His thoughts became heart-warming memories when he returned to Philadelphia and his pastorate at Holy Trinity church. When he needed a new song of Christmas the following year, he reached back for inspiration to that Holy Land visit. The poem he wrote painted in words, the sights and sounds of the wonderful little town he had visited years earlier.

What came from his pen was a Christmas carol that has lived to become a world wide favorite, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

The first words identified that glorious visit to the place of holiness, he had visited.

“O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, The silent stars go by.”

When he finished the carol, he asked the church organist and Sunday school superintendent, Lewis Redner, to compose a simple melody for the children to sing on Christmas Eve. Mr. Redner began work to find just the right tune to carry the descriptive words.

But nothing seemed quite perfect, and already it was the eve of Christmas Eve. But during a fretful sleep, he heard music.

He immediately got out of bed and wrote down the melody just as we sing it today. “I think it was a gift from heaven,” Mr. Redner joyfully admitted.

Composer Phillips Brooks was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1825 and educated at Harvard. He was a beloved and respected evangelist.

After serving as a minister in Episcopal churches in Philadelphia and Boston, he was appointed bishop of that area.

This giant of a man, who stood 6 feet, 6 inches tall, also had a big heart that endeared him to old and young alike. There were toys in his office for the many children who visited him. It was a familiar sight to see the beloved bishop sitting with a group of children on the floor as they played a game.

He never married but other people’s children became family to him. When he died unexpectedly in 1893, at the age of 58, his extended family was overwhelmed with grief.

It was a child who put his death in perspective. When told by her mother that Bishop Brooks had gone to heaven, she replied with a loving smile, “Oh Mama, how happy the angels will be.”

The closing verse of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” expresses Phillips Brooks’ greatest desire which was to share God’s love:

“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.”

Editor’s note: This was first published in December 2019.