O Little Town of Bethlehem: A Story of Faith

One of my all time favorite Christmas hymns is "O Little Town of
Bethlehem." It has been around since 1868 although it wasn’t formally used
in churches until 1892. It is a hymn which is packed with emotion, a song
about the Christ Child, born to Mary, a song filled with the creative
power of God intervening in history with the gift of a savior.

For me "O Little Town of Bethlehem," depicts the Christmas story as a
story of hope, a story where the divine and the human come together in an
amazing but humble way. It is also an invitation for both the non-believer
and the believer. For the non-believer it is an announcement of what God
has done and for the believer it is a challenge to increase one’s faith.

What might surprise you is how this great hymn came to be. It was written
by Phillips Brooks, Episcopal priest. Brooks was serving the Holy Trinity
Church in the City of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia, PA). He had just
returned from a trip to The Holy Land which inspired him to write the
words. "When he returned to America he still had Palestine singing in his
soul." (from Stories of Christmas Carols by Ernest K. Emurian, Baker Book
House Co., page 97)

Brooks was a bachelor. His church organist and Sunday School
superintendent, Lewis Redner was also a bachelor and Brooks gave the words
to him and asked him to create a tune for the upcoming Christmas
celebration. Redner procrastinated and struggled with the creation of a
tune to go with the 5 stanzas that Brooks had written. It wasn’t until the
night before the celebration that Redner got inspired in the middle of the
night and created the song as we know it. The following day a group of 36
children and 6 Sunday school teachers introduced the song created by the 2
bachelors. That was on December 27th, 1968. It wasn’t published as an
official hymn of the Episcopal Church until 1892. The following January,
Phillips Brooks died, never knowing the magnitude of the hymn that he
created.

For some reason the 4th stanza has been dropped from the original score.
"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 breaks, And
Christmas comes once more." The stanza includes the line, "And faith holds
wide the door."

This hymn, like the story of the annunciation of Mary in the gospel of
Luke, is a story about faith.

Keith Wagner, Real Hope