O Little Town of Bethlehem

We owe O Little Town of Bethlehem to Brooks’ devotion to God, his love for children, and his kind, poetic nature that sought expression in writing.

The lyrics of O Little Town of Bethlehem are heartfelt and merry, inspired by Brooks’ travel to the Holy Land. One could only write so sincerely from personal experience.

Although the hymn was written for kids, Brooks incorporated numerous theological references into it, making scholars debate the symbolism of O Little Town of Bethlehem to this day.

Lyrics

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 street 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 and enter in
Be born in us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
Oh, come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Immanuel!

Origins

O Little Town of Bethlehem is one of the first American Christmas hymns, written in 1868 as a poem for the Sunday School of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square.

O Little Town of Bethlehem author Phillips Brooks worked as an Episcopal clergyman in the Church of the Holy Trinity and later became the Bishop of Massachusetts.

Brooks was born in Boston and acquired a top-notch education at Harvard University before dedicating his life to the church.

Phillips Brooks was a progressive man with a fresh view, actively preaching against slavery during the Civil War and advocating for equal rights for all people.

The story behind O Little Town of Bethlehem begins after the war, in 1865, when Brooks went abroad for a year, visiting Europe and the Holy Land. There, he found inspiration for his best-known hymn.

Brooks wrote to the children studying at the Sunday School of the Church of the Holy Trinity about his experience visiting Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, which reminded him of his parishioners singing hymns.

Brooks recalled how he came to Bethlehem and was astonished by how well built-in was, better than any other town in Palestine. Before dark, he went out of town to the field where shepherds from the nativity story saw the star.

There, he met shepherds still keeping watch of their flocks, centuries after the events described in the Gospel of Matthew.

However, Brooks didn’t write O Little Town of Bethlehem as soon as he returned from the Holy Land but after nearly three years. Then, the organist of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Lewis Redner, set Brooks’ words to music.

Nowadays, Lewis Redner’s composition is known as St. Louis, first performed at the Church of Holy Trinity by Brooks’ congregation in 1869 on Christmas Eve. It was Brooks’ last Christmas at Holy Trinity before becoming rector at Boston Trinity Church.

Lewis later recalled that he struggled to find a tune for the words and composed it at the last moment. He had to lead a lesson on Sunday and thought about it more than the music.

He was falling asleep on Saturday evening but then suddenly heard an angel-like whispering in his ear and quickly filled in the harmony as we know it now. On Sunday morning, Lewis presented the tune to Brooks.

According to Lewis Redner, neither he nor Brooks thought that the hymn would live beyond Christmas 1869 when it was performed.

However, the hymn had success among locals. Richard McCauley, who then owned a bookstore in Philadelphia, printed the lyrics of leaflets for sale.

Later, Rev. Dr. Huntington, a rector in Worchester’s All Saints’ Church, asked Lewis for permission to include the hymn in his tune book The Church Porch. It was he who first called the tune Saint Louis.

O Little Town of Bethlehem has undergone two-decade probation until it was finally given a place as an official hymnal of Brooks’ own denomination.

In the early 20th century, Ralph Vaughan Williams created another famous O Little Town of Bethlehem musical arrangement known as Forest Green, nowadays commonly performed in the U.K. and the Commonwealth.

Forest Green isn’t an original tune – it’s an adaptation of an old English folk song, The Ploughboy’s Dream. Ralph Vaughan Williams collected the ballad from Mr. Garman of Forest Green, an ordinary man who lived in the rural village of Ockley.

In 1922, Henry Walford Davies composed another tune known as Wengen, published in a hymn book by the Church of England, Hymns Ancient and Modern.

Later, Lewis Redner wrote that he found an extra verse in the Christmas program of 1869, never performed and never published in any books:

Where children pure and happy
Pray to the Blessed Child,
Where misery cries out to Thee
Son of the Mother mild;
Where Charity stands watching
And Faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes the glory hearts
And Christmas comes once more.

Nowadays, O Little Town of Bethlehem has only four verses. Unfortunately, Brooks didn’t witness the nationwide success of his lyrics because he passed away in 1893, aged 58.

After Brooks’ death, his contemporaries remembered that even those who disagreed with him regarding his interpretation of the scriptures and vision of the church, in general, couldn’t withhold their admiration.

Brooks was a great man in all terms – he was great physically, had great talent, and great power to work. He was extraordinarily great in the spirit of his character and consecration to Christ’s service.

Despite such greatness, Brooks was a reserved person who relieved his intense emotions by writing poems. He loved the kids of his parish dearly and was proud to be their comrade.

Brooks had a heart of a child himself, always anticipating Easter and Christmas with enthusiasm and joy. Considering Brooks’ nature, it’s easy to see why he wrote O Little Town of Bethlehem years after his journey to the Holy Land.

Biographer of Phillips Brooks noted that Philipps loved hymns since childhood because his father made kids recite them every Sunday. By the time Philipps went to university, he could recite over 200 hymns.

Meaning

The first verse of O Little Town of Bethlehem describes the quiet town of Bethlehem at night, completely still under the stars.

It is possible that Bethlehem was silent the night Jesus was born, but we know that the town was more crowded than usual due to the census. More likely, the author refers to people in Bethlehem being completely oblivious to Jesus’ birth.

The second part of the first verse mentions everlasting light that meets all the hopes and fears of people. These lines refer to Jesus as the light of the world, the only source of spiritual light available to humankind.

Jesus told his disciples that whoever follows him will never walk in darkness as he guides people by the light of his word, truth, and faith to eternal life.

For this reason, many Christians light the fifth candle, Christ’s candle, on the Advent wreath on Christmas Eve. In the next verse, Brooks writes that angels keep their watch on Jesus while mortals are asleep.

These lines confirm the theory that the first verse talks about the unawareness of people regarding the birth of their Savior. The morning star and angels proclaim the holy birth, signifying the peace of earth.

The situation is actual even today – people go on about their business utterly oblivious to the spiritual side of their world. In the third verse, Brooks writes how silently Jesus entered this world – almost no one knew he was there.

Jesus didn’t come to this world with the pomp one would expect from the King of all Kings. He got his dose of appreciation from the shepherds, Magi, and angels, but he didn’t seek it.

However, we can sense his presence regardless. Every Christian received salvation the moment Christ was born, even if the world continued to revolve as if nothing had changed.

In the song’s last verse, people finally become aware of Jesus’ birth, praying for him to descend and cast out their sin. These lines refer to Christ’s sacrifice for human sins, granting each of us a chance for eternal life.

The line, “Be born in us today,” means that every Christian can feel Jesus’ real presence in their soul by reading His word and partaking in sacraments.

Brooks skillfully transits from a description of the setting to narrating the events of Christmas night and examining the meaning of Christmas, encouraging people to find faith and accept Christ into their hearts.

The last line of O Little Town of Bethlehem, “Abide with us, our Lord Immanuel,” may confuse some readers. The author clearly addresses Jesus, but why is Jesus called Immanuel?

It’s not that Jesus ever went under the name Immanuel, but Matthew called him so in his Gospel to indicate his role in human lives. The name Immanuel is derived from the transliteration of the Hebrew phrase “God is with us.”

This short line describes Jesus’ nature, explaining he is a God who became a human and referring to the graciousness of God who has sent the Messiah to earth to save people from their sins.

On the same note, the meaning of the name Jesus is salvation, derived from the Hebrew word “Yasha.” O Little Town of Bethlehem theology is profound and poetic, unfolding the very essence of Christmas.

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