Archive article 11

The writer behind the Christmas Carol

“O little town of Bethlehem”

At the age of thirty, Philips Brooks, already a well known and gifted preacher, visited Bethlehem. So moved by the tranquillity of the village and the realization that the place where he was visiting was the very place which had become the centre of human history, that already on horse back, in the middle of night, he began to pencil out the thoughts which became this famous Carol.

The words, written in poetic form, are incredibly rich in the meaning they convey:

O little town of Bethlehem

How still we see thee lie!

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by;

Yet in they dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee to-night

O morning stars, together

Proclaim the holy birth.

And praises sing to God the King,

And peace to men on earth;

For Christ is born of Mary;

And, gathered all above,

While mortals sleep, the Angels keep

Their watch of wondering love.

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 Lord 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 Emmanuel

Christmas is far more than a reason for a holiday with presents etc: The sleepy village of Bethlehem became the centre of a hope for the history of our entire world!

Jesus Christ, “the everlasting light” was the “wondrous gift given, so God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his heaven”.

Phillips Brooks reminds us of a treasure. Let’s not ignore or trivialise it this 2009 Christmas but let us ask him to

“Descend to us we pray: Cast out our sin and enter in; Be born in us today”

At the age of thirty, Philips Brooks, already a well known and gifted preacher, visited Bethlehem. So moved by the tranquillity of the village and the realization that the place where he was visiting was the very place which had become the centre of human history, that already on horse back, in the middle of night, he began to pencil out the thoughts which became this famous Carol.

The words, written in poetic form, are incredibly rich in the meaning they convey: