The lyrics to Silent Night can easily trick our minds eye into seeing comfort and privilege that simply were not present. Silent Night | by Steven Dilla And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night -- Luke 2.8 Christs life begins and ends in poverty. Most people understand the depth of pain in the end, where Christ is homeless and stripped of his sole earthly possession moments before being hung naked on a cross. The beginning, however, has been sanitized in a way that conceals the sting of suffering that Christ would know from birth to death. Manger is a generous description of Christs bed because it distances our minds from the realities of an infant being laid in a feeding trough. Jesus story starts not just in financial poverty, but also relational poverty. It doesnt appear that Joseph had family or friends in the town of his ancestors, as searching for room in an inn is the task of a foreigner in a communal society. Jesus family, like most in the ancient Near East, would have lived at the sustenance level, eeking out enough to eat modestly and own a few personal possessions. While its easy to miss all this while we carol, the reality of Christs birth was never far from the minds of the authors behind the carols. Born into an impoverished Austrian single mother, Joseph Mohr penned the original German lyrics to Silent Night around 1816, while he served as the Father of a small village church not far from his grandfathers home in the alps. He would spend long sections of his life ill, ultimately succumbing to a pulmonary disease at 55. In a letter to the bishop, a local overseer described Mohr as a reliable friend of mankind, toward the poor, a gentle, helping father. Thousands of tourists travel to the Austrian Alps to visit the town where Mohr is buried, but only because its a now thriving ski resort. Its easy to miss the full impact of Mohrs life because present luxury quickly to overwhelms past reality. Mohrs story highlights how a Christian with wealth should live not in guilt, but in thankfulness and generosity. Although far from affluent, Mohr also found himself significantly more comfortable than his family had been. In this, he chose to leverage everything he had for others. Mohr died penniless after reportedly donating all his money to childrens education and care for the elderly. The lyrics to Silent Night can easily trick our minds eye into seeing comfort and privilege that simply were not present. (This, of course, would have been far from Mohrs intention.) It is in the pain of poverty and depravity that Heavenly Peace came to the world. Silence and stillness were not present for the same reasons the affluent find them, but because Gods presence filled our barren world with radiant sufficiency. Truly, Jesus was Lord at his birth. Silent Night (Listen: Sarah McLauchlan - 3:48) Silent night, Holy night All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin, mother and child Holy infant, tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, Holy night Son of God, loves 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 Shepherds quake, at the sight Glories stream from heaven above Heavenly, hosts sing Hallelujah. Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:32:20 +0000
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