Monday, December 5, 2011

silent night vs o holy night

Silent Night is a Christmas Carol.


It is best sung at the Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve -
preferably while holding a lit candle with the Sanctuary
lights out - a packed house - and the third verse a cappella.


and that's when you try not to lose it...

especially when you are standing next to your 8 year old
granddaughter - whose face holds a glow  - and you realize
that she Just Knows who Jesus is - something you have
struggled with for 63 years.



On the other hand...


O Holy Night is a Christmas Song.

The most Meaningful and - hands down - the most beautiful of songs
ever written for Christmas.



and that's when they bring in the soloist.



Now it can be a baritone or a soprano - it really doesn't matter.



Because when you sit there and listen to that Most Perfect music
and those words that Ring So True - that's when you Just Know...



what Christmas is really all about.








christmas has a way of bringing out the best of stidh

: )

5 comments:

Mizz. Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mizz. Anonymous said...

I strongly disagree, o holy night is most definitely a religious Christmas carol.

Thersites said...

Since "carols" typically invoke joy and exhuberance, I would have thought that the reverse were true... "oh Holy Night" expressing the joy of the Savious birth, and "Silent Night" the peace and beauty in "stillness".

...but maybe this is just me.

sue hanes said...

Mizz Anonymous -

First - I wish you would comment on my blog more often.


Whatever I said about O Holy Night - this is what I really think:


~O Holy Night is the most beautiful Religious Christmas song ever.

~It has such deep meaning to me that it reaches into the very depth of my Soul.


But...I will never say that it is a Christmas Caorl.

I just don't think it fits in that category.


I really think of it as a Christmas Song.


a very good Christmas Song.

sue hanes said...

But Ther - Joy and Exuberance are not what I feel when I listen to O Holy Night - on Christmas Eve.

Yes - there is Joy - but it is not an exuberant Joy - but a Deep,
Inner Joy - almost too Deep to even think about.


And so that is why on Christmas Eve I like most of all for the Soloists to sing O Holy Night to me - so that I can feel this Deep
Satisfaction - and then go out into the Night - and know in my Heart what Christmas is really all about.


Joy to the World is to me a Christmas Carol of Joy and Exuberance.