O Holy Night

"O holy night the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O Night when Christ was born!
O night dvine! Oh night, O holy night"

This song is so peaceful and beautiful - if the readio is any indicator, I think it is one of the most beloved Christmas songs. Josh Groban, I think, is the one you will most often hear singing it now. But he also cuts out important parts of the song, in my opinion.

In the first verse, I just noticed this year the phrase, "The soul felt its worth." Wow! What a great way to describe the Christian experience. We know how much God loves us - that He would send his son to die for us, to save us, to allow us to come up and be with him. I would say that means our souls are worth a LOT!

I also like the phrase "weary world." Whenever I think things are really bad, I think about when Jesus came to the world, and I realize that even 2,000 years ago the world was weary. The Jews were a conquered people. Life was hard.

"Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother,
And in His name all opression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we.
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord, that ever, ever praise we
Noel! Noel! Oh night, oh night divine!
Noel! Noel! Oh night, oh night divine!"

I don't have anything to comment on the second verse, really. But I do love the line about breaking chains. Consequently, I did a quick internet search, and it doesn't seem that this song was written as a political statement about slavery in the Civil War, although that is what I think about when I hear it. Still - breaking chains is not a concept for days gone by. There are still slaves today - literally, and people enslaved by their own sins, their own trials, their misfortunes. In that sense, everyone is a slave. But more importantly, everyone is our brother.

But truly, I think that I could just sing the words of this song over and over again without getting in to any special "meaning." O Holy Night!