This year I really wanted to make my own Christmas cards. The plan was to rip off one of the perennial classic designs: the one of Bethlehem looking picturesque in the snow with the seasonal phrase 'Prince of Peace' emblazoned below. My idea was to swap the picture of Bethlehem for one of Baghdad burning. However, my wife - who is the voice of all reason - assured me that this would be way too political and controversial. Perhaps she had a point...

PRINCE  OF  PEACE?	The carol Silent Night was written by an Austrian pastor - Joseph Mohr - back in 1816 and is today the most performed and recorded Christmas song in history. One of the most extraordinary stories about Silent Night comes from another war-zone in another time...
During World War 1, on Christmas Eve, fighting was actually suspended on many of the European fronts while people turned on their radios to hear Austrian opera star, Ernestine Schumann Heink, sing Stille Nacht.
She was not only an international celebrity, but Ms. Heink was also a mother with one son fighting for the German Axis and another son fighting for the Allies. Her rendition of this beautiful song had the power to actually bring a few moments of peace to a very troubled world.   Let's pray for moments of peace this Christmas, in Baghdad, Fallujah and Sudan, in the North Korean Concentration camps where our brothers and sisters still suffer, and even (miraculously) in the battleground of the broken home next door.
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