December 18, 2023 - Good Morning! It's Monday, December 18.
This morning we take a look at a carol story with enough drama for a week of devotions - O Holy Night.
When you Google the story behind O Holy Night you'll find lots of interesting information...
- It was once banned by the Catholic church
- On Christmas Eve 1871 it stopped the French-German War
- During the Civil War it became a rallying cry for abolitionists
But my favorite part of the story behind this carol happened in 1903. Reginald Fessenden was a scientist who had once worked for the great inventor Thomas Edison. But on Christmas Eve, 1903, he was preparing to unveil an invention of his own. He had fashioned a new kind of generator, a device that could transmit the human voice. Today we call it "radio". On that evening, from his lab in New Jersey, Fessenden spoke into a microphone and was heard by anyone with a wireless radio receiver. At that time, that was mainly sailors on ships at sea. But they were accustomed to only hearing clicks of information - code, morse code. On that evening, they heard a voice, a voice reading these words -
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed...
Imagine being a lonely sailor, away from home on the holidays, and suddenly hearing a voice, coming out of nowhere - it must have seemed like a Christmas miracle! For the first time in the history of the world the human voice was being transmitted over the air, was being "broadcast." And when Reginald Fessenden finished reading from Luke 2, he reached over, picked up his violin, and began to play a beautiful melody that had been written 60 years before to accompany these words...
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till 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! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
When you listen to the radio this week - or access any broadcast medium - remember the first song to go out over the airways - a song of hope, a song of peace, a song of Christmas.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
