We had experienced a particularly brutal season in family life and ministry. A meteorite had come from nowhere and devastated our world. Nothing was as it was and would never be the same again. I wasn’t feeling very ‘Christmassy’.
The Eastenders Christmas plot that year centred around six women each of which was accused of murder. The Church of the Nativity in Gaza, said to be the site of the birth of Jesus, published pictures of baby Jesus in a manger under the rubble of the conflict.
One of the much loved ‘lads’ in our recovery group (Kev) had died too young and too soon and we were heartbroken.
“I became captivated by the hymn Silent Night.”
With this festive backdrop, I became captivated by the hymn ‘Silent Night’. We had sung it as a family around the Christmas Tree before bed in the hope the kids might ‘sleep in heavenly peace’. My captivation deepened and led us to travel to Oberndorf bei Salzburg in Austria, ironically and coincidentally during Epiphany. We went on pilgrimage to see where the hymn was born and to reflect on the devastation we had left behind.
Silent Night was written in 1818 during a time of difficulty and oppression. Salzberg is literally translated as ‘salt fortress’. Salt or ‘white gold’ was historically transported down the Salzach river on barges, bringing wealth and prosperity to the city. Salt, symbolic of so much in a life of faith.
There was poverty, disorder and looting in Salzberg during the Napoleonic War. A volcanic eruption elsewhere in the world had left a dark ash cloud hanging over the city. People suffered. Climate disruption caused the Salzach river to burst its banks over land and crops. The church where the song was born, was also flooded in the run up to Christmas Eve and the organ was not working.
“Joseph Mohr’s calling was beyond the walls of this church.
He spent himself and all he had, on those who were underserved.”
Joseph Mohr was their associate Roman Catholic Priest. He was a local boy of humble beginnings, the son of an embroiderer and an absent father. His godfather was listed as an executioner. Joseph had been mentored by a Priest as he grew up. His illegitimacy meant he needed special dispensation from the Pope to enter seminary. He was musical and loved to sing. More importantly, Joseph Mohr loved to sing with the barge people.
The barge people were contracted to float precious salt ‘white gold’ down the river. The lads would spend weeks walking upstream and then float the boats back down the river. It was dangerous and costly work, they weren’t allowed to learn to swim in the hope that they would save the salt above saving themselves. With a high risk of death or life changing injury, their families were often poor. But they loved to sing in the local hostelries, and Joseph was regularly among them and their families. Joseph Mohr loved them and ministered to them.
His supervisors in the church disapproved, suggesting Joseph should be spending more time courting favour with influential people in the parish.
With the prospect of no organ on Christmas Eve, Joseph took one of his poems to his friend Franz Xaver Gruber and asked him to put music to it. Controversially, together they sang Silent Night in German (not Latin) accompanied by a guitar (not the organ). Joseph Mohr would soon be moved on into obscurity. His calling was beyond the walls of this church. Thankfully, Joseph Mohr continued to spend himself and all he had, on those who were underserved.
“No one is excluded from the invitation
into this peace that only Jesus can bring.”
The hymn lived on; it is said that the man who fixed the organ found the music and the hymn started its journey around the world. Silent Night has been translated into 300 different languages across the world and sung by many famous artists. Almost a hundred years later, it was reportedly sung in the trenches during World War I by German and British troops in an unsanctioned ceasefire and impromptu football match on Christmas Eve.
Two hundred years later, the hymn still conveys a sense of peace and a calm, quiet, trust to all who experience it. It suggests the beautiful simplicity of being able to sleep in heavenly peace. Yet much like the scene in the nativity in Gaza, Jesus was born into chaos. Without a word being spoken, without anything being achieved apart from his coming, there is peace. No one is excluded from the invitation into this peace that only Jesus can bring. A life of faith is costly, we are not immune from tragedy and difficulty, or meteor strikes but we can still trust and know peace in every circumstance. The hymn has long lasting relevance.
“A life of faith is costly, we are not immune from tragedy and difficulty,
but we can still trust and know peace in every circumstance. “
In the rubble of my meteorite strike, God gently reassures me of his peace and that just like Joseph Mohr, I am called beyond the church walls, to be, sit and sing with other barge people. Called where lives are hard, difficult and dangerous and to a place that many are uncomfortable with. Called to be where we see Jesus is present and at work all the time, often out of our depth. Being where Jesus is makes sense of the rubble, however hard and messy that place is.
Our barge people are a community in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, finding hope, help and healing together in a former Bowls Pavilion in Salisbury. We are transforming the building and are in transformation ourselves as we journey together.
Last Christmas, we designed a tree based on the theme of Silent Night for a local tree festival. We made it out of pallets, with nails which were too long, we added ‘messed up angels’ (as we called them) and a stable and nativity scene at the bottom. On the baubles, were inscribed the words of the hymn. Someone brought in his collection of small farmyard animals to add to the scene that he’d treasured since being in care. It was beautiful.
Sleep in heavenly peace, Kev. Sleep in heavenly peace.
BBC: Christmas tree festival celebrates 20th anniversary bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vrk4p540xo
Morning Star Salisbury: morningstarsalisbury.co.uk
Photograph: Charity Morning Star Salisbury made a tree from pallet wood and centred it around Silent Night.