Hymn for Dec. 2018

     "O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM"        by Phillip Brooks

    Many hymns that were written originally for children have captured the imagination of everyone. Such is the case with “O little town of Bethlehem” by Phillip Brooks.  This religious carol tells the tale of the birth of Jesus, and was inspired by a pilgrim's moving Christmas Eve experience in the Holy Lands.
    Phillip Brooks was a distinguished man of faith and intellect. A Boston-born Episcopalian preacher, he'd earned a Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Oxford, taught at Yale University, and publicly advocated against slavery during the Civil War. But he's best known for penning "O Little Town of Bethlehem" after a life-changing journey.
     He wrote this beloved Christmas hymn for the Sunday school children at his Philadelphia parish, Holy Trinity Church, following a pilgrimage to Bethlehem in 1865.  Brooks rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where he participated in the Church of the Nativity's five-hour  long Christmas Eve celebration, complete with hymns. The service lasted from 10 P.M. to 3 A.M.!  “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, in which, strangely enough, they put the shepherds. . . . 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.”    Returning home, this experience proved so profound that he channeled it into the song sung in churches to this day.                                                                                               Its first public performance was held three years later, performed by the children's choir of his church on December 27th.     In the United States, the hymn is generally sung to its original tune, ST. LOUIS by Louis H. Redner (1831-1908).    Redner noted that the “simple music was written in great haste and under great pressure almost on the Eve of Christmas. It was after midnight that a little angel whispered the strain in my ears and I roused myself and jotted it down as you have it.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            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 tonight