腓力．布魯克斯（Phillips Brooks）在造訪伯利恆後，寫下了眾人喜愛的聖誕頌歌《小伯利恆》。這位在美國牧會的牧師因聖地的經歷而深受感動，因此給他主日學的學生們寫了這一段話：「我記得⋯⋯在平安夜，我站在伯利恆的一間古老教堂裡，靠近耶穌降生的地方。當整座教堂一個又一個小時地迴盪著頌讚上帝的美妙詩歌時，我彷彿一次又一次聽見你們那非常熟悉的聲音，彼此訴說救主降生的奇妙夜晚。」

在1868年，腓力牧師將他的這個想法寫成一首詩，由教會的司琴為之譜曲。美國內戰結束後，社會依然動盪不安，這首詩歌帶給人們寧靜與平安：「小伯利恆，你是何等寧靜；⋯⋯萬世期望，戰兢等待，今宵匯集此方。」

在馬太福音第2章，馬太記載救主降生於伯利恆。當時有「幾個博士從東方」而來（1節），跟著星星來到伯利恆（參閱彌迦書5章2節），當他們找到了耶穌「就大大地歡喜」（馬太福音2章10節）。

在今日歡慶主顯節的同時，我們也需要救主降生這大好的消息。正如這首聖誕頌歌提醒我們，救主來到世上，「除去我心一切罪孽，降生在我心中」。在耶穌裡，我們能得享平安。

Phillips Brooks wrote the lyrics to the beloved carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem” after visiting Bethlehem. Brooks, pastor of a church in the United States, was so moved by his experience that he wrote this to his Sunday school students: “I remember . . . on Christmas Eve, when I was standing in the old church at Bethlehem, close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with the splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices that I knew well, telling each other of the ‘Wonderful Night’ of the Savior’s birth.”

In 1868, Brooks put his thoughts into a poem, and his church organist set it to music. The song spoke stillness and peace into the unsettling aftermath of the American Civil War: “O little town of Bethlehem / How still we see thee lie! / . . . The hopes and fears of all the years / Are met in thee tonight.”

Matthew wrote of our Savior’s birth in Bethlehem in Matthew 2. When the “Magi from the east” (v. 1) followed the star to Bethlehem (see Micah 5:2), “they were overjoyed” to find Jesus (Matthew 2:10).

Today, as we celebrate Epiphany, we too need the glorious news of our Savior’s birth. As the hymn reminds us, He came to “cast out our sin and enter in” and “be born in us.” In Him, we find peace.