'Common Ground' Song 9 ‘As many stones’
Words: Ian Fraser / Music: David Lambert. © Stainer & Bell Ltd
Featured image: Random shaped stones in a dry stone wall on Hawksworth Moor near Otley © Stephen Craven
I was not able to find a YouTube clip for this one, or the lyrics online, apart from on songselect.ccli.com which requires a paid subscription. The key of E major with four sharps was not very conducive to singing the melody by sight, either. So I concentrated on the words, as a poem.
The poem, in three verses each of six lines of iambic pentameter, flows easily on the tongue. This is a contrast with the theme of rough-edged stones. The words are inspired, presumably, by 1 Peter 2:5 (‘Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house’). They compare the wide variety of persons in the Body of Christ (‘not the likeminded … quite unlikely folk’) to the stones in a random wall. We are encouraged to recognise that Christ is intentionally building his Church with these random stones, and to ‘delight’ in our differences.
The outcome of this honouring of each other’s differences is given in the chorus (with slight variations each time): ‘That we be raised a Temple to your fame, whose worship will give glory to your name’.
The link with Epiphany season is not obvious, perhaps, but is explained well in a sermon by Canon Tim Goode of York Minster. If our eyes are opened to see other people in all their God-given uniqueness, then love becomes easier and hate impossible.
God is our rock, our light and salvation. We are the living stones bringing light and salvation in our daily lives to others. 1 stone cannot do this alone, but corporately within the Church we can do much more.