The stillness of the night was broken with a baby’s cry and a heavenly choir announcing the brith of the Saviour of the World. The carol ‘Silent night’ or ‘Still the night’ allows us to see the grace with which Christ came into the world so that we can know him as our Prince of Peace.
A video version is available on the YouTube channel for Annalong Presbyterian Church. New episodes will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays up to, and including, Christmas Eve.
Welcome to the Prince of Peace podcast. Over 10 episodes we will explore together what it means to know this Prince of Peace and celebrate his gift of salvation this Christmas time. Make sure you subscribe wherever you are listening to this so that you will automatically get the next episode. A video version is available on the YouTube channel for Annalong Presbyterian Church. New episodes will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays up to, and including, Christmas Eve.
t the story that at Christmas:
Still the night, Holy the night!
Sleeps the world; Hid from sight,
Mary and Joseph in stable bare
Watch o'er the Child beloved and fair,
Sleeping in heavenly rest,
Sleeping in heavenly rest.
Still the night, holy the night!
Shepherds first saw the light,
Heard resounding clear and long,
Far and near, the angel-song,
'Christ the Redeemer is here!'
'Christ the Redeemer is here!'
Still the night, holy the night!
Son of God, O how bright,
Love is smiling from Thy face!
Strikes for us now the hour of grace,
Saviour, since Thou art born!
Saviour, since Thou art born!
We have a story book in our house called ‘Five Minutes Peace’ by Jill Murphy. It is a favourite with our children and tells the story of Mrs Large and her four children. Mrs Large is an elephant and all she wants is one day where she has five minutes of peace and quiet. Each time she tries she is interrupted by one of her children. Her life is so busy that she feels she never has time to be by herself.
Our carol for today seems to offer us a sense of stillness and quietness. It is a carol that begins with the brith of Jesus. In many ways it was was a silent night, but in other ways it wasn’t. The image is given that Jesus was born in the depth of the night, which would have been a still and quiet moment. But being fully man, while being fully God, he had a natural human brith, which meant everyone was waiting for the baby’s first cry to ensure that everything was OK.
Verse 2 introduces us to the shepherds who hear the news and we read,
Still the night, holy the night!
Shepherds first saw the light,
Heard resounding clear and long,
Far and near, the angel-song,
‘Christ the Redeemer is here!’
This verse leaves us with no question that the stillness of the night was broken by the choir of angels. Their message was heard loud and clear. We read about this in Luke 2: 8-14,
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!
These hard working shepherds were the first to hear the news of Christ’s birth. Their stillness was broken by the heavenly host, but it was replaced with something else. Verse 3 tells us that grace came in:
Still the night, holy the night!
Son of God, o how bright
Love is smiling from Thy face!
Strikes for us now the hour of grace,
Saviour, since Thou art born!
Christ’s coming into the world brings God’s grace. It’s not that his grace wasn’t known before, but because of God’s initiative we see it fuller through his son Jesus. Ultimately it means that God’s grace is demonstrated through Christ because we get what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve anything of God’s goodness because of the sin in the world. But because the penalty of our sin has been taken by Jesus on Calvary’s cross, then we are received by God as his children. But we can only know this privileged position when we confess sin and confess that Jesus has paid it all. This means we live in God’s way and not in our own, because we experience his great love. In Ephesians 2: 4-9 we read this truth,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Are you looking five minutes peace? What if you could have eternal peace! Christ offers to us all a stillness that can never be broken when we trust in him, our Prince of Peace.
Thank you for joining me today in this episode of the Prince of Peace podcast. Join me in episode seven as we look at the carol ‘Once in Royal David’s city’. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube or in your podcast app to get the next episode when it drops. Find out more at www.annalongpc.org or check out our Facebook page and Instagram account. You can also listen to our Prince of Peace playlist on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music. All links are in the show notes.
