As the soldiers at the time said, it was a beautiful thing. In WWI soldiers from both sides stopped the war and came out of the trenches to wish each other a Merry Christmas in No Man's Land. Below is a link to a news story about both the truce and a new movie about it that is sweeping France. To me it as though the soldiers created this unspoken shared prayer that whispers still for our salvation.
http://news.independent.co.uk/...
A little more on the flip.
I want to thank the folks over at antiwar.com for bringing it to my attention. They have a entire panel of articles on the subject including a letter from a British soldier about the truce telling how the opposing sides stumbled into it after serenading one another across the trenches. Speaking of the German soldiers' rendition of Silent Night, he says, "I've never heard one lovelier--or more meaningful, in that quiet, clear night, its dark softened by a first-quarter moon."
It is worth a trip over to the site, if only to see the photos of the soldiers or read that letter. Be advised that antiwar.com is a libertarian site that rails against the Iraq War, but is not looking to align itself with Democrats, to say the least. The soldiers of that Christmas Day on 1914 have something to teach us, if we will let them. God bless us all, everyone.