Part 2 - The Christmas Truce of 1914, a Crowder Song, and the Presence of God

After hearing the stories of the atrocities and destruction and death of World War I and then hearing of the beautiful story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, I have concluded that God can make his presence known in the most hellish of situations.
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For a few years I have been very interested in the plight of the unaccompanied immigrant children leaving their homes in Central America and making the perilous journey to the United States. I have been blessed and changed by my involvement in this plight. I have also been frustrated because it seems like we could be doing so much more to help, especially in the suburban church world.

In May of this year, it was as if the media discovered this plight and it became an everyday part of the news. Estimates of 70,000 kids making the perilous journey this year alone, shelters on the border are overflowing, the conditions are horrible, women and small children are becoming part of the story, and on and on...

In June of this year I was in large worship gathering at an affluent mega-church in San Antonio. The worship band played the awesome David Crowder song, "I Am":

"There's no space that his love can't reach

There's no place that we can't find peace

There's no end to amazing grace

Take me in with your arms spread wide

Take me in like an orphan child

Never let go, never leave my side."

My mind is prone to wander during a worship service, it's like it has a mind of its own...as I tried to sing this song and engage in praise with 1000 members or so of my family, I couldn't help but think of the first verse of this song and the thousands of people in the shelters on the border and the countless number of people hiding in the south Texas Brush Country and the countless number of people staging on the Mexican side of the border and the countless number of people riding atop the "Train of Death" through Mexico.

It was easy to feel the love and peace of God in this beautiful gathering, but I wondered:

• Can His love reach into the shelters? Can those in the shelters find His peace?

• Can His love reach into the hot and thorny south Texas brush? Can one find peace in that place?

• Can His love reach across the border into the land controlled by the Cartel and Coyote? Can the anxious alien know peace in that place?

• Can God ride atop La Bestia? Can the travelers find peace among the fear and violence on top of the rail cars?

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I think, based on the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 and many similar stories, the answer is yes...and maybe the more darkness, the more despair, the more likely it is that God will hear the cry of those seeking love and peace.

How will He make His presence known? A miracle, an divinely ordained leader, a wild-eyed prophet...

How does He make His presence known?

Part 1 - The Christmas Truce of 1914, a Crowder Song and the Presence of God

Part One
The Christmas Truce of 1914

If you love history like I love history, I highly recommend this resource:

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

Last week I had the pleasure of listening to 13+ hours of the "Blueprint for Armageddon" series. The first four parts of the series cover the circumstances that led to World War I and its opening battles. Here are descriptions from the four parts:

*a Pandora's Box of violence engulfs the planet *millions of men in dozens of armies vie in the most deadly and complex opening moves of any conflict in world history *trench warfare begins, and with it, all the murderous efforts on both sides to overcome the static defenses *machine guns, barbed wire and millions of artillery shells create industrialized meat grinders at Verdun and the Somme

I have not invested much time studying the World Wars and was shocked at the destruction that we, civilized people in civilized countries, were willing to do to each other for some real estate or an ideology. The conditions that the soldier on the front endured are unimaginable for me. Harold Parry, a Brit Poet/Trench Soldier wrote:

"If these dignitaries could only be sat in the trenches for a wee short space, and made to carry heavy coils of wire for long distances up long communication trenches - blasted by the incessant force of the guns, I could guarantee that their war would not last longer than the time to fix up provisional peace terms."

Over the course of the war there were 37,000,000 casualties. That is roughly 37 times the population of San Antonio. 20,000,000 wounded and 17,000,000 killed. Among the dead, 7,000,000 civilians. Death and injury by cannons, automatic rifle fire, poison gas, malnutrition, and disease. Welcome to the civilized 20th century...or rather, welcome to hell on earth.

Towards the end of the first calendar year of the War there was a series of events that stood in stark contrast to the death and destruction of the first war in this new era of human history. In the early part of December 1914, Pope Benedict the XV begged for a truce between the fighting powers, asking, "that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang." He was referring to the announcement of the angels to the shepherds on the hillsides 1900 years or so earlier:

"Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

And the angels were singing in response to the good news of the infant born in Bethlehem, a Savior, the Messiah, the Lord.

This attempt by Pope Benedict XV was rejected by the Generals and War Mongers. Little did the Generals and War Mongers know that they were not the final authority. On Christmas Eve of 1914, the German soldiers decorated their trenches with candles and Christmas trees. The decorating was followed by the singing of Christmas Carols, most prominently "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht," or known to us as "Silent Night."

"Silent night, holy night

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and child

Holy infant, so tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night

Son of God, love's pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at thy birth

Jesus, Lord at thy birth.

Silent night, holy night

Shepherds quake at the sight

Glories stream from heaven above

Heavenly hosts sing hallelujah

Christ the Savior is born

Christ the Savior is born."

And the next thing you know, peace breaks out all up and down the front as the Germans leave their trenches and the Allied forces leave their trenches and they all gather in the space between called "No Man's Land." No Man's Land becomes Every Man's Land. Christmas Carols were sung, gifts exchanged, soccer played, and the dead buried. This became known as the Christmas Truce of 1914.

Peace erupts in the middle of war, in the season that we celebrate "the Word" becoming flesh and dwelling among us. I would say that God revealed himself during this hellish scenario.

Which leads me to this question:

If God can reveal himself in this, one of the most hellish inventions of man, can he reveal himself in any situation?

And if so, how?