It must
have been something special, that the place and the experience remained vivid
for this poet and led to his creation some three years later. Perhaps Phillips
Brooks did not expect what happened when he visited the Church of the Nativity
in Bethlehem (see painting of the Grotto of the Nativity, from 1833, here) in
1865 when he was 30 years old. His memory of that visit at Christmas led to “O
Little Town of Bethlehem” in 1868, as he sought to make a Christmas season
worship experience thousands of miles from that original place more special. If
he couldn’t take all the people from inside the church where he ministered in
1868 back to Bethlehem, maybe he could bring a bit of it to where he was.
Phillips
Brooks may have been a big man physically, but he had a heart for children, a characteristic
that emerged especially in this Christmas song. At 6’ 6”, Phillips could have
been, and perhaps was for some people, an imposing presence. Yet, it was he who
found a Christmas service in Bethlehem in 1865 to be so very overwhelming; it
was a five-hour experience that he still remembered three years later as he prepared
for another Christmas, this time in Philadelphia. The great peace he had
observed in Bethlehem was what he sought to reproduce for the children in
Philadelphia; they needed a song for their Sunday school presentation, and
Brooks drew upon what still occupied his mind from the Holy Land scene he’d
attended years earlier. His fourth verse particularly seems aimed at the ‘…children, pure and happy…’ whom he draws
into the divine message; it’s about peace and the contentment to which all God’s
children aspire. Perhaps the scenery he paints in each of his five verses were
ones he’d seen in Bethlehem’s church in 1865. Verse 1 has me looking at the little
village under the nighttime sky, dark and sleepy-eyed, yet somehow aware that
He and His light are there. Verse 2 portrays the birth of the Holy Child, an
event attended by angelic and heavenly bodies. Verse 3 tells that He’s a quiet
presence, yet alluring to those who align with His meek nature. While Phillips focuses
verse 4 on the Child and children, he also asks the Holy Child in verse 5 to
transform those who invite His presence. How many of the original scenes – the village
of Bethlehem, His lowly birthplace, the angels watching over Him -- were within
just a few steps of where Brooks had been in 1865? Did Phillips ponder this too,
as he recollected where he’d been on one special Christmas?
Phillips
didn’t want his Christmas 1865 to be a fading memory. He recaptured some of it
in five verses, though probably not every sight and sound. Photos and motion pictures
were not yet common in Phillips’ day when he coaxed worshippers to be
transported mentally/emotionally/spiritually to another place. Words and music,
along with the stories he could relate, held that task. There’s other places
that I’ve never been that I can see and hear through technical means. But there’s
no remote touch, smell, or taste capabilities in the early 21st
Century. And, there’s still no time travel either, at least not physically.
Phillips, and you, and I can perhaps go where he was in 1865 sometime and retrieve
all the missing parts. But, perhaps you can bring some of Bethlehem to your
locale this coming Christmas – or even before then. That’s what Phillips Brooks
would have recommended.
See more
information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of
Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J.
Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing
Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck,
Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck,
Kregel Publications, 1982; Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest
Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003; and A
Treasury of Hymn Stories – Brief Biographies of 120 Hymnwriters with Their Best
Hymns, by Amos R. Wells, Baker Book House, 1945.
Also see this link, showing all five original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/l/i/t/olittlet.htm
Biography of the writer is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/r/o/o/brooks_p.htm
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