O Little Town of Bethlehem: Our Hopes and Fears
O Little Town of Bethlehem: Our Hopes and Fears
Luke 2:1-7
Advent Series - Christmas Carols: Songs of Hope on the Way to Bethlehem
November 30, 2025 First Sunday of Advent
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, CA
PDF OF SERMON AVAILABLE AT BOTTOM OF THIS BOX
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth and placed him in a manger, because there was no room available for them.
In the church year, we start a new liturgical year in the season of Advent and focus on preparing and waiting and wondering about how the familiar story of Jesus’ may offer an invitation and deeper understanding.
This year the Worship Committee and I decided that we would use the lens of Christmas carols to explore the biblical stories of Christmas in Matthew and Luke. What do we see? What do we hear? What can we learn today? How do these familiar songs they comfort us and challenge us as followers of Christ? What could be different about Christmas this year?
Our passage from Luke is brief. We hear the words and yet our minds fill in details because of artwork and music. Before we look at our carol today, let’s look at the text.
In Luke, angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her the shocking news – she will give birth the promised one, son of God. If we look at the story of Jesus birth as told by Luke, perhaps we ought to be surprised that anyone recognized him as the Messiah in this story.
Because he was just a baby. And when you’re looking for a savior, I suspect you look for an adult.
Don’t you? Because what’s a baby going to do for you?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love babies. They are cute.
But babies don’t lead armies. Babies don’t topple oppressive Roman governments. Babies can’t even pray for you, which is what they were expecting from their Messiah.
Mary is going to have a baby. She and Joseph travel to Bethlehem because of the census and being taxed. No donkey is mentioned but we usually put one in. We often imagine a rushing last minute scene with Mary going into labor and Joseph scrambling to find a vacancy sign.
Not exactly. The text says ‘While they were there,” which could mean days or even weeks. And since Joseph was from the house of David, Bethlehem would have been full of relatives. They were probably staying with cousins, but their house was full. No room in the “kataluma” – not inn or motel, but “guest room.” Kenneth Bailey was the Middle East scholar that opened my eyes to this.
So Mary goes into labor while staying in the main living room. And they bring the animals in at night for protection and keeping the house warm. And the manger was a dug-out place in the floor. Women around her helping her.
A vulnerable baby is born. So much like other babies. And that is the point. But in this scene there are moments of mystery and surprises. Then Luke tells us about the shepherds.
So let’s take this biblical story, knowing thousands of churches have heard it and sung about it for centuries. And now go to a pastor and church in Philadelphia in mid-1800’s.
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Phillips Brooks was a great 19th century preacher -- great in oratory, great in the esteem of the people, and great in size -- six feet six inches tall. He was pastor of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. As a young gifted preacher and leader, he had led his congregation through the bloody years of the Civil War. His reputation as a great preacher had spread far and wide. So when the nation needed someone to give the message at President Abraham’s Funeral, they asked Rev. Brooks.
All of this had taken an emotional and spiritual toll. So in 1865, Rev.Brooks was granted a sabbatical. He journeyed to the Holy Land. Such a long trip. One day he rode a horse from Jerusalem and set out to the countryside to be alone on Christmas Eve. He visited the field where (it is said) the shepherds saw the angels. He noticed the land, the stars as he rode. He rode until he arrived at the small town of Bethlehem. It was a profound time of spiritual renewal, of connecting with the story of Jesus’ birth, Christ’s love and light born again at Christmas. He told family and friends later that the experience would be forever “singing in my soul.”
Three years later, in 1868, he was reflecting on this experience. The words seem to finally flow out of him. It took the form of a poem. Inspired by memories of Bethlehem, he wrote the words in one brief sitting.
He then handed them to his organist, Lewis Redner, asking him to put the words to music. Redner struggled for some time -- trying to come up with just the right melody to fit the words. Then, just before Christmas, the melody came to him in his sleep. He, too, did his writing in one short session, considering the tune a gift of God.
Let’s look more closely at the text.
1 O little town of Bethlehem
- not a big city, a town, royal roots to King David, setting for the book of Ruth
-Jesus born there – not Jerusalem - - God's son, the Christ, the Messiah born in a small town. Surprising. Prophets foretold but still unexpected
- Bethlehem, PA
We lived about one hour from there when I served a church in New Jersey. I learned the history about Moravians from Germany who settled there in mid-1700’s On Christmas Eve 1741 in a log house - people and animals. This became a settlement – called Bethlehem.
