A Christmas Devotion #12

Luke 2:11; “For today in the city David there has been for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”.

In 1847, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure was the commissionaire of wines in a small French town. Known more for his poetry than his church attendance, it probably shocked Placide when his parish priest asked the commissionaire to pen a poem for Christmas mass. Nevertheless, the poet was honored to share his talents with the church. Using the gospel of Luke as his guide, Placide imagined witnessing the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Thoughts of being present on the blessed night inspired him to write was then called “Cantique de Noel”. So happy was he with his poem that he felt a need to find a musician to do what he could not. So he contacted his friend Adolphe Charles Adams for help.  Adolphe was able to add the music to the poem just in time for the song that we now call “O Holy Night” to be performed on Christmas Eve. Fast forward now to Christmas Eve 1906, and to a man called Reginald Fessenden. Using a new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone and, for the first time in history, a man's voice was broadcast over the airwaves: "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed”.  After reading from Luke 2 he picked up his violin and place a full rendition of ‘O Holy Night’. So, the first words ever transmitted over the air, were words from the Bible. And the first song, a song about the birth of Christ the Lord. How wonderful it is know that God’s Word went forward first on that Christmas season.

It makes me think of the ‘Bible App for Kids’ that went forth on Thanksgiving Day. To see that God’s Word was the number 1 kids and educational app download on a day such as Thanksgiving, has echoes of the night that Fessenden read from Luke 2 and picked up that violin. To see the App reach well over 1 million kids in just six days is simply astonishing. From the printing press, to the airwaves, to the digital age, may God’s truth that Christ is the Lord receive pre-eminence in everything.

"Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

O night divine, O night, O night divine"