Stephen’s sermon on Sunday morning looked at the manger, and how even the place where Jesus was placed at his birth was symbolic of the rejection He would face during His life. Casting Crowns develop this theme in their song ‘While You Were Sleeping’, which looks at Bethlehem, Jerusalem and modern America and how we are so often oblivious to what God is doing. There is a need for us to wake up and live in the light (1 Thess 5:1-11).
‘Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night.
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you’re lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light,
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight.
Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping,
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today.
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping,
While you were sleeping.
Oh little town of Jerusalem,
Looks like another silent night.
The Father gave His only Son,
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come,
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save.
Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Saviour of the world is dying on your cross today.
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping,
While you were sleeping.
United States of America,
Looks like another silent night
As we’re sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we’re lying in the dark
There’s a shout heard ‘cross the eastern sky,
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night.
America, what will we miss while we are sleeping?
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay?
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King?
Will we be sleeping?
Will we be sleeping?
United States of America
Looks like another silent night.’ (‘While You Were Sleeping’, Casting Crowns)