Well, it is the 25th of December. So as they say in Great Britain, happy Christmas.

And on this occasion, I thought we would talk about three Christmas hymns.

Usually we like the number five on five minutes,

but I want you to get back to those presents

and your family and all those wonderful Christmas traditions you have going on.

So let's talk about three hymns.

The first is, Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem.

Let me just read for you the fourth stanza. Oh holy child of Bethlehem

descend to us we pray cast out our sin and enter in be born in us today. We hear the Christmas Angels, the great glad tidings tell,

Oh come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel. Well this hymn was written by Phillips Brooks.

He was rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia.

It's right there on Ritten House Square. This is an historic part of Philadelphia.

Ritten House Square was one of the five original squares designed by William Penn

himself in 1681.

Well in 1865, Phillips Brooks, the pastor of the church there,

had made a visit to Bethlehem,

and that charming little town just stuck in his memory.

In 1868, as Christmas was approaching,

he was inspired by that visit in memories of it and he wrote the lyrics.

He then prevailed upon the organist of the church, Louis Redner, to write a tune and

all this happened in a week leading up to Christmas in December 1868 and there in the church for the first time

Oh little town of Bethlehem was sung. Well Phillips Brooks thought this little hymn

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