STEVIE NICKS SINGS "SILENT NIGHT"
If there is a song that better epitomizes the season, I'd like to know what it is.
And if there is a better rendition of a Christmas Carol anywhere, I'd like to hear it. If this song is indeed "The Song from Heaven" as it was once called, then this is as close as we will all get to hearing an angel singing it while we are still here on earth.
The birth of a new consciousness through a Holy infant child.
Keep Christ in Christmas.
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While the mainstream media and the financial press will focus on the affect of the economic mess on the retailers--the impact on the mall--this Christmas, there are some stories that show that contrary to what you may hear, this in fact be one of the best Christmas seasons ever.
How so?
The Daily Herald's Harry Hitzeman reports that locally "the Elgin Salvation Army was predicting gloom and doom this month and early next year as the number of families in need grew and the agency's food supply dwindled."
The groups 2008 Christmas Campaign goal was a lofty $175,000. Given the recent economic data, this goal seemed insurmountable. But a Christmas miracle happened and shoppers who were spending less on gifts and presents dug down deep to help those less fortunate.
As of December 24th the group collected $183,000, nearly 20% more than 2007's total of $153,709.
This happened even though the number of large donors (checks of over $1,000) dwindled compared to last year. The number of smaller donations increased significantly however.
That's simply amazing to think about. Those that have less, gave more.
The number of families requesting assistance grew from less than 1,000 last year to over 1,700. Major Ken Nicolai of the Salvation Army said the surge in donation will allow the organization to aid those in need without turning anyone away for a few months.
Truly a Christmas miracle and an example of what can happen when we Keep Christ in Christmas.
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For a more powerful example from history, I don't think you could top the story of the "Christmas Truce" from World War I.
Our church's senior pastor, James L. Nicodem, told the story at our Christmas service and I couldn't believe it.
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FROM WIKIPEDIA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce
The "Christmas truce" is a term used to describe several brief unofficial cessations of hostilities that occurred on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day between German and British or French troops in World War I, particularly that between British and German troops stationed along the Western Front during Christmas 1914. In 1915 there was a similar Christmas truce between German and French troops, and during Easter 1916 a truce also existed on the Eastern Front.
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FROM THE AMERICAN STORYTELLER:
Listen to free mp3 stories by The American Storyteller!
http://www.theamericanstoryteller.com/story-details.cfm?story=116
.....The war had started several years before the American entrance, 1914 to be exact. And at the onset, both sides confidently predicted, even promised, there victorious soldiers would be home with their families by Christmas. Before this four year bloodbath would end, nine million men would die.
Soldiers on both sides must have been lamenting that broken promise as the held their positions in the muddy trenches that had frozen solid there on Christmas Eve 1914. British soldiers could hear it coming from the German lines. They didn't recognize the words "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" but the melody was recognizable.
The Brits looked through their field glasses and could see the enemy soldiers holding up pine trees illuminated with lanterns, dancing out in the open where they could easily be shot. The British soldiers could hardly believe what they were seeing and hearing. They put down their weapons. Slowly and cautiously, only and a few at first, crawled out of their British trenches. Then more and more would put down their weapons. Both sides were now walking for the middle ground with the British soldiers joining the song in English, "Silent night, Holy night."
With some immediate trepidation, the enemy lines moved closer and closer. They reached out their hands, wide eyed and curious, greeting one another with Christmas cheer. Soon both sides worked to find whatever they could, erecting a bon fire. Men sat around it exchanging gifts: candy bars, rations, buttons, badges, whatever they could find in their meager belongings men, who only an hour earlier, were trying to kill one another.
Many of the Germans spoke perfect English. Most of the conversations were about how everyone just wished this war could end and all could go home to their wives and children, back to those simple days filled with hopes and dreams. Their once boring, mundane lives now seemed like a Utopian fantasy.
Finally, after a few hours of camaraderie and laughter and good fun, the unofficial truce would end. The commanding officers from both sides stood respectfully and saluted one another. The soldiers returned to their trenches, and the bloody business of killing one another would begin again.
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CROSS PLACED AT THE SITE OF THE "CHRISTMAS TRUCE"
from the Wikipedia story the caption reads:
A cross, left near Ypres in Belgium in 1999, to commemorate the site of the Christmas Truce in 1914. The text reads 1914
The Khaki Chum's Christmas Truce
1999
85 Years
Lest We Forget.
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Keep Christ in Christmas - Keep the Christmas spirit in your hearts 365 days of the year instead of just one day....one week...one month.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
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