This evening at Cedar Court we were treated to a scene showing the animals surrounding the manger. Luke's gospel records that "there were shepherds living out on the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night".
The well-known carol "Silent Night" was penned in 1818 by Josef Mohr, a young Austrian priest, after he had been looking down on the peaceful, snow-covered village of Oberndorf near Salzburg where a nativity play had just been acted out. Mohr's carol is a meditation on the night when the angels announced the birth of the long-awaited Messiah to shepherds on a hillside outside Bethlehem. The song was put to a melody played originally by guitar and composed in just a matter of hours.
The well-known carol "Silent Night" was penned in 1818 by Josef Mohr, a young Austrian priest, after he had been looking down on the peaceful, snow-covered village of Oberndorf near Salzburg where a nativity play had just been acted out. Mohr's carol is a meditation on the night when the angels announced the birth of the long-awaited Messiah to shepherds on a hillside outside Bethlehem. The song was put to a melody played originally by guitar and composed in just a matter of hours.
"Stille nacht! Heilige Nacht!". Fifty years went by before it was translated into English and today it has become probably the most popular and most universally recognised Carol, with the words sung in over 300 different languages around the world.
In this quiet and reflective carol we are invited to meditate on the scene ourselves - eventually reaching the climax as the truth that changes everything is revealed: "Christ the Saviour is born!"
Small wonder that "shepherds quake at the sight" and "heavenly hosts sing Allelujah". Perhaps our response ought to be to sing "Allelujah" along with them!
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