This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
Stable behind the inn
Stable behind the inn
Stable behind the inn,
how calm and still you lie,
the animals penned within,
stay safe while the storms pass by.
In you the beasts find shelter bare:
the inn gives human guests a choicer fare.
Stable, how poor you are,
beneath our dignity.
Yet Mary has come so far,
and needs hospitality.
She comes for refuge, and gives birth,
and so the Son of God is born on earth.
Stable with child divine,
where shepherds were amazed:
they came looking for the sign,
and there at the child they gazed.
God's only Son this place would choose?
I need to pause and marvel at such news!
Stable, you are long gone,
I too must pass away.
Yet you held God's Holy One
and sheltered his op'ning day.
He lives by faith within my heart:
and he will hold me safe when I depart.
Words and music copyright © John Hartley 2006.
Story behind the song
Ah ... well, this is another Christmas song. What more can one say?
I wanted to address the question of how to make the news fresh to people who have heard it many times before, and so to focus on three aspects of Christmas:
- that Jesus was born in a place of utter humility, there being no room for him at the inn so he was pushed out into the stable. [For those who say the "stable" as such isn't mentioned in the bible, I reply that you're quite right but the implication in Luke 2:7 is that the manger wasn't actually in the inn, for there was no room there, so it must have been either outside or in an outbuilding. If it was outside this would have been even more humble!]
- this humble birth is an expression of his general humility as expressed in Philippians 2:7, and adds substance to the doctrine of the incarnation - and a true appreciation of it is supposed to make us catch our breath and ponder anew, and
- as we get older, the fact that we are of eternal significance is supposed to be of comfort to us. The Acts of the Apostles shows us that God will always call more people to do his work of spreading the gospel, and we can be content to have our ministry for a while before being laid aside on earth but called to glory in heaven.
Anyhow, that's something of what lies behind this song for me.
John Hartley.
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.