Music of the Season – Little Town of Bethlehem

Greetings Dear Reader,

Each time I hear this song it transports me to the small village of two thousand years ago.  Night time was dark back then.  No light pollution disturbed the stars.  Phillips Brooks penned this song after visiting Bethlehem.  It is obvious that the reality of what that darkness is like touched him as well.

I have been to places with vast skies and no light pollution.  The stars are oppressively bright.  The world looks much different than it does even in small towns in the US.  The line in this song that always seeds itself in my heart is the last of the first stanza.  “The hope and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

The only time I am at peace is when I allow all my hopes and fears to meet and rest in Christ.  This is the gift I wish for everyone.  This is the hope on which I rest all my hopes.

O little town of Bethlehem – Phillips Brooks

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 to-night.

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 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 Christ enters in.

Where children pure and happy

    Pray to the blessed Child,

Where misery cries out to Thee,

    Son of the Mother mild;

Where Charity stands watching

    And Faith holds wide the door,

The dark night wakes, the glory breaks,

    And Christmas comes once more.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,

    Descend to us, we pray!

Cast out our sin and enter in,

    Be born in us to-day.

We hear the Christmas angels,

    The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

    Our Lord Emmanuel!

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."