O Little Town of Bethlehem

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” has shaped how millions of English speakers imagine the Palestinian town where Jesus was born: a small place, still and peaceful, resting under the stars. The wars and struggles of recent decades invite us to question whether that image is true. And yet, “Bethlehem is still a very little town,” says Stephanie Saldaña, a writer and mother raising her family in this religiously and culturally diverse place. “It is a small place where everybody knows each other.” Still more striking is how closely the need that gave rise to the carol echoes the present moment. In 1865, after the Civil War devastated the United States, Philadelphia rector Phillips Brooks was broken by grief—Lincoln’s assassination and the loss of his younger brother to cholera while serving in the Union Army. Seeking solace, Brooks traveled to Bethlehem. What he found there—peace, stillness, God present in a small community—he later put into words and set to music as a carol for children who had lost fathers to war. [Is there a carol you'd love to hear on “Hark!”? Let us know in our listener survey.] Now, more than 150 years later, that same carol reaches those in the Holy Land today, reeling from pandemic and war—and far beyond—to offer us what it has always offered: stillness, God's presence, enduring hope. In this fifth season finale, host Maggi Van Dorn speaks with: Stephanie Saldaña, a writer, wife, and mother in Bethlehem, reflects on life in the place where Jesus was born—and on discovering the carol’s deepest truths amid war, COVID-19, and economic collapse. Rachel Wenner Gardner, rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia where Phillips Brooks served, on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land and why he wrote this carol for children in the aftermath of Civil War. John French, former organist at Holy Trinity for 28 years, on the brilliance of Lewis Redner’s original tune and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s folk arrangement. Karen Swallow Prior, poet and retired English professor, on the theological depth hidden in Brooks’s poem. The music featured in this episode was generously gifted to “Hark!” Our thanks to Frank Tuson, Richard Gilewitz, Salt of the Sound, Smalltown Poets, St. Paul’s Boys Choir School, Cambridge, Mass., The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, U.K., The Roches, and Tony Alonso, courtesy of GIA Publications, Inc. Our theme music was produced by Frank Tuson. Want short, inspiring Bible reflections every day during Advent and Christmas? This year, our Scripture Reflections are free for Hark! listeners—sign up at AmericaMagazine.org/hark. Love a good holiday brain-teaser? Our weekly Christmas carol trivia is exclusively for America subscribers. ⁠Take the fourth and final quiz of the season here!⁠ Or visit, AmericaMagazine.org/hark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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O Little Town of Bethlehem is an episode from Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols by America Media.

This episode is 57:33 long.

This episode was published on Dec 21, 2025.

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