December 9 

O Little Town of Bethlehem 

TEXT: Phillips Brooks

b. December 13, 1835, Boston, Massachusetts

d. January 23, 1893, Boston, Massachusetts

Phillips Brooks, called by some “the greatest preacher of the 19th century,” was born in Massachusetts and attended the Boston Latin School, then Harvard University. The Phillips Brooks House at Harvard is named for him. He attended the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia and became a priest in 1860, just before the Civil War. He is remembered for his support ending slavery, and he gave the funeral message for Abraham Lincoln.

Brooks wrote the carol for the children in his Sunday school when he was rector of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia. It was inspired by a trip he had taken to the Holy Land (Israel) in 1865. Wanting to get away from the other travelers there for the holidays, he borrowed a horse and rode from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to assist with the Christmas Eve service. He describes it:

I remember 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 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 Saviour’s birth.²⁵

TUNE: Lewis H. Redner

b. December 15, 1830, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

d. August 29, 1908, Atlantic City, New Jersey

Brooks asked the organist at his church to write a tune for his hymn text. The story goes that Lewis Redner, who was also the Sunday school superintendent, was having difficulty writing it, until it finally came to him on Christmas Eve. It was first performed on December 27, 1868. The tune, ST. LOUIS, is possibly Brooks’s play on words with Redner’s first name.

As you sing this hymn … you are singing of the hometown of Ruth and of King David, where the prophet Micah precisely prophecied as Jesus’ birthplace over 700 years earlier. (See “Christmas in the Bible,” #8). An oft-overlooked wonder is that God ordained a worldwide census by the emperor of Rome so that the two people He had foreordained as Jesus’ parents had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Lineage was an important part of God’s design for the family of His Son, and Scripture lists Joseph’s family tree in both Matthew and Luke. Jesus came from the royal line of King David.

Imagine you are one of the children in Brooks’s Sunday school class 150 years ago. What an ideal picture he paints of shining light coming to the dark streets. What a sound of silence he describes when such a momentous event is taking place. Can you picture yourself there?

Though still a tourist location, today Bethlehem is not so inviting, as the Arab, Jewish, and Christian conflicts have made it a somewhat dangerous place to visit. What is the answer for Bethlehem and for all without peace? “Where meek souls will receive Him still,” speaking of those who can admit they need help, “the dear Christ enters in.” And when He enters, He imparts the blessings of heaven, forgiveness from sin, and His continual, sustaining presence for troubled people in a troubled world. The last sentence is an earnest prayer we pray: “Abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel.”