The peaceful promise of Bethlehem

BY JEAN H. JENKINS

Phillips Brooks, an Episcopalian priest in Philadelphia, visited the Holy Land in 1865. As the story goes, he was so inspired by the peaceful Christmas Eve view of Bethlehem from the surrounding hills that he later put pen to paper. The result was the Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem," the first verse of which reads:

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