Advent Devotional - Introduction

A Song for the Season

This year, our daily devotional readings for Advent focus upon words taken from a familiar carol.

We all know “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” but have you ever really thought about the lyrics? Many of the great themes of Scripture are to be found within a song originally written for children. Let’s explore them together over the coming weeks, as we prepare for the celebration of the coming of Christ.

May the blessings of the season be yours.

Alan Trafford

Advent 2010

The Story of the Carol

There is comfort in familiar things, and there are few Christmas carols more familiar to us than ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem.’ It was written in 1868 by Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), an Episcopalian minister, Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Philadelphia, and one of the most famous preachers of his generation.

Three years earlier, Brooks had visited the Holy Land and been profoundly affected by his travels. Writing home, during Christmas week in 1865, Brooks wrote:

“After an early diner, we took our horses and rode to Bethlehem. 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.”

The carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was written for a children’s Christmas concert in Brooks’ congregation. It quickly became a favorite across the denominations. Brooks’ organist, Lewis Redner, added the original tune entitled “St. Louis,” which became the standard in North America. In England, a traditional melody called “Forest Green” was adapted by Ralph Vaughn Williams; it also remains popular.

O little town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by.

Yet in the dark streets shineth

The everlasting light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight.

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.

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.

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, ands enter in;

Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Emmanuel.

Interestingly, the two halves of the second verse are sometimes transposed, so that some people begin, “For Christ is born of Mary…” while others begin “O morning stars together…”

In the original manuscript there was also a fourth verse, which is not found in modern hymnals.

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 hearts

And Christmas comes once more.

Brooks came in for some criticism over this verse. The fourth line, which he had written to refer to God the Father, was taken by some to imply the Immaculate Conception of Mary, a Roman Catholic doctrine. Brooks replaced the words with:

Son of the Mother mild.

But the verse was considered to be weaker than the others, and it was soon dropped from use.

Over the succeeding years, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” has become one of the best-loved Christmas carols. Translated into many languages, set to a variety of tunes, its appeal within the Church is universal. And, as we shall see, contained within its lines are Bible truths that teach us the story and the meaning of Christmas.