For those of you who are interested in
what our songs mean, read on.
"A Time to Mourn" explained
The basic premise underlying this album
is the fact that our lives are multifaceted. There are many different
things which go into making us uniquely who we are and yet there
is a common element to our humanity and it was this I wanted to
explore in this album.
The underlying imagery to the album is
that of a house which represents a person's life in its entirety.
Each room in the house represents a particular aspect of a life
and, of course, these various aspects are different from one person
to the next. However, if a house was merely comprised of different
rooms, it would be somewhat useless as a house for it is not the
rooms which make the house useful but rather the fact that you
can move freely from one room to another. Without the doors, the
house is incomplete.
On a more specific note, the house in my
mind represents the Christian life; the new life a person enters
into when they accept Christ as their saviour. Christ is represented
by the doors of the house and it is only when you accept Christ
that your life is complete. There are many side issues explored
in the album but this is the basis. The old man depicted in Enter
in Time represents the old ways which must be left behind
and constantly resisted if one is to know Christ as their saviour.
"The light is whiter."
One of the issues explored is that of friendship
and how related issues such as betrayal (Betrayed Again)
take on a completely different character, even when the friendship
is with those who are not Christians. The album also deals with
issues related to church life (Live for the Day) and how
we need to be make sure that our commitment to a church doesn't
override our commitment to God. It makes the point by telling
the story of a woman who won't have to think for herself again
because she's now a part of the church. Many of the problems arising
in Christian life have little to do with personal convictions
but have a lot to do with blindly accepting as true anything which
a church or a particular Christian tells you. This doesn't make
for a strong foundation for one's faith. It's important for Christians
to have a solid understanding of what they believe, have the ability
to defend their faith rationally, and not merely to rely on accepted
dogma. That's why Bible study, usually under the direction of
a church, is so important for the Christian. Don't accept what
they say unquestioningly, make them prove it from scripture.
The second song on the album, I'm Not
to Blame is written from Jesus' perspective and is essentially
a comment about the fact that Christians have a tendency to understate
the importance of self-control, allowing sin to control their
lives and crying out to God to forgive them over and over again
without making any effort to alter the behaviour themselves. This
is not the behaviour of a repentant individual even though, unfortunately,
it is often the mark of a modern Christian. Many Christians cry
out to Jesus to give them the strength to resist the temptation
to sin. Then, when they succumb to temptation again, it seems
to them that Jesus has let them down, that he's to blame (although
not many Christians would admit that they consciously think this).
If you ask Jesus to give you the strength to resist sin but go
on to sin, part of your mind concludes that Jesus didn't give
you the strength. But scripture is clear that you won't be tempted
beyond what you can bear which means that there is no excuse for
sin. And, even though Christians will continue to sin on a daily
basis in some way, the life of the Christian must be one of continual
self improvement: to seek to become more like Christ every single
day.
The songs which frame the album are the
first and last songs on the CD: A Moment and Unceasing.
These songs deal with the paradox of the basis for the understanding
of eternal life. Namely, that as Christians we accept that we
are not merely mortal but have everlasting life, eternal life
beyond the grave (Life is unceasing), and yet this also
means that life as we know it on earth is viewed more as a drop
in the ocean of eternity, or as a mere moment in time (Life
is a moment). Understanding this is one of the first things
a new Christian must deal with and I thought it would be a fitting
beginning and conclusion to the themes of the album.
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