Stable of Grace

Stable of Grace brings the listener into the ‘room where it happened’ on Christmas Eve. Vivid imagery of the old stable gives the piece a folk element accentuated by a lilting meter and Djembe drum.

Stable of Grace was commissioned as part of the 2025 artist-in-residency at Grace Cathedral, administered by GraceArts director Rebecca Nestle. The piece is dedicated to Right Reverend Malcolm Clemens Young and was premiered by the Grace Cathedral Choir of Men & Boys under the director of music director Jared Johnson.

“Stable of Grace”

By Mason Bates

Long ago, in the bitter cold,

On a night just like tonight,

In a desert deep and vast,

Two travelers sought rest,

And this is where they went:

In mellow gloom where straw and shadow meet,


A breath of damp earth rises, sweet and dank.

As timbers groan with ancient, heavy creaks,

The flickering lanterns cast their trembling light.

Soft bleats drift through the hush, a choir of lambs,

As shepherds, stiff with reverence, stand aside.

With breath misting upon the air, cold and dire,

Their whispered prayers upon the darkness glide.

A cedar beam, warped by years, scented with resin,

Guards quiet figures wrapped in wool and fleece.

This stable of grace, a humble home,

Houses those who have none.

Then in the hush, a fragile radiance born—

A manger cradles hope amid the hay.

A soft cry drifts into the somber space.

The promised Child illuminates the night

In this wondrous stable of grace.