Stones
If your children ask for bread, will you give them a stone?
If your children ask for bread, will you give them a stone?
Come to the Christ, the living stone,
Rejected by men, yet chosen by God!
Come to the Christ, the living stone,
And be part of His holy priesthood,
Gathered by our Lord into His holy house.
Amen! Amen!
God has a purpose for everything,
Even the stones beneath your feet.
Each has its own lesson to share.
From pillows to pillars, windows to weapons,
He uses all with great care.
God had stones cut into bricks to raise His Temple,
He rolled one into groves to seal a tomb,
And the rocks in the road He used to guide His beloved Son
As Jerusalem welcomed its king.
‘If these people were silent, the very stones would cry out!”
This Jesus told the angry Pharisees.
Yet their hearts of stone rejected our Lord,
And so they crucified His Son.
And on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead.
God has a purpose for everything,
Even that death on the cross:
Forgiveness for the sins we all bear.
And so the stone the builders rejected became our cornerstone!
His love endures forever!
So when you find that stream you cannot cross,
Or giants taunting your every move,
You can turn to the One who can roll away each stone.
Let His Spirit guide you where it will,
And let Jesus, the bread of life, give you His peace,
Now and forever, Amen!
Come to the Christ, the living stone,
Rejected by men, yet chosen by God.
Come to the Christ, the living stone,
And be part of His holy priesthood,
Gathered by our Lord into His holy house.
Amen! Amen!
​
— Words and music copyright March 2017, Kirby Lee Davis
My bardic canticle Stones started with a simple concept: to compare all the unusual and creative references the Bible made to stones, especially the ways God used these lifeless rocks to help His children overcome life’s difficulties. It seemed like a fun, somewhat uncommon juxtaposition since we humans love to equate our trials and tribulations to stones blocking our way. That’s an old, old prejudice, one Christ may have played with when, in the Sermon on the Mount, He asked His audience, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” For it’s a question to be taken both literally and spiritually.
Factoring that into the song changed its heart, for in studying the Bible’s countless examples of God using stones to our benefit, one is inevitably reminded that Christ Himself was labeled a stone… the Living Stone, the foundation of our faith and life. “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” so put the famous prediction of Christ’s reign in Psalms 118.
That irony moved me. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” God would, obviously! Only He could pull off such a miracle! But being God, He also had His bases covered, both literally and spiritually, for as Christ Himself declared, “I am the bread of life.” Thus Christ fulfilled both sides of His sermon’s question.
Winding all those elements together led to a song that told not just the Easter story, but the foundation of our faith and hope. It also led me to the bardic storytelling approach, lacking traditional stanzas and choruses. This structure always appealed to my love of history and community storytelling, and it better fit my admittedly unanchored mind, which handles the looser stylings of a minstrel’s tale far better than the stern dictates of today’s formula compositions. The bardic approach also better fits my randomized yet undeniable inconsistencies as a “musician” (let’s be generous here and allow me that title). But most important, it allows the weaving of a story the way stories are best told, full of grace and hope, revelation and fulfillment.
Hopefully you’ll see that in Stones.
— April 12, 2017