O Holy Night & the Scourge of Slavery

       Front cover of the 6th edition of "Cantique de Noël", 1852 (original name for O Holy Night) 

 3 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 pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

                                    O Holy Night verse 3

As anticipated, the Christmas hymn that won the Trenton United Clash of the Carols was O Holy Night -- decidedly not my choice. Rev. Isaac used the sermon time to talk about this carol and the runner up, In the Bleak Midwinter before we sang the winner. 

He explained that it was written by Adolphe Adam on request from the writer who had penned the original poem in the 1840s. I discovered later that the carol writer was an atheist which didn't sit well with the Roman Catholic establishment.There were Protestant churches which wouldn't sing it because it was perceived as Catholic.  It also included a passionate criticism of slavery which meant that the English translation version was embraced by abolitionists in the United States and rejected by those who were pro-slavery. 

Afterward I thought about the many ways of defining slavery, an evil reality to the present day. Both Trenton and Belleville are communities along the 401 highway corridor known as a conduit for sex trafficking, a sort of oppressive bondage that tends to be hidden in plain sight. From time to time there are news items from these two towns about young women who have been freed from this form of modern-day slavery. 

Fortunately we weren't asked to literally "fall on our knees" (first verse) as we sang yesterday. Our congregation is of a general age that many of us might still be there waiting for help to get back up. 

Despite all these hurdles, through the decades O Holy Night has been persistently popular, often with soloists who want to display their vocal chops. I'm grateful that it isn't in our worship resource, Voices United, but the history of the carol is interesting and the people have spoken!