A voice in the wilderness: Silent Night

News | December 17, 2018

We were so overwhelmed with our transition to the Quad Cities 27 years ago that we decided to tell my husband’s parents that we wouldn’t be traveling to visit with them on Christmas. We felt we needed to spend our last Christmas in the only house our boys, age 11 and 9, had known. Besides, our oldest son, Aaron, was singing a solo of “Silent Night” for the Christmas Eve service.

Little did we expect on December 22 to hear a voice on the phone tell us that Dave’s father had died suddenly at age 62. Our plans quickly changed. We headed north to prepare for a Christmas Eve funeral six hours from home.

Dave’s mother asked Aaron to sing “Silent Night” at the funeral. Dave’s father always loved hearing our son sing along to his favorite country songs. Aaron said “yes,” fulfilling his grandmother’s wish. It was a calming sweet voice in the wilderness, the emotional comfort our family needed.

The next request Dave’s mom made was to go to Christmas Eve service that night. We didn’t know if she would be ready for that, but she knew we all needed to be there to celebrate Christ’s birth. The pastor approached our young vocalist, “Could you sing ‘Silent Night’ at our service?” Aaron said yes again. It was replayed on the local radio station several times through the holiday.

Years later, Aaron went on to teach middle school vocal music in the St, Louis area, and is now a middle school principal.

Paula and Dave McPherson live in Davenport. Hearing “Silent Night” on Christmas Eve is very special to their family.

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