Day 16/Track 16. O Little Town of Bethlehem

Author: Phillips Brooks

Tune: St. Louis

Brooks, a Harvard graduate and Bishop of Massachusetts, wrote this song for his Sunday School in 1868. This song is well known in both the United States and The United Kingdom, but with different tunes. In the U.S. we hear it with “St. Louis” and in the U.K. It’s heard with “Forest Green” as the tune.

The lyrics speak about the quiet entry of Jesus, born in a town that was unaware of his birth and it’s transforming power. The same is true today as we each have neighbors who are unaware of the transformational power that is within their reach. The lyrics in the third verse acknowledge Jesus’s somewhat silent presence around us. It also gives a nod to his second-coming, which will also happen while some are unaware.

How silently, how silently,
the wondrous gift is giv’n!
So God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of His heav’n.
No ear may hear His coming,
but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive Him still,
the dear Christ enters in.

Have you ever thought about how quiet Jesus is?

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