The Songs Tell the Story: A Family Advent DevotionalSample

The Song that Took a Year to Get to

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” was written for children to sing, but, later, adults wanted to sing the carol as well. The words and the tune might have been written for children to imagine Christmas night in Bethlehem, but adults need to think about those moments too.

Phillips Brooks wrote this Christmas carol in 1865 for the children of the church he pastored in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Brooks wrote this hymn after a trip he’d made to Bethlehem.

It took the pastor an entire year to travel by ship to Europe and then to the Holy Land by horseback. Back then, very few pastors ever visited the homeland of Jesus because it was so hard to get there.

It is about six miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Phillips Brooks and his traveling companions mounted their horses and began to ride. About two hours later, they saw a beautiful town built into the nearby mountain. The homes had beautiful gardens, and the men commented it was the most beautiful town they had seen in the area.

They continued to ride, hoping to arrive at the cave where people believed Jesus had been born. Next, they saw the fields where people believed the shepherds had seen the star and the angels. In fact, there were still shepherds in that field, watching their sheep that day.

Phillips Brooks left the Holy Land and returned home to Philadelphia. Later, as the Christmas season arrived, the pastor was thinking about everything he had seen that day, and he wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

Today, Bethlehem is in the part of Israel considered Palestinian land. Most of the people who live in Bethlehem are Muslim and don’t worship the baby who was born in their city. There are some Christians still living in the area, but their number is very few.

Mr. Brooks’ words would be a good prayer to pray for the many people living in Bethlehem today who don’t realize Jesus was born to be their Lord too.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if, once more, the dark streets of Bethlehem were made to shine with an “everlasting light”?

What if Jesus could be born again in the lives of Bethlehem’s neighbors? What if Jesus could be born again in the hearts of our neighbors?

When you sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” think about the people who live there today. Sing the words as a prayer for them: “O come to us; abide with us; our Lord, Emmanuel.”