Act 1 · Track 10
We Are Beggars
A king names a hope before it has arrived, and his people fall to the earth.
pov
a commoner in the field
genre
Gospel Indie Rock
key & meter
E♭ major / E♭ minor · 4/4
scripture
Mosiah 2–5
Lyrics
Intro
(Fingerpicked acoustic guitar, warm organ swell)
Verse 1
The old king called us to the temple
And there were so many of us
He had to build a tower just to be seen
And even then I could not hear him
From where I stood
Verse 2
(Bass and brushed drums enter)
They wrote his words down
They passed the words back through the crowd
Hand to hand
And when I read them
I had to sit down on the ground
He said he had served us without taking from us
He said he was old and he was leaving
He said he was no greater than any of us
And then he said the thing
The thing I did not know
Chorus
(Full kit enters, congregation backup vocals arrive)
(Listeners: "there is a name, there is a name")
There is a name
There is a name that is coming
There is a One who will come down
And take our burdens
And take our burdens
And give us a way home
Verse 3
He said the name out loud
He said it like he had been waiting his whole life to say it
He said the Lord Omnipotent
He said Jesus Christ
He said it like he could already see Him
And I was standing in a field of my neighbors
And I watched them go down
One by one
Like wheat in a wind
And then I went down too
Bridge — half-time, E♭ minor
(Drops to organ, bass, and vocal — almost a hymn)
We are beggars
We are beggars
All of us
The king on his tower
The man with the field
The mother with the basket
The child in the dust
We have nothing the Lord did not give us
We have nothing
And He gives us everything
And He gives us everything
And He is coming
And He is coming
Final Chorus — back to E♭ major, full tempo, full ensemble
(Listeners: full choir, layered harmonies underneath)
There is a name
There is a name that is coming
There is a One who will come down
And take our burdens
And take our burdens
And give us a way home
And we said yes
And we said yes
And we said his name
And we said his name
And the old king wept
Outro — strips back to guitar and organ
I went home that day
And I told my children
There is a name
There is a name
And it is coming