2. O Holy Child of Bethlehem
Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today
O come to us, abide in us
The power of love, of vulnerability, of lifting up the powerless. Brooks puts it in present tense - not an old story but unfolding.
Brooks invites us to see paradoxes in this season and in our lives.
Light and dark
Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light
Times we are in the dark. A place of waiting. Growth. Need both dark and light.
Times of night or shadows in our life? In the world? How has light pieced the darkness? Can we offer Christ's light to others? Are there times we befriend the darkness?
Hopes and Fears
Jesus born in Bethlehem for all people - bring enduring hope
What are our fears? in our lives, our families, our communities, our world?
Throughout the Christmas story angels announce - Do not be afraid.
Humans fear angelic messages - power, change, calling,
Be not afraid.
Since fear will always push against hope, it is our calling as Christians to trust in God and not let our fears overtake us. How can this Christmas be about hope?
Sleeping and Waking
While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love
It is right for us to rest - God's love is coming to us. And Advent is also a time to be awake, be prepared
Silence and Sound
How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given
We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell
Choose times of silence to be still in the presence of God. And times we join our voices with others to share hope and good news of Divine Love, Universal Christ.
Brooks saw Bethlehem not simply as an historic town but as a symbol of a new life in Christ, the gift of the Christ child to change us and change the world. There is an everlasting light in the world because of Jesus' light.
Jesus is born in a little town. The Caesar of that time, Caesar Augustus, had sent armies to occupy the region. Then he decided to tax the occupants so there were funds to pay for his armies. The local authorities set up a system to register each family in their home town, and that’s how Joseph brought his pregnant Mary to Bethlehem. Her son is born in the shadows of a greedy empire that demanded loyalty.
Today - So how do we sing this carol today? At a time when many in power respond to the most vulnerable and those in need with indifference or cruelty. When current leaders tell us who we are to hate or distrust. People who act with compassion toward their neighbors are considered weak and billionaires say, “The fundamental weakness of western civilization is empathy.”
We know this is not true. We are called to be people of compassion and empathy. It seems impossible in human terms that Jesus born in Bethlehem could be the one to embody love and compassion and justice. That Christmas could change us and change the world. But God turns the impossible to possible.
God turns the impossible to possible – A story
A few years ago I heard a piece on NPR that made me think about some of the ways God turns impossible to possible. It made me think about people who feel called to pursue that and what we can learn from them. God used Nelson Mandela to expand the art of the possible. Thinking about his life. I read an article by Frank James.
While we know how Mandela's story turned out, in 1994 when I headed to South Africa with other journalists from across the globe, it was by no means a sure thing. There was the very real fear of a civil war during the run-up to South Africa's elections.
But as Abraham Lincoln knew, there are the "better angels of our nature." And if one man ever personified such angels and knew how to summon them from others, it was Mandela. His powers as a politician, as a negotiator, as a moral authority, kept South Africa from violently shaking itself to pieces.
I recall that after Mandela was elected president and I returned to the U.S., when people asked me for my takeaways from my South Africa experience, my first response usually was: "Nothing is impossible."
As a leader, Mandela imagined a reality that didn't exist and made it happen. An end of apartheid, a country of black and white sharing leadership and life.
Mandela was an earthly example of what it means to live by hopes and not fears. To imagine a new reality.
Part of the message of Christmas is to know that vision comes from God. We remember Rev. Brooks and his hope that his poem and song could help people have hope.
So as we begin our journey through Advent on our way to Bethlehem, we open ourselves again to the story of the babe born in Bethlehem
Come to the little town of Bethlehem. Stand in the light. Be guided by God and by your hopes and not your fears. Imagine what is possible in a world where all are welcome at the manger. Be still long enough to hear the good news: you are loved eternally. And receive the Gift of Christmas again this year. Amen.
Resources
Ace Collins, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (2001: Zondervan) pp. 139-145
Kenneth Bailey, “A Clear View of the Birth of Jesus” video series and article
Frank James, “Mandela Expanded - The Art Of The Possible, “ Dec. 7, 2013 NPR