Little Town

Amy Grant sings a shortened form of Phillips Brooks's carol, keeping its opening image of a town at rest before anyone inside it knows what's arriving: "O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by."

"Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight" names the town specifically — not a generic manger scene, but the exact small place the prophet Micah once said a ruler would come from, despite its insignificance among Judah's clans.

"How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given, so God imparts to human hearts" keeps the carol's central contrast intact — a quiet, unremarkable arrival carrying the largest possible weight. "Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in" closes the carol the way it's closed for over a century, present tense rather than only historical.