The miracle truce of Christmas - an amazing historical episode

Waiting for Epiphany.

"War and Peace. It’s more than the name of a massive Russian novel. It’s also a great picture of Christmas."

"On Christmas Eve 1914, the war had been raging only a few months and already 800,000 men had been wounded or killed. Imagine it. That’s a lot of blood and guts. The Western Front was a meat-grinder. The dugouts in France were filled with terror-stricken men and boys set on each other’s destruction.

And then something truly remarkable happened. A few German soldiers lit candles and set up Christmas trees in their muddy trenches, filled with rot and stench. They started singing Christmas carols over the canon fire:“Stille Nacht!  Heilige Nacht!” Soon the British joined their voices: “Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm. All is bright.” The hellscape of the War to End All Wars was punctured by the sounds of heaven."

lcms.blogs: (full text) "The miracle truce of Christmas"

https://blogs.lcms.org/2018/the-miracle-truce-of-christmas/?fbclid=IwAR2KqT0vB0-6B5q8iW6vYorZFRdYV5uF2RTfecZARKpiW4DiMM97MrYPdKs
"The miracle truce of Christmas" (by Scott Stiegemeyer). The Rev. Professor Scott Stiegemeyer teaches bioethics and theology at Concordia University, Irvine, Calif.



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"Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcvQhwhVUZo


"Silent night, holy night"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_kb3kiO4Uo


"Hark the herald angels sing":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCt1s44cfMM


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"This little light of mine"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2kDsqGeoLU&fbclid=IwAR2Se7i0gyuckjMJDJ14hldVIQfSqi9_BNJnT3cFen9h_iJpFDEHiYmsFYo

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"Upp gläd er alla":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txmihjg36CQ

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Foto: EL