all use the peace of a silent night these days… A good rest… A respite from the bustle hustle of an overly busy world. A moment without cell phones, social media, peer pressures, politics, and the struggles of a haphazard life. A life where the image of a Holy infant, so tender and mild, brings joy and comfort to our hearts.

Today’s candle of peace reminds us of what is to come. The Gospel of Mark reminds us that this is just “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” There is so much more to come.

The prophet Isaiah says a Shepherd is coming, A good Shepherd, One who will “feed his flock, and gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.”

The good news is that Christ the Savior is born! One who will bring peace to this chaotic world. A heavenly peace where All is calm, all is bright… It will be the dawn of redeeming grace.

I know that in this advent season, we will continue to pray for peace for this world.

We will pray for a silent night where we are all able to sleep in heavenly peace.

Amen