All is Calm, All is Bright
Christmas can be stressful, especially for families. It can also be painful, particularly for those who have suffered loss. It can be difficult for so many people, such as the sick, the lonely, the downtrodden.
I want to take you back, 200 years, to another stressful Christmas, And to a man who was the priest of the small village of Oberndforf in the Austrian alps. His name was Josef Mohr.
As the priest faced that Christmas he was more than a little despondent. The organ in the church was out of action - at Christmas of all times. Some blamed rust, others said it was the work of mice, but whatever the cause, there would be no organ over Christmas.
And an added disappointment, on 23rd December 1818, just two days before Christmas, a travelling band of actors had arrived in the village ready to perform and sing their own nativity play for the villagers.
With no organ, the performance had to be moved from the Church to a private house.
It was not how it should have been, and Josef was dismayed at the situation for his parish and its people, but the performance nevertheless lifted Josef’s spirit a little, and put him in a reflective mood. Instead of walking straight to his house that night, he decided to take a longer way home, climbing a hill which overlooked the village.
From that hilltop, Josef looked down on the peaceful snow-covered village. It was silent, calm and bright, the lights of the sky glistening in the snow which dusted the alpine scene.
The Christmas play had reminded him of a poem which he had written a couple of years earlier, about the night when angels announced the birth of the Christ child to shepherds on a hillside. The words would have made a good a carol for the next day, he thought, if only he had the music.
The next day, he seized upon an idea and decided to act. Josef went to visit to the church organist, Franz Gruber. He set Franz a challenge - before midnight mass, now just a few hours away, he had to come up with a melody which could be sung to the words of the poem, a melody which could be accompanied not by the organ, by instead by a guitar. 
And sure enough, by the evening, Gruber had composed a simple but instantly memorable setting for the poem. The fact that the organ wasn’t working didn’t matter now: they had a carol, a melody, and a guitar to guide and accompany them.
The carol didn’t just rescue that year’s midnight mass - it became an extraordinary success. It quickly spread far and wide, and has become a constant feature in Christmas masses and Carol Services ever since. It even has its own museum in Salzburg.
The Carol - as you probably know - is Silent Night - and it is 200 years old tonight.
It is a small miracle: charming in its simplicity, remarkable in its creation, inspiring in its message which is conveyed both in its words and in its beautiful melody.
Christmas is full of such small miracles. Of smiles and laughter, of music and song, of joy and beauty, of compassion and generosity.
Yes it can be stressful. It has its poignant moments and its sadnesses..
But at its heart is about life and love, about faith and mercy, about peace and hope.
Love’s pure light …
The dawn of redeeming grace …
What trials, stresses or anxieties we may bear, may the grace of God help us to take comfort in these simple words:
All is Calm, all is bright.
—
The images are a portrait of Fr Josef Mohr, and a photograph of the Silent Night Chapel in Oberndorf, Austria, which is on the site of St Nikolas Church, where Stille Nacht was first sung on Christmas Eve 1818.
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