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The Story and Meaning Behind "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
Phillips Brooks, the composer of this famous Christmas carol, was the minister of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia and had visited Bethlehem in December of 1865. Phillips Brooks traveled to the Holy Land. The itinerary included a horseback ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. Back then it truly was a small village, far removed from the bustling city it would later become. By nightfall he was in the field where, according to tradition, the shepherds heard the angelic announcement. Then he attended the Christmas Eve service at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Writing to the children of his congregation, he recalled that first visit:
“I remember especially on Christmas Eve, when I was standing in the old church in Bethlehem, close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with the splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices I knew well, telling each other of the “wonderful night” of the Savior’s birth.”
Then Phillips asked the church organist, Louis H. Redner (1931-1908), a wealthy real estate broker who served as a church organist, to compose a simple melody for the children to sing on Christmas Eve. Mr.Redner sat down at the piano to find just the right tune to carry the descriptive words.
But nothing he wrote seemed to fit. On the night before the Christmas Eve service Redner felt defeated, so he went to bed. During his fretful sleep it seemed that he heard music. Immediately, he got up and wrote down the melody just as we sing it today. When he joyfully presented it to Rev. Brooks he said: "I think it was a gift from heaven." The children sounded like a choir of angels as they sang the new carol written just for them. “O Little of Bethlehem” quickly became a favorite after it was published in 1874.
The now omitted original fourth stanza seems to be a prayer directed to children:
Where children pure and happy
Pray to the blessed Child,
Where misery cries out to thee,
Son of the undefiled;
Where charity stands watching
And faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks,
And Christmas comes once more.
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O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark street shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in in thee tonight.
For christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep the angels keep
Their watch of wandering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the king
And peace to men on earth
O holy child of Bethlehem
Descend to us we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born in us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us abide in us
Our Lord Emmanuel!
"O Little Town of Bethlehem"
Phillips Brooks
The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 230
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