O Little Town of Bethlehem

[Christianbookworm]

Could someone please explain these lyrics?

The hopes and fears of all the years,
Are met in thee tonight.

Read more: Christmas Carols - O Little Town Of Bethlehem Lyrics | MetroLyrics

[The Melody Maker]

The hopes and fears of all the years...

This is talking about the expectations of Israel for their Messiah, as prophesied throughout much of the Old Testament.

Are met in thee tonight.

All that expectation was fulfilled in Christ's birth.


That's all there is to it, as simply as I can put it.

[mikewhitney]

The "fears" would probably be the problems people faced. To some degree this would include a fear of death.

Maybe "hopes" may refer to people who desired a fix to problems they were seeing in the world. The "hopes" may also refer to some people's desire to know about God.

The meeting of the two then would be for the resolution of fears and the resolving of hope through the arrival of the Expected One. Christ came and removed the uncertainty which before had left people in fear. The fears were met or matched with the solution.

[Cow Poke]

The "fears" would probably be the problems people faced. To some degree this would include a fear of death.

Maybe "hopes" may refer to people who desired a fix to problems they were seeing in the world. The "hopes" may also refer to some people's desire to know about God.

The meeting of the two then would be for the resolution of fears and the resolving of hope through the arrival of the Expected One. Christ came and removed the uncertainty which before had left people in fear. The fears were met or matched with the solution.

Yeah, ok.

[One Bad Pig]

The "fears" could also be of those who don't want the messiah to come ('cause that means there's gonna be a reckonin').