During Christmas Eve services at Jefferson Unitarian Church, our community engages in a decades-old practice of singing "Silent Night" by candlelight. The lights go down, a silence falls upon the service as flame is passed from person to person, and the gathered people embark in singing the carol first sung in a small village church in Obendorf, Austria in 1818. The words, "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" were written by the assistant pastor (and guitarist), Father Joseph Mohr, and the tune by the choir director, Franz Xaver Gruber. Little did they know that the carol written for this Christmas Eve service would be sung by millions, in translations to dozens or hundreds of languages.
I myself remember singing "Silent Night" at my grandparents Kansas farmhouse as a young boy. In the Graber family, everyone sang. If Grandpa started singing, we were expected to join along - and in harmony! It was in that house that I learned the words to many carols, and I was excited to sing for the first time "while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains" and to "repeat the sounding joy" with extended family. For me, many traditional carols of Christmas hold a strong family connection, even though my personal beliefs see the lyrics metaphorically and not literally.
Now, in a beloved community of Unitarian Universalists, each of whom bring different memories, expectations, and theologies to our shared worship, we may well ask the question, "What shall we sing at Christmas time? Traditional lyrics that evoke memories of the past? Carols that reflect a particularly UU perspective?" In our current slate colored hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition, many references to sin, the Lord, and the savior were removed with new words substituted. On one hand, these lyric alterations can be understood in a long folk tradition of hymn word changes, practiced in many Christian denominations, whereby over time words are changed to reflect new theological understandings. UUs, after all, understand ourselves as part of a living tradition, one that is flexible enough to adapt to new ways of thinking. However, in the case of Christmas carols at JUC, I have found singing changed lyrics in holiday services without any conversation about the reason or meaning -- well, I've found it confusing at minimum.
So this Crier article is the beginning of a conversation, a chance to articulate that our practice this year will be that when we sing "Silent Night," instead of printing the words of Singing the Living Tradition, which closes each verse with "Sing in heavenly peace," we will return to the words in our former 1964 hymnal, Hymns for the Celebration of Life, in which verse 1 ends with "Sleep in heavenly peace," verse 2 with "Christ, the Savior is born," and verse 3 with "Jesus, Lord at thy birth." In doing so, the community that is gathered on Christmas Eve, including long-time members and people who are visiting JUC for the first time, can understand that we have numerous ways to enter into the spirit of the carol. Some may sing "Silent Night" as a traditional song from childhood, others as the representation of a story with universal themes, as an acknowledgement of the Christian roots of Unitarian and Universalism, or even as a moment to connect with millions of people who sing this song at the same night, knowing that a still, quiet night holds the possibility of the birth of hope and peace on earth.
I welcome your comments and thoughts at keitharnold@jeffersonunitarian.org
