Peace on Earth?
They are familiar words to us all this time of year, “For unto us a child a is born, unto us a son is given… and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” It is this last title, Prince of Peace that intrigues me.
Shortly after the Prince of Peace is born we see Herod ordering the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. This is hardly an auspicious start to the life of the one we know as the Prince of Peace.
On Saturday August 15, 1998 a car filled with 500lbs of explosive was detonated in the center of Omagh in Northern Ireland. The explosion left twenty-nine people dead and over two hundred injured. This tragedy led Bono, of U2, to write a song titled “Peace on Earth.” The lyrics of which read in part, “Jesus this song you wrote / The words are sticking in my throat / Peace on Earth / Hear it every Christmas time / But hope and history won’t rhyme / So what’s it worth? / This peace on Earth”
Today we live in between times, we celebrate during Advent the incarnation of God in Jesus the Christ but we are also waiting for that time when the New Heaven and New Earth are established and peace on earth becomes a reality.
Perhaps my favorite Christmas story (outside of the Biblical story) is the story of Christmas 1914. It is beautifully articulated in Stanley Weintraub’s book "Silent Night." It was Christmas Eve 1914, the War had been raging for several months and to celebrate Christmas the German high command had sent miniature Christmas trees to the men on the front lines. They set these trees up on the parapets and lit the candles. The British soldiers had been sent ‘Princess Mary’s Christmas Boxes’ filled with goodies from home. As the German, British, and French troops settled in for the night, a young German soldier began to sing to well known carol “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.” Soon others joined in. When they had finished, the British responded in English singing “Silent Night, Holy Night.”
A ceasefire was called for Christmas day. One by one the men from both sides left their trenches and met in no-man’s land. They shook hands, exchanged gifts, and shared pictures of their families. Informal soccer games took place and a joint service was held to bury the dead of both sides.
The high ranking officers, who were not at the front, were not pleased when they heard of this. Men, who have come to know each other’s names, play together, seen pictures of each other's families and exchanged gifts with one another are much less likely to want to kill each other!
When the fighting resumed the men on both sides, who had participated in the ceasefire spent a few days simply firing aimlessly into the sky. The war didn’t start back in earnest until the frontline troops were relieved and new troops who hadn’t participated in the ceasefire where brought to the front. The war would rage until the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918.
For one moment there was peace. We, God’s people are called to be peacemakers, glimmers of hope in a world of spiritual, emotional and physical violence.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will called children of God.” I’d like to be known as a child of God.
My grandfather was on the front in 1914. He was not part of the ceasefire. He never spoke of his experience in the war, but declared forever after that violence of any kind was never the solution.
Shortly after the Prince of Peace is born we see Herod ordering the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. This is hardly an auspicious start to the life of the one we know as the Prince of Peace.
On Saturday August 15, 1998 a car filled with 500lbs of explosive was detonated in the center of Omagh in Northern Ireland. The explosion left twenty-nine people dead and over two hundred injured. This tragedy led Bono, of U2, to write a song titled “Peace on Earth.” The lyrics of which read in part, “Jesus this song you wrote / The words are sticking in my throat / Peace on Earth / Hear it every Christmas time / But hope and history won’t rhyme / So what’s it worth? / This peace on Earth”
Today we live in between times, we celebrate during Advent the incarnation of God in Jesus the Christ but we are also waiting for that time when the New Heaven and New Earth are established and peace on earth becomes a reality.
Perhaps my favorite Christmas story (outside of the Biblical story) is the story of Christmas 1914. It is beautifully articulated in Stanley Weintraub’s book "Silent Night." It was Christmas Eve 1914, the War had been raging for several months and to celebrate Christmas the German high command had sent miniature Christmas trees to the men on the front lines. They set these trees up on the parapets and lit the candles. The British soldiers had been sent ‘Princess Mary’s Christmas Boxes’ filled with goodies from home. As the German, British, and French troops settled in for the night, a young German soldier began to sing to well known carol “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.” Soon others joined in. When they had finished, the British responded in English singing “Silent Night, Holy Night.”
A ceasefire was called for Christmas day. One by one the men from both sides left their trenches and met in no-man’s land. They shook hands, exchanged gifts, and shared pictures of their families. Informal soccer games took place and a joint service was held to bury the dead of both sides.
The high ranking officers, who were not at the front, were not pleased when they heard of this. Men, who have come to know each other’s names, play together, seen pictures of each other's families and exchanged gifts with one another are much less likely to want to kill each other!
When the fighting resumed the men on both sides, who had participated in the ceasefire spent a few days simply firing aimlessly into the sky. The war didn’t start back in earnest until the frontline troops were relieved and new troops who hadn’t participated in the ceasefire where brought to the front. The war would rage until the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918.
For one moment there was peace. We, God’s people are called to be peacemakers, glimmers of hope in a world of spiritual, emotional and physical violence.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will called children of God.” I’d like to be known as a child of God.
My grandfather was on the front in 1914. He was not part of the ceasefire. He never spoke of his experience in the war, but declared forever after that violence of any kind was never the solution.
John McCutcheon wrote a song about it that I like to post this time of year...
Neil, thanks for sharing this story again. I was thinking
of you when I saw that they were staging "All is Calm; the truce of 1914" in Mpls. again this season. I hope you have a chance to see it if you're ever in town for Christmas
time :)
Posted by: Heidi | December 06, 2008 at 17:49
Thanks Heidi, I'd love to see that production. It's one of the best Christmas stories ever told. I love the portrayal of it the movie, "Joyeux Noel"
Posted by: Neil | December 10, 2008 at 16:14