O Little Town of Bethlehem
(which the Magi would have a hard time getting to these days)
Happy Christmas! Today is only Day 1 of the 12 days of Christmas. I am determined to make a little headway towards bringing back those other 11 forlorn, forgotten days of Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas link the two great feast days, Christmas and Epiphany, which is on January 6th. As a 12 days of Christmas project this year, I thought I'd highlight a Christmas hymn each day and reflect on it a bit. Today: "O Little Town of Bethlehem."
It was written by Phillips Brooks, who was an Episcopal priest and later bishop in the 19th century. He was inspired to write this hymn after visiting the actual town of Bethlehem himself. Apparently (according to cyberhymnal.org, anyway) he assisted in a service in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve in 1865:
I remember standing in the old church in Bethlehem, close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices I knew well, telling each other of the Wonderful Night of the Savior’s birth.
I love the line "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight." I think it poignantly describes that essential part of human nature that is wrapped up in waiting and longing, both for the arrival of joy and for the end of suffering. This line bridges Advent and Christmas well, acknowledging the time we have just spent dwelling with our longings, waiting for things to change and telling us that we are entering a new season now that this Everlasting Light has begun to shine over the streets of this little city.
The last verse is my favorite:
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!
I referenced this verse in my sermon today. It highlights that the birth of Christ is the coming of Emmanuel, the God who wants to abide with us or "dwell among us" as John 1 tells us. It reminds us that Christmas is not just about remembering one event from "back in the day"; Christ wants to come into our lives today.
Knowing that Brooks based this hymn on an actual visit to Bethlehem and not just on some cutesy romantic painting of the town makes a big difference in my estimation of this hymn. I have always liked this song (I really like the tune, in particular), but this song can be a little schmaltzy and privatized in its emphasis on role of the human heart in faith. One thing I like about Over the Rhine's adaptation of this hymn ("Little Town") is that it takes very seriously the fact that Bethlehem the actual town has struggled to find peace, particularly in the past several years. (you can find the song here).
The lamplit street of Bethlehem we walk now through the night
There is no peace in Bethlehem, there is no peace in sight
The wounds of generations, almost too deep to heal
Scar the timeworn miracle and make it seem surreal
Bethlehem is a place that is special to me, because during our trip to the Holy Lands in 2008, we stayed in a hotel in Bethlehem nearly the entire time, with the exception of one night in Jerusalem and a couple nights in Galilee. This meant that we had quite a bit of time to explore, to talk with our hotel owners who were a Christian Palestinian couple, to visit Bethlehem Bible College, to walk through the checkpoints at the wall, to understand better what is going on there. More than once I have wondered since then God might call me to live and minister in Bethlehem one day. We shall see. But perhaps we might see this little beleaguered city where Jesus chose to make his entrance into the world as a snapshot, an encapsulation of what this whole world is caught up in - both the beauty and struggle inherent in creation - a place still waiting for the final coming of its Savior to make things right again.
(the view from my hotel room in Bethlehem)
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