The beloved Christmas carol “Silent Night” carries in its lyrics a message of hope and one of the reasons we celebrate Thanksgiving, the Rev. Sam Godfrey told Vicksburg Lions.

Godfrey, pastor of Christ Episcopal Church, presented a Thanksgiving message based on a rendition of “Silent Night” recorded in the late 1960s by the duo Simon and Garfunkel.

The recording has the duo singing the first verses of the song to a background of a news broadcast.

“It starts with those familiar words, and it’s like most of those Christmas carols, you hear the first line and you’re just hanging on it,” he said. “It’s holy because you know just where those words are leading.

“Silent night, holy night; all is calm all is bright, and a reminder when we hear those words we have so much to be thankful for.”

But as they sing the first verse, of the hymn, he said, “You start hearing in the background — and you have to listen closely — they start playing a composite of what they describe as the ‘7 o’clock news.’”

While the listener hears the lyrics, “Silent night, holy night; all is calm all is bright,” Godfrey said, the news broadcast talks about a fight over a section of the Civil Rights Bill in the U.S. House of Representatives and the death of comedian Lenny Bruce to an apparent drug overdose in Los Angeles.

“Then you hear again ‘round yon virgin, mother and child.’ But underneath that you hear, ‘A march is planned in the Chicago suburb of Cicero about fair housing, and the sheriff of Cook County said he plans to ask for the National Guard to be called out if the march is held.’ And then you ‘hear holy infant so tender and mild.’”

In the background, he said, is a report about a serial killer going before a grand jury in Chicago and then-former vice president Richard Nixon predicting the United States could look forward for five more years of war (in Vietnam).

“And you hear, ‘Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace’ after all that news, and the 7 o’clock edition of the news ends with ‘that’s the 7 o’clock edition of the news, goodnight.’

“And the juxtaposition of those things with Thanksgiving hit me that day,” Godfrey said.

The reason, he said, is because of Silent night “and the news that it give us, that we’re still, after all that other news, we’re still able to say goodnight.”

And after listening to the recording several more times, he said, “I realized not a whole lot has changed.”

It’s still easy, and so easy, he said, to make a new version taking the second verse of Silent Night.

“Silent night, holy night, shepherds quake at the site, and the paper just this past weekend had a story of a young man who was murdered by his friend, of all things, only a few blocks from the rectory where I live next door to Christ Church. On the streets I’ve driven past and even walked on prayer walks.

“Glory streams from heaven afar. Just a couple of weeks working at the food pantry, we had one of our busiest times ever for the food pantry. In our 5 to 6 (p.m.) time slot at the food pantry we didn’t stop ‘til well after 7 o’clock.”

During that time, Godfrey said, the pantry provided food for 72 people who were in need.

“I think it’s maybe appropriate that saying we were able to do that, the next line is ‘heavenly host sing alleluia.’

“But as we hear that, we also know about the shooting at the church here in Texas recently and tragedy there, and that still today there are wars in our world and our troops are still deployed, and I could go on and on.”

But even more importantly than all the other news that he could add, he said, “Silent Night” continues to be sung.

“This hymn goes on, and I believe that is one of the reasons we celebrate Thanksgiving, and we are able to give thanks, that in the midst of all that goes on, and we are able to have thanksgiving, to know thanksgiving in our hearts is the way that hymn ends, ‘Christ the savior is born, Christ the savior is born.’ And therein is our hope and therein is our thanksgiving.Our thanksgiving for the good around us, for as much as there is news, there is even more good. There is good around us.

“We give thanksgiving that God cares and that God is at work in the world. And that God’s work is manifested in the world around us and I find it terribly appropriate that we begin the holiday season with thanksgiving.

“We begin with thanksgiving, which leads so naturally to giving thanks for the incarnation, for God’s with us. Not just on that silent night we’ll celebrate in six or seven weeks, but always, always. We do have hope in Thanksgiving. We have hope in Thanksgiving and I absolutely believe the world is a better place today.”

And as the community approaches Thanksgiving, he said, there is much for which to be thankful.

“Food at the pantry, stay busy. Thanks be to God that we are able; that we’re able through donations, that we’re able through the work of volunteers, we are able and blessed to be able to do that and send out all that food and make a difference in those people’s lives.

“It is something to be thankful for, and many of the people we serve leave of a sense of thanksgiving.

The shooting death in the neighborhood around the church was tragic, Godfrey said, but there’s still hope.

“That was an isolated incident and there’s still much, much, more that goes on to bring us hope; to bring hope into that neighborhood,” he said. “There’s much to be thankful for. At our church we reach out into the neighborhood, to reach out into the neighborhood around the church.

“While the event happened just a few blocks from the church, also a few blocks from the church is the Good Shepherd Community Center.”

Good Shepherd, he said, is something to be thankful for, because it’s something that makes an absolute difference.

“There, they bring people Thanksgiving, they bring people Christmas. At Christ Church, we adopt several of the children from Good Shepherd for Christmas. I volunteer at Good Shepherd and I can promise you, it makes a difference in lives.”

Going back to “Silent Night,” he repeated the line, “Radiant beams, we sing, ‘Radiant beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.’

“It has been amazing at the things that’s happened; amazing and great still, to see how that church (where the shooting took place) has bonded, as they mourned, even as they grieved they way they’ve responded there. We’ve seen that happen before. It is something to be thankful for.

“There is forgiveness in this world. There’s forgiveness in the world in astounding ways, and thankfully, we are called to do the same. Thankfully, we are not only called, but we are able to forgive.”

He discussed the work of the community’s civic clubs, shelters, churches and organizations like the Salvation Army. “All of these are doing this, not so much out of a sense of duty, but in giving back to God.

“We have much for which to be thankful, and that wonderful hymn that reminds us thanks ends with, ‘Jesus, lord at thy birth; Jesus, lord at thy birth.’”

We live in a world today that can be infuriating, that can be confusing, it can be wonderful and forgiving, and conflicted, Godfrey said, and still a place of peace, still a place where people can give thanks to God.

“Thanksgiving, technically, isn’t a religious holiday, even though we have hymns for it and we have a prayer for it,” he said. “It’s a national holiday, but it’s still a day when we give thanks to God. We give thanks to God out creator for all his blessings, and his reminders that God cares greatly about our world. And that we are blessed and there is much to be thankful for.”