Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht

Christmas in the Trenches

(an email I received from Sojourners today...I thought I would share it with you)

'It has since become our Christmas tradition, kind of our own Charlie Brown
Christmas special, if you will. With the ongoing conflicts raging during each
passing year, it remains tragically relevant.

Silent Night, by Stanley Weintraub, is the story of Christmas Eve,
1914, on the World War I battlefield in Flanders. As the German, British, and
French troops facing each other were settling in for the night, a young German
soldier began to sing "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht." Others joined in. When they
had finished, the British and French responded with other Christmas
carols.

Eventually, the men from both sides left their trenches and met in the
middle. They shook hands, exchanged gifts, and shared pictures of their
families. Informal soccer games began in what had been "no-man's-land." And a
joint service was held to bury the dead of both sides.The generals, of course,
were not pleased with these events. Men who have come to know each other's names and seen each other's families are much less likely to want to kill each other.
War seems to require a nameless, faceless enemy.

So, following that magical night the men on both sides spent a few days
simply firing aimlessly into the sky. Then the war was back in earnest and
continued for three more bloody years. Yet the story of that Christmas Eve
lingered - a night when the angels really did sing of peace on earth.

Folksinger John McCutcheon wrote a song about that night in Belgium, titled
"Christmas in the Trenches," from the viewpoint of a young British solder.
Several poignant verses are:

"The next they sang was 'Stille Nacht,' 'Tis 'Silent Night'," says I.
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
"There's someone coming towards us!" the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one lone figure coming from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on that plain so bright
As he bravely strode unarmed into the night.

Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man's land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell.

We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Young Sanders played his squeeze box and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men.

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wondrous night
"Whose family have I fixed within my sights?"

'Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone for evermore."

My prayer for the new year is for a nation and world where people can come
out of their trenches and together sing their hopes for peace. We here at
Sojourners will carry on that mission, and we invite you to continue on the
journey with us.'

I hope that you are with family and friends during the holidays. Join me in praying for peace, understanding, love, acceptance and action in the coming year. A better world is possible, and to prove this, we only need look to the baby born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. He is the reason I celebrate.

Merry Christmas!