The Story Behind Silent Night
The all-time favorite Christmas hymn Silent Night was written in 1818 by Franz Xavier Gruber to lyrics by Josephus Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. Mohr was a Catholic priest, who wrote the words and asked Gruber to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for a Christmas Eve mass in 1818. The church was in a flood plain, and the organ had been damaged by flood waters. Silent Night was first sung that Christmas Eve in 1818, sending its message of peace in a time marked by war, hunger, disease and natural disasters. Today Silent Night is sung by more than two billion people every year for Christmas in over 300 different languages and dialects.
It was Christmas Eve 1818, when Josephus Mohr played the guitar and sang along with Franz Xavier Gruber, the choir director who wrote the melody. The song evolved and was sung in 300 languages in churches, town squares , even on the battlefield during World War I, when a temporary truce on Christmas Eve found the soldiers singing Christmas carols together.
By 1914 Silent Night was sung simultaneously in French, German and English. Silent Night is about a calm and bright silent night and the wonder of a tender and mild newborn child. Jesus came into a world filled with chaos to bring peace and love.
When I was pastor in Martinsville, we had a tradition. We would gather at 11:00 P.M. to worship and sing Christmas Carols. At exactly midnight, we would light our candles and go outside on steps overlooking the city and sing Silent Night. On one special Christmas Eve, it was cold and quiet and just as we started to sing, it started snowing. Christmas was special that year!
May your Christmas be special as you sing, hum or read the words to Silent Night!
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 the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
Silent night, holy night, wondrous star, lend thy light;
with the angels let us sing, Alleluia to our King;
Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born!
As you sing this song this Christmas, know that Jesus has come for you! Know that God’s only son has come in the middle of our chaos to bring peace, joy and calm.
By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Images: iStock Photos
