Episode 52 – Into the Lantern Waste

Psalm

Psalm 52

What We’re Listening To

Bryan

FNH

Grant

Follow Up

  • We had a three week gap between episodes because I was unable to record a Flying Solo episode because I was too busy being on episode 9 of the Super Reformed Bros podcast.
  • I want to make a clear distinction between what I will call “open handed criticism” and “closed handed criticism”.  Close handed criticism is based on objective issues found in the lyrics that do not line up with our core beliefs.  Open handed criticism is based on opinion and preference, and while important enough to discuss, doesn’t carry the same weight as close handed criticism.  In the last episode we pointed out what I will now call closed handed issues with the song Rest on Us by Maverick City, due to the song’s claims about the way the Spirit works that do not line up with Scripture.  We also talked about some nuanced issues we had with choice of words in the song O Creative One by Providence.  I want to make a clear distinction that the latter discussion was of open handed issues.  I might not choose the word “renovate” because of a nuanced implication that could be used to support the rejection of original sin, but this is an issue that could be easily addressed with liturgical padding or a brief definition of the word to set a proper context for hearing the song.  A similar example that I talked about on previous episodes as well a 6000 word essay on soundinworship.com (as well as on episode 9 of the Super Reformed Bros podcast), would be in the song “Reckless Love”, the use of the word “reckless” is a closed handed issue, because God is not reckless and saying otherwise is a misrepresentation of God; while the use of the word “worth” is an open handed issue that can be addressed to set a proper context (all things considered).  A major difference is that Cory Asbury has publicly explained what he meant by “worth”, and his explanation is not in line with Scripture; while I have no reason to believe, based on the context of all the rest of Providence’s music, that they are trying to deny Original Sin.

Review: Into the Lantern Waste by Sarah Sparks

Check out the Album

Into the Lantern Waste

“Into the Lantern Waste” serves as an introduction to this collection of songs. It collects beliefs held by Clive Staples Lewis (primarily referred to simply as C. S. Lewis) in lyrics directly inspired by his writings. In this introduction, Sarah positions the Chronicles of Narnia author as a wise man on a park bench, telling these “fairytales” to Sarah (and therefore, to us, the listeners).

I met a man at the park on a bench
He was looking at home with a paper and pen
He said, “Daughter, I have been through the Shadowlands
For to hurt is to love and to know that you can
That you are not alone, we all are broken

He said, “You cannot diminish the glory of God
By refusing to worship, like if locked in a cell
On the walls, you write ‘darkness’ to put out the sun
So you might turn the page or you might shut the book
But the truth is still truth even if you don't look”

He spoke to me then, “Are you looking for truth?
Or is it wishful thinking and comfort you choose?
On the edge of a sword and the knot of a noose
On the way to your death, should I reassure you?
But the comfort will come, if you search for the truth”

See here I’m still stuck on these fairytales
With a lion, a wardrobe, and magic unveiled
For there's truth in these pages, in each line I read
I'm the boy that betrays him, I can clearly see
But the lion that saves him is bleeding for me

Lucy’s Tale

I've been feeling so restless
Got no place to call my own
When I know I don’t belong

There's no place to lay my head down
Cause I'm just a wandering soul
And in the end I feel alone

Oh
Tell me a story
Of redemption
You’re the only peace that I have ever known
I've been so cold
This long winter
But there's something written
Etched into this stone

I've been living in the shadow
Weeping over blood
But yet to see the empty grave

Cause I'm still hoping in the not yet
Clouds are covering the sun
But I'll believe while in the shade

Oh
Tell me a story
Of redemption
You're the only peace that I have ever known
I've been so cold
This long winter
But there’s something written
Etched into this stone

I heard a roaring in the distance
In the earth a trembling
Like the crumbling of stone

I looked down to see my footprints
When never in my memory
Had I seen the melting snow

Blood for Blood Lyrics

Had I seen the melting snow?
I saw and trembled
For this a power I did not know
Though I was bound with chains

She was cruel but beautiful
And I was greedy
And like a slave I then was sold
By the way she said my name

Father, save me!
I the traitor
I who knew and ran from Love
I can hear the
Condemnation
In the rhythm of the drums

Though I knew all hope was lost
And this what I deserved
I had been conquered by the frost
But on my skin it burned

Cause she had power over me
At her touch I turned to stone
But in her eyes I saw a fear
A deeper magic than her own

Father, save me!
I the traitor
I who knew and ran from Love
I can hear the
Condemnation
In the rhythm of the drums
And when I looked him in the eyes

I felt the weight of all my sin
For I knew what the law required
A death for death, a traitor’s end

But when I thought I feel his wrath
Despaired and filled with shame
He bent down to search my eyes
With such love whispered my name

Father, save me!
I the traitor
I who knew and ran from Love
Father, can you
Hear the Lion
It is written
Blood for blood

The New Song of Trumpkin Lyrics

Hear the trees?
Hear them whispering
They tell stories of a king
And the forest wakes
With a divine ache
For His returning

