Silent Night (4 page)

A few of them might have been born in circumstances as humble as those of Jesus. Some of those would achieve great things. David was a shepherd boy who went on to have a long and glorious reign, but he knew his kingdom was a precursor to a greater one to come.

According to the terms by which we usually measure kings, Jesus achieved very little, but we still celebrate His birthday two thousand years later! Of course, He was a king before He was born and returned to a kingdom greater than any earthly empire after His death. His reign had, and will have, an eternal impact on the world.

In “The Birthday of a King,” a song possibly written for children, William Harold Neidlinger explains the Nativity in the simplest of terms: The child was born and the angels sang because this child was, after all, a King unlike any other. The second, and last, verse is dedicated to how much God gave the world that day and the “perfect, holy way” Christ left behind.

We can visit historic castles and battlefields and pretend we are walking in the footsteps of some historic ruler, but we truly walk in Christ’s footsteps, following that “perfect, holy way,” each time we pray or hold out a helping hand in the name of Jesus.

Some more charitable monarchs give alms to the poor on their birthday. Christ’s whole life was a gift—not just to the poor but to everyone who believes in Him.

He has had more than two thousand birthdays, and He’s not finished yet. Now there’s a King worth worshipping and a birthday worth celebrating!

And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand
.

M
ATTHEW
10:7

Help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels
.

R
OBERT
L
OUIS
S
TEVENSON

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
,
When the snow lay round about
,
Deep and crisp and even
.
Brightly shone the moon that night
,
Though the frost was cruel
,
When a poor man came in sight
,
Gath’ring winter fuel
.

G
ood King Wenceslas wasn’t a king in his lifetime–that honor was given after his death. But he was good enough to be fondly remembered by his people and made patron saint of the Czech Republic. From the balcony of his palace in Prague, tourists can still look out, as he did, over what is now Wenceslas Square.

Wenceslas was Duke of Bohemia in the tenth century. The carol telling of his exploits makes no reference to the Nativity—it’s only sung at Christmas because it mentions Saint Stephen’s feast, which falls on December 26.

Wenceslas, however, was a fine embodiment of the struggle between Christianity and paganism. His grandmother was Christian, while his mother held pagan beliefs. This dispute actually led to the younger woman murdering the older—but the grandmother’s influence won the battle and Wenceslas grew up a devout Christian.

The carol tells of his mission to take food, drink, and firewood to a peasant family on the bleakest of winter nights. Legend has it that the duke often made such missions of mercy, usually walking barefoot to keep himself humble.

Humble or not, he was still a duke—and his servant probably did the bulk of the carrying. In the carol we hear how the boy’s strength starts to give out and he fears he can’t go on. Wenceslas tells the boy to walk in the footsteps he himself has left in the snow. Doing so, the servant not only finds the going easier but is sustained and strengthened by a mysterious warmth left behind by the duke’s feet.

In his charitable mission Wenceslas embodies Christ’s care for those in need. His servant might be said to be each of us—inasmuch as we often want to help but doubt our own abilities. Just like that humble servant, we find strength to do more than we ever thought we could—when we walk in the footsteps of our Lord.

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour
.

J
OHN
12:26

Hark! the herald angels sing
,
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth, and mercy mild–
God and sinners reconciled.”
Joyful, all ye nations rise;
Join the triumph of the skies
.
With the angelic host proclaim
,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

H
ark! the Herald Angels Sing” manages to mix respectful sobriety with joyful exultation, perhaps reflecting the attitude toward worship held by its author, Charles Wesley.

Charles, the brother of John Wesley, was known to be a serious fellow, but his delight in the Lord can be found in the seven thousand hymns he is supposed to have written!

“Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” first appeared in
Hymns and Sacred Poems
in 1739.
The History and Use of Hymns and Hymn Tunes
, a nineteenth-century compilation by Rev. James King, proclaimed it one of the four great Anglican hymns. Two of those four came from Charles Wesley’s pen, with the other one being, “Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending.ȝ

Originally the hymn began, “Hark! how all the welkin rings. Glory to the King of Kings.” The “welkin,” a term not much used these days, was the celestial sphere, the heavens, the afterlife, basically everything that wasn’t this earth. And it
all
rejoiced!

George Whitefield, sometimes a colleague of the Wesleys, changed those lines and gave the world the version sung today. But still, it was only sung in praise meetings and to a far more sedate tune.

A hundred years after Wesley wrote the hymn, Felix Mendelssohn composed a cantata for the anniversary of—appropriately—the invention of the printing press. Part of this piece was adapted for “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” and the two have been printed together ever since. Mendelssohn’s music helped the piece make the transition from hymn to carol.

Wesley’s words moved out onto the streets at Christmas, reminding everyone that through His Son, God became reconciled with sinners. Unfortunately, not all sinners choose to reconcile with God. So the faithful still have work to do.

