Today's Carol: "O Little Town of Bethlehem"
This carol is one of my favorites, and after researching it I appreciate it even more! The text was written by an Episcopal Priest named Phillip Brooks based on a trip that he took to Bethlehem in 1865. Three years later he wrote the poem, and a church organist added the music.
I was able to find a picture of the original manuscript's first verse. Check it out at the link below:
Here are the lyrics to this hymn:
1. 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 streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.
2. For Christ is born of Mary;
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth;
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.
3. How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
4. O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.
Listen at the words of the song's author about the experience that he had in Bethlehem in 1865:
"It was only about two hours when we came to the town, situated on an eastern ridge of a range of hills, surrounded by its terraced gardens. It is a good-looking town, better built than any other we have seen in Palestine. . . .
Before dark, we rode out of town to the field where they say the shepherds saw the star. It is a fenced piece of ground with a cave in it (all the Holy Places are caves here), in which, strangely enough, they put the shepherds. The story is absurd, but somewhere in those fields we rode through the shepherds must have been. . . .
As we passed, the shepherds were still "keeping watch over their flocks or leading them home to fold."
One can almost imagine what it must have been like for Phillip Brooks to experience such an amazing journey through this land of antiquity. This town that was foretold by the prophets about the first coming of Jesus is a fitting topic for a carol.
We are reminded when we think about this small town in the scriptures, that God often uses the plain and common things to do His work. A reality that should give us hope on the days when we're not feeling "very extraordinary."
Have a great day and God bless!
