Besides the Christmas story of our Savior, the Christmas Truce of 1914 during WW1 is among my favorites, encouraging me that, even in the division and turmoil of today’s world, peace on earth remains hopeful.
If you’ve not heard it, here’s the Christmas Truce story as told by Robert Petterson . . .
What happened that magical Christmas Eve has been told through a collection of eyewitness accounts, journal entries, and letters home. Historians disagree about the specifics, but everyone agrees that a miracle took place on the Western Front.
It was 1914 , the first year of a horrific war that would leave 15 million dead. Pope Benedict had called for a Christmas truce, but the generals agreed that a day of fraternization would dull the fighting edge of their soldiers. So the men on both sides hunkered down in muddy trenches, looking across no-man’s land at twisted barbed wire and the rotting corpses of men and horses.
But this Christmas Eve, snow glistening like diamonds on a clear moonlit night, covered the horror of war with a clean blanket. Maybe that’s why the German soldiers began to sing: Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht. Across the way, French and Belgian troops joined in: Douce Nuit, sainte Nuit. Now the British were adding their voices to the song night: Silent Night, holy night.
Maybe they were caught up in the magic of the moment, but the German soldiers began to climb out of their trenches and walk across no-man’s land. At first, the Allied troops thought it was some kind of trick. But the Germans were unarmed. So the Brits began to climb out of their trenches. Within minutes, some two-thirds of the combatants were coming together to give Christmas greetings.
What took place between those one hundred thousand enemies during those few hours is the stuff of Christmas legend. It is beyond debate that mostly they sang familiar Christmas carols, celebrating their common belief in the birth of God’s son, in the middle of a war. Fires were started, and the enemy soldiers shared their rations with each other. Some gave patches, helmets, and keepsakes from home as gifts. They spoke of home, family, and girlfriends. It has been said that there even some friendly soccer matches, although historians hotly debate that part of the story. What isn’t debated is that it was spontaneous on the part of both Germans and Allies, and for a brief moment in a horrifying and meaningless carnage, there was peace on earth.
When word of this outbreak of peace got back to the Allied and the German headquarters, the generals and field marshals ordered their men back into the trenches. In 1915 the War to End All Wars went into overdrive, full of horror beyond anything the world had ever witnessed.
The Christmas truce of 1914 has never been repeated in the century since. The amazing story of what happened on that magical night should make us all wonder: What would take place if the nations of the world would bow their knee to the King of kings and Lord of lords? Surely there would be peace on earth as we forget our differences to focus on the only One who can bring us together.
No Jesus, no peace. Know Jesus, know peace.
All the best for all His best this Christmas and in the year ahead from our home to you and yours praising and praying . . .
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill to men”
Keep Looking Up ^ . . . His Best is Yet to Come!
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