Inside: What does a foreign vacation, a tall preacher on an after-dinner horse ride, and a real estate agent with a knack for writing tunes have in common? A timeless carol about an unforgettable small town.
An Unforgettable Small Town
“O Little Town of Bethlehem”–the song brings back memories for me. Suddenly I’m nine years old, transported to the living room of my organ teacher, Marita Wehde, with a couple dozen other people, waiting for my turn to play music for the recital. I had three songs to play, one of which was “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” I don’t remember the other selections, but I vaguely recall making a mistake on one of them. Yet my rendition of that famous little place was without error. Yes, the song brings back memories, and I’m not the only one thinking of an unforgettable small town. . .
On Horseback to Bethlehem
During a vacation to the Holy Land in 1865, Phillips Brooks, a nineteenth century preacher of great stature–six feet six–decided to take a horse ride from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. In a letter to his father Christmas week, he wrote of his observations: “After an early dinner, [we] took our horses and rode to Bethlehem. It was only about two hours when we came to the town, situated on an eastern ridge of a range of hills, surrounded by its terraced gardens. It is a good-looking town, better built than any other we have seen in Palestine. . . . Before dark, we rode out of town to the field where they say the shepherds saw the star. It is a fenced piece of ground with a cave in it (all the Holy Places are caves here), in which, strangely enough, they put the shepherds. The story is absurd, but somewhere in those fields we rode through the shepherds must have been. . . . As we passed, the shepherds were still ‘keeping watch over their flocks or leading them home to fold.'” Mr. Brooks returned home the following fall, but the impressions of that night wouldn’t take musical form for another three years.
A Christmas Carol in the Making
Reverend Brooks, rector at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia, needed a carol for the Sunday school Christmas program, and so he put pen to paper and wrote it himself. Memories of Bethlehem provided inspiration, and in one brief writing session, he penned the words. He approached his organist, Lewis Redner, a real estate agent in the area, and urged him to come up with a melody. But nothing came to him.
Redner recounted the story: “As Christmas of 1868 approached, Mr. Brooks told me that he had written a simple little carol for the Christmas Sunday-school service, and he asked me to write the tune to it. The simple music was written in great haste and under great pressure. We were to practice it on the following Sunday. Mr. Brooks came to me on Friday, and said, ‘Redner, have you ground out that music yet to “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”?’ I replied, ‘No,’ but that he should have it by Sunday. On Saturday night previous my brain was all confused about the tune. I thought more about my Sunday-school lesson than I did about the music. But I was roused from sleep late in the night hearing an angel-strain whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning before going to church I filled in the harmony. Neither Mr. Brooks nor I ever thought the carol or the music to it would live beyond that Christmas of 1868.”
Good Things Happen in Small Towns
You know what I love best about “O Little Town of Bethlehem”? In essence, it’s the story of an unpretentious farming town that became the birthplace of the Savior of the World. No big city or ritzy palace. Not even a nice hotel. Just an old barn with horses and cattle and sheep in an unforgettable small town.
But isn’t that just like God?
Do you have a favorite Christmas carol? Tell us about it in the comments.
Resources and related posts:
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 1: Our Hillbilly Christmas Wreath 2019!
A Rural Girl’s Favorite Things Christmas Gift Guide 2019
Before Christmas Gets Crazy: Six Tips for Slowing Down and Enjoying the Season
Posts from a year ago:
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Silent Night’s Story
Make Our Healthy Butternut Squash, Apple, Cranberry Bake
From two years ago:
The 12 Posts of Christmas, Day 2: Spiced Nuts
Winter Skies, Making and Baking, and Other News Fresh From the Farm