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#4 - The First Christmas ...

The First Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

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      They arrived in the month of March. The year was 1741. In July of that year, Jonathan Edwards would deliver the Enfield sermon. In August, Handel would write The Messiah. It was a good year. We could use another one like it.

      Like other pioneers, before and since, they built their first shelters half underground. This was easiest. Better homes could wait. Making the land productive came first.

      They did need a large above-ground building before winter, however. It would shelter their farm animals. It would also give them shelter when they met for worship.

      The building was finished on Christmas Eve. The entire community gathered there for worship. The farm animals were there, too.

      They sang a traditional hymn:

Jesu call Thou me,
From the world to Thee.
Speed me ever;
Stay me never.
Jesu call Thou me.

Not Jerusalem,
Lowly Bethlehem,
'Twas that gave us
Christ to save us.
Not Jerusalem

Favored Bethlehem,
Honored is that name.
Thence came Jesus
To release us.
Favored Bethlehem.

      They looked at the farm animals, whose shelter they were sharing. The name that God had chosen for their community was obvious to all.

jvb 12/14/1999