In singing joyful hymns and living godly lives, we continue that work, making each of us a herald of the good news. So let’s join with Charles Wesley
and
the angels in lovingly proclaiming, “Glory to the newborn King!”

And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings
.

LUKE 1:19

O holy night! the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth
.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth
.
A thrill of hope–the weary world rejoices
,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
O night divine! O night, O night divine!

O
Holy Night” is faith in full poetic flower. It tells how lost the world was before Christ came; it reminds us “His law is love and His Gospel is peace”; it makes falling to our knees seem less like submission and more like coming home.

So it comes as a surprise to learn that the author, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, was not a devout man of God. He was a nineteenth-century wine merchant who attended church sporadically and later gave it up altogether.

When a priest asked him to write a poem for Christmas, de Roquemaure came up with
“Cantique de Noel.”
So impressed was he by it that he asked a friend to set it to music. His friend, composer Adolphe-Charles Adam, may have been a man of God. He was also Jewish.

The priest loved the end result, and the hymn rapidly became a favorite in French churches. But when its provenance was discovered, the French establishment declared it unfit for church use.

Ten years later, in 1857, John Sullivan Dwight translated it for an American audience. Abolitionists heard the lines “Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother; and in His name all oppression shall cease,” and they adopted the song as an anthem for their struggle.

Preempting the Christmas truce of World War I, a French soldier in the Franco-Prussian War leapt from his trench on Christmas Eve 1871. He stood, unarmed, in no-man’s-land and serenaded the enemy with “O Holy Night.”

On Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden made what may well have been the first radio broadcast of speech and music. He quoted from the Gospel of Luke (on which de Roquemaure based his poem), then took out his violin and played “O Holy Night” to the world.

The message of that “night divine” is still being spread, in the most surprising ways and by the most unexpected people.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people
.

L
UKE 2:10

While shepherds watched
Their flocks by night
,
All seated on the ground
,
The angel of the Lord came down
,
And glory shone around
,
And glory shone around
.

T
hese days we have a wonderful array of hymns and carols to sing at Christmas. Imagine if there was only one!

Between the years 1700 and 1782, “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” was the only Christmas hymn authorized to be sung by the Anglican Church. Prior to 1700 only the psalms of David were permitted to be sung in church, and melodies had to be twisted around the words. Several writers worked at changing this tradition, and as England’s sixth poet laureate, Nahum Tate had more influence than many.

In 1696 Tate and Nicholas Brady (chaplain to King William II and Queen Anne) produced their
New Version of the Psalms of David
, adapting the psalms to make them easier to sing. The differences weren’t great, but this was still a momentous achievement for their time.

In 1702 Tate and Brady produced a supplement to their book that contained the hymn “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks.” Based on the Gospel of Luke, it doesn’t vary greatly from Luke 2:8–14. Doubtless Tate did not want to be too revolutionary!

With music written from Handel’s 1728 opera
Siroe
, adapted by American composer Lowell Mason, “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” is the only composition from Tate and Brady’s supplement still sung today.

The son of an Irish vicar, Tate moved to London in an attempt to make a living as a poet. In becoming poet laureate he made it to the very pinnacle of his chosen profession. Unfortunately, he died at age sixty-three while claiming sanctuary in the Royal Mint, a man deeply in debt and pursued by his creditors. Thankfully he left this world a classic carol announcing the birth of “the heavenly Babe” before passing on to a realm where he would find that all his debts were already forgiven.

The L
ORD
is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters
.

P
SALM
23:1–2

For unto us a Child is born
,
Unto us a Son is given
,
And the government shall
be upon His shoulder
,
And His Name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor
,
The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father
,
The Prince of Peace
.

R
ecalling the creation of his masterpiece
Messiah
, George Frideric Handel said, “I saw the heavens opened … and God sitting on the throne … whether I was in my body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not. God knows.”

His oratorio, from which “For unto Us a Child Is Born” and “I Know My Redeemer Liveth” come, was written at a phenomenal pace, probably in the country home of Charles Jennings, the author of the libretto. From start to finish, Handel’s composition of the music for
Messiah
took just twenty-four days in the summer of 1741. Jennings’s words drew heavily from the Bible, telling the story of Jesus Christ from His anticipation to His glorification. “For unto Us a Child Is Born” comes from Isaiah 9:6 with additions by Jennings.

The collaboration with Jennings came at a low point in Handel’s career, but such was the inspiration found in the words that the composer (so legend has it) could be heard weeping as he worked.

Despite opposition to the Lord’s words being performed in London theaters,
Messiah
was quickly reckoned to be the greatest composition ever. Early performances were held in aid of debtors’ prisons and orphanages, enabling the delighted press to write that the
Messiah
had “fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and fostered the orphan.ȝ

Handel’s music was held in such high esteem that Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart all admired him. Beethoven described him as musically “the master of us all” and advised students to “go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means.”

Master of this technique though he was, Handel surely would have considered himself a novice next to God. After all, the birth of a child has to be the simplest of all means, but what “great effects” that had!

And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him
.