Angel-Strain Whispering

""But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me One who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times""- Micah 5:2 (NIV).

Micah prophesied the birth place of the Savior sometime between 750-686 BC. The prophecy fulfilled around 5 BC, hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Rev. Phillips Brooks' lyrics to "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" were inspired upon his 1865 Christmas eve visit to Bethlehem. Shepherds were still watching their sheep in the fields and using caves for a stable. Brooks returned to his little church, the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia, but didn't write the lyrics until 1886. He asked Lewis H. Redner to write a musical score for the next Sunday, but Lewis was having mental blocks to the music and Sunday was drawing closer. In Redner's words: "But I was roused from sleep late in the night hearing an angel-strain whispering in my ear, and seizing a piece of music paper I jotted down the treble of the tune as we now have it, and on Sunday morning before going to church I filled in the harmony." The song became a Christmas tradition. Angels played a big part that Bethlehem night and have been given credit for the worship song we use today.