Whether you like and appreciate what we do or merely want to keep up with the steady stream of vicious, rage-fueled inanity, buffoonery, and mendacity that we pump out, I hope that you will choose to do so. \u00a0It will cost you nothing (beyond \u00a0a few years of sanity and peace of mind).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Last night, I finished Dr. Michael Nahm\u2019s fascinating book Wenn die Dunkelheit ein Ende findet: Terminale Geistesklarheit und andere ungew\u00f6hnliche Ph\u00e4nomene in Todesn\u00e4he<\/em>. [\u201cWhen the Darkness Comes to an End: Terminal Lucidity and Other Unusual Near-Death Phenomena\u201d]. \u00a0Time and again while reading it, I thought that it needs to be translated into English. \u00a0(I haven\u2019t looked very intensely, but I don\u2019t believe that an English translation exists.) \u00a0I\u2019ve thought of doing a translation myself, but I simply have too many things on my plate as it is.<\/span><\/p>\n Are there any German-speakers out there who\u2019re looking for an interesting project? \u00a0I would be happy to be involved, and even to help. \u00a0I could maybe coordinate it, but I can\u2019t do it all.<\/p>\n It\u2019s appropriate, coincidentally, to move (as I will now do) from a book entitled \u201cWhen the Darkness Comes to an End\u201d to a discussion of Christmas, which, not coincidentally, occurs very close to the winter solstice. \u00a0That is, of course, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. \u00a0After 21 December or 22 December, our days gradually become longer. \u00a0The darkness comes to an end.<\/p>\n In December of every year since I launched this blog, I\u2019ve called attention to some of my favorite Christmas music.<\/p>\n I remember very clearly when and where the marvelous carol Es ist ein Ros entsprungen<\/em> (often called in English Lo, How a Rose E\u2019er Blooming<\/em>)<\/span>, which was given its classical form by the German composer Michael Praetorius in 1609 but which originated sometime before that, first caught my attention. \u00a0It has retained my attention ever since. \u00a0(Please listen to a performance of it here<\/a>.) \u00a0I suppose that it\u2019s possible that I had heard the song before, but, if I had, it hadn\u2019t registered. \u00a0Not even slightly.)\u00a0 I was attending a Latter-day Saint sacrament meeting in Interlaken, Switzerland, shortly before Christmas 1972. \u00a0More than fifty years ago, now. \u00a0Curiously, I don\u2019t recall who sang the song. \u00a0It may have been a branch or district choir.<\/p>\n I was enraptured. \u00a0Riveted. \u00a0I had seldom, if ever, heard anything so beautiful before. \u00a0And Es ist ein Ros entsprungen<\/span><\/em> affects me that way still. \u00a0The German lyrics vary slightly from one printing to another, but I offer here a representative version of the text:<\/p>\n Es ist ein Ros entsprungen,<\/span> Das R\u00f6slein, das ich meine, Das Bl\u00fcmelein, so kleine, And here is a literal and quite unpoetic translation (partially my own) of the lyrics above:<\/p>\n A rose has sprung up The little rose that I mean, The tiny\u00a0flower, so small, I\u2019ve always loved the German lyrics. \u00a0The English words just don\u2019t move me as much \u2014 and I\u2019m not referring merely to the literal and unpoetic version supplied above. \u00a0But the music is gorgeous in any language.<\/p>\n What I regard as my visually ideal Christmas \u2014 the Christmas against which all my other Christmases are measured, in that respect \u2014 occurred at roughly the same time, in December 1972, that I first fell in love with Es ist ein Ros entsprungen.<\/span><\/em> \u00a0I was about a quarter of the way into my Latter-day Saint mission in German-speaking Switzerland, assigned in the midst of the magnificent Berner Oberland\u00a0to the branch in Interlaken. \u00a0A prominent Swiss member family invited me and my companion to Christmas Eve dinner at their exceptionally large and beautiful home in Innertkirchen, in the Haslital.<\/span><\/p>\n There was fresh snow on the ground, brilliantly white. \u00a0The night was exceptionally clear and crisp, and perfectly serene. \u00a0The mountains surrounded us, glowing brightly white under stars and a full or close-to-full moon. \u00a0It was a picture-perfect Alpine Christmas. \u00a0It was magical, and it lives richly on in my memory. \u00a0For me, as (I suspect) for many others, Christmas holiday traditions are a blend of (I hope!) the New Testament Nativity story with elements from the Alps and from England. \u00a0And, in my case, rarely but optimally accompanied with a decent quantity of Norwegian potato lefse<\/em>. \u00a0At some point during the next few weeks, we\u2019ll also enjoy fondue and, almost certainly, raclette.<\/span><\/p>\n Always wanting to be helpful, I share with you a couple of lists of things to do to get into the Christmas mood. \u00a0The first would require you to be present within a reasonable distance of Temple Square, but the second wouldn\u2019t:<\/p>\n In keeping with tradition, I close with a few horrifying finds from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 On many pages of the new Interpreter Foundation website, you will see\u00a0an invitation to \u201cSubscribe to Our Mailing List.\u201d Whether you like and appreciate what we do or merely want to keep up with the steady stream of vicious, rage-fueled inanity, buffoonery, and mendacity that we pump out, I hope that you will choose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":68361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20011,26963,26960,2905,788,28346],"class_list":["post-113906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-es-ist-ein-ros-entsprungen","tag-haslital","tag-innertkirchen","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-mormon","tag-terminal-lucidity"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\/The](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2025\/12\/81yFrcUPs-L._SL1500_.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Austria,](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/12\/800px-St._Thomas_church_on_a_winter_morning-1.jpg\")
<\/a>
More than any other kind of landscape on earth, Alpine scenery such as this strikes me as a foretaste of heaven. And I love its music.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\naus einer Wurzel zart,
\nwie uns die Alten sungen,
\nvon Jesse kam die Art.
\nUnd hat ein Bl\u00fcmlein bracht
\nmitten im kalten Winter,
\nwohl zu der halben Nacht.<\/p>\n
\ndavon Jesaja sagt,
\nhat uns gebracht alleine
\nMarie, die reine Magd.
\nAus Gottes ew\u2019gem Rat
\nhat sie ein Kind geboren
\nwelches uns selig acht.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\ndas duftet uns so s\u00fc\u00df,
\nmit seinem hellen Scheine
\nvertreibt\u2019s die Finsternis.
\nWahr Mensch und wahrer Gott<\/span>
\nhilft uns aus allem Leide,
\nrettet von S\u00fcnd und Tod.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nfrom a tender root.
\nAs the ancients\u00a0sang to us.
\nIts line\u00a0came from Jesse
\nAnd it has brought forth a\u00a0small flower<\/span>
\nIn the middle of the cold winter,
\nIn\u00a0the middle of\u00a0the night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nOf which Isaiah told,
\nMary alone, the pure maid,
\nHas brought to us.
\nBy\u00a0God\u2019s eternal counsel
\nShe has borne a child
\nWhich makes us blessed.<\/p>\n
\nThat smells so sweet to us,
\nWith its bright gleam
\nDispels\u00a0the darkness
\n\u2013True man and true God\u2013
\nHelps us in all suffering,
\nSaves us from sin and death.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Haslital](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2025\/12\/Haslital_in_2010_July.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"I](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2023\/12\/Ausgang_Aareschlucht-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>\n
![\"Giving](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2023\/11\/MobileGM_Georgia6.jpeg\")
<\/a>\n