The Story Behind the (Christmas) Song

'Tis the season for Christmas Carols, so I thought I would choose some to highlight in the upcoming weeks. The first is "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

This beloved hymn was written by Phillips Brooks, a pastor in Philadelphia and Boston. One article I read (Lindsay Terry from Devotionals from Famous Hymns) commented that Brooks "...preached, unlike most Protestants of his day in that city, the evangelical gospel of Jesus Christ." Apparently in 1865 Brooks traveled to the Holy Land, and actually visited Bethlehem for a Christmas Eve service. He was so touched by the experience that a couple of years later he wrote a poem for the children of his church. He then asked Lewis Redner, who was the organist and Sunday school superintendent of his church, to write a tune for his poem. The following (excerpted from Louis Benson from Studies of Familiar Hymns) is an actual account of Mr. Redner's experience of writing the tune of "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

“As Christmas of 1868 approached, Mr. Brooks told me that he had written a simple little carol for the Christmas Sunday-school service, and he asked me to write the tune to it. The simple music was written in great haste and under great pressure. We were to practice it on the following Sunday. Mr. Brooks came to me on Friday, and said, ‘Redner, have you ground out that music yet to “O Little Town of Bethlehem”?’ I replied, ‘No,’ but that he should have it by Sunday. On the Saturday night previous my brain was all confused about the tune. I thought more about my Sunday-school lesson than I did about the music. But I was roused from sleep late in the night hearing an angel-strain whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning before going to church I filled in the harmony. Neither Mr. Brooks nor I ever thought the carol or the music to it would live beyond that Christmas of 1868."

Aren't we glad that Mr. Redner's original prediction didn't come true?

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.

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 giv'n!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heav'n.
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;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Immanuel.