100 years ago today something happened that is note worthy in the history of human warfare. World War I was in full swing. The Great War, naively nicknamed "the war to end all wars" was a miserable affair that had broken down into fighting from fixed positions with machineguns and chemical weapons. Hundreds sometimes thousands of men could die in a single day and not an inch of ground was won by either side.
By winter time both sides were tired, wet and cold. On December 7th of 1914 the pope implored the belligerent nations to call a Christmas truce. The leaders didn't think it important enough to act on.
The military leadership had no intention of missing their Christmas dinner, brandy or a warm bed by being at the front and so they were largely absent along the defensive line that stretched from the Atlantic ocean in the west to Switzerland in the east.
Over on the German side of no mans land the line officers and men had reached their own conclusion on how to proceed with the holiday. Sporadically white flags popped up along the trenches. A messenger would then peek above the sandbags and waving the flag approach the allied lines. We will not shoot at you if you will not shoot at us.
As the German guns went silent for Christmas little groups of 2 or 3 Germans would stand up out of the trenches. They sang Christmas carols in English and German. The men shook hands with men they were trying to kill just hours before. They traded cigarettes, booze and rations. The Red Barron didn't shoot Snoopy down.
The reason peace broke out? Frohe Weihnachten. The men of the German army wanted to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Merry Christmas my friends.
May the peace of Jesus bless each of you. May you be blessed by the manifestation of His grace and mercy in your life. May you know Him as the lover of your soul. May you look upon His face with joy. May we all lay down the guns of our own bitterness and strife and pick up the yoke that is easy and light.
Amen.
May God bless each of you today and always.
Merry Christmas to everyone, a joyous day and lots of fun and fellowship with those you love surrounding you.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas, all ��
ReplyDeleteIgnore those question marks, that was supposed to be something else.
ReplyDeleteThe Washington Post has an article on the "Christmas Truce", as it has come to be known. Play the Sainsbury's ad embedded in the article, too.
ReplyDeleteI watched the ad. It was good. Historically everything I've read said the Germans declared a truce and the Brits went along with it. That probably doesn't play as well if you are a English company selling stuff to Brits.
ReplyDeleteThat story right there sums up relationships between men, no matter what, if Christ rules their hearts.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to all.