The Fifth Day of Christmas

O Little Town of Bethlehem (alternate version) (arr. Mark Hayes)

This carol was first penned as a children’s poem and speaks of the “hopes and fears of all the years” – the hope in the garden of Eden from Genesis 3:15 that God would send a Redeemer from Eve’s seed to crush the serpent’s head, this hope that continues throughout the whole of the Old Testament and told again and again by God to the people. The fear that the people would forever be cast out of God’s presence once Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden because of their (our) sin was finally to be gone, for Christ had condescended to us as a baby, grew into a man that took on the burden of all mankind, and atoned for the sins of all who confess His name.

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
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars together,
Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth!

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given;
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His Heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray!
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels,
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

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