…Sleep in Heavenly Peace.
The history behind the song ‘Silent Night” is a story of a carol that has captured the hearts of all around the world. It is a story of something beautiful coming from something broken. On Christmas Eve, 1818, a broken church organ led an assistant pastor to ask a friend to put a poem he had previously written to a simple tune that could be played on guitar for midnight Mass. Just as the beautiful song, “Silent Night” came to life due to a broken organ, so too does the story of Jesus coming into our lives.
The story of Christmas is the story of something beautiful coming from something broken. The marriage of Joseph and Mary was nearly broken, but their plans and their dreams were for the birth of the child. Their plans and logistics in Bethlehem were broken, and out of that came the most beautiful birth ever.
Our faith at Christmas time is the belief that out of brokenness that cannot seem to be fixed, something beautiful can come. Not one in a million, or by chance, but day to day because of God. Our words in those broken situations do not have to be great. Our actions do not have to be epic, just true. And the music that you write to make do in broken lives does not have to be Handel’s “Messiah,” just true. You may never know it in this life, and others may not know its greatness either, but as with “Silent Night,“ something simple coming from something broken, truly in the hands of God can become beautiful.
– Adapted from Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saganaw