I've forgotten who I am
And who You are
Cause the truth is all my worth
Can only be found in Your scar
So I’m learning how to die
Cause it's what You're asking for

I’ve been blind
To you every time
Only shaken in your teeth
Do I know enough
Strangest kind of love
But it's pain that ‘wakens me

See the leaves
Simple dying things
Never were so beautiful
Cause in their dying days
What a glorious change
For in death they turn to gold

I will forget who I am
For who You are
Cause the truth is all my worth
Can only be found in Your scars
And I'm learning how to die
Because I know who You are

By His wounds I'm healed
I for the first time feel
Like this may not be the end

Eustace Scrubb

For the first in my life
I’m not living a lie
And I hate who I am
I’ve become what I feared
And I cried dragon tears
Just to prove I’m a man

I tried to change my appearance but I am not changed
I’m just tired
I tried to heal myself long before I met your gaze
At the water
I’m at your feet
Would you tear into the deep of my heart
To heal me?

I’ve seen my own reflection
I know the pain I’m in
I’ve been a lonely wretch and
I can’t get out of it

As he looked through my eyes
At the things I despised
I felt pierced by his gaze
But he peeled off my skin
And he then threw me into
The water to save me

I wore this bracelet, bright and golden
That overnight became a chain
I was a lonely, wretched soul that
Lost in the dark cried out your Name
You cut me deep, I know I felt it
But it’s the sweetest kind of pain
Oh sweet relief, You took my burdens
Oh I believe Oh I believe

Puddleglum’s Anthem

In the warmth of the sun I believed
Circumstance often changes
The way that I see
For the first the time a shadow found me
I doubted the sun for the lack of heat
And I ran but He ran after me

He said remember the signs
So I said them each morning
And held to them tight
But at the first chill of the night
I gave up His words for the warmth of a fire
And traded His love for a lie

I said I’ll never forget
I will call out your name
Through the storm until death
But the crow came three times as He said
And I held tight my tongue just to save my own head
And I watched from the ground as He bled

But oh
You complete your plans
With our broken hands
You have shown
I have seen you work
Raising life up from the dirt
This I know
See that thread of sin?
Seamlessly woven in
This I know
See the lion see the lamb
You complete your plans
This I know

A Song for Jill

I saw you on mountain
I met you by the stream
And I terrified at your sight
A lion after me

You asked if I was thirsty
I said “If I don't drink
I will surely die here be dry
Lying by the stream”

He said, “Dear child, come farther
For this the only stream
That will bring you life
My supply is all that You will ever need
He didn’t promise not to harm me
He said, “I'll do no such thing
For I am the law
And in my jaw I've swallowed men, and mountains and kings.”

It is so
There is only one blood could have done
What I have done
And I know
As so many do you may run
But I am your only hope
There is only one blood could have done
What I have done
It is so
I am justice and wrath, I am love
But I am your only hope

I am in the light, I am in the shade
I am in the wind, I am in the waves

Shasta’s Complaint

Waves that beat upon the shore, they brought no peace
Somewhere else I must belong, somewhere for me
Who was it left me there, a boy scared and alone?
No, I don’t think you heard me calling, always thought, He must not know
Surely He would never leave me, wouldn’t leave me here alone

You tell me now that I was never on my own?
Well pardon me, I don’t remember you at all
Cause with my back against the tomb, I called you out
But I don’t think I heard your answer, I don’t think I heard a sound
I don’t recall you in my anger or remember you around

But He answered, “Who are you to question me?
Do you command the mountains or calm the raging sea?
For I am the current, there to save your life
A man may find his eye deceiving, a fool holds on to trust his sight
A wise man knows that his own feeling may not with the truth align

And you think that you have never seen my face?
But every moment you’re alive, you know my grace
For only death in this whole world is justly deserved
And you say that I never answer, just because you have not heard
But you don’t know yet how to listen or to understand my words

My love, I cared for you
I was the comfort you felt in the house of the dead
I drove from you
Beasts in the night, all of this I have done while you slept
All by my design
Every chapter and word I’ve written every line

All by my design
Every chapter and word I’ve written every line"

Digory’s Regret

Lines from the spell that were meant for destruction
Words tasted bitterly sweet on my tongue
Polly warned me but I wanted freedom
Even then I knew just what I done

No one says it but mother is dying
No one says it but we’re all afraid
I can hear what they say in the hallways
Whispering on the number of days

Now a Genesis newly corrupted
Now a story to start with a fall
All because I could never keep quiet
Just a tongue that brings ruin to all

Wait, I hear
A voice that’s singing
A song I’ve never known before
The very chord
Awakes and praises it’s
Maker as the earth is formed
Wait, I see
There in the lion’s eye
A tear much greater than my own
Could it be that He possesses a
A greater love than I ever known

Come Further Up

There’s a song that I’ve wanted
To sing for so long
But the tune is just out of my grasp
I may see for a moment
When the lights reflects gold
But so delicate, slips from my hand

Every word that I sing
Is a cheap imitation
Of things that I don’t understand
Light reflecting on water
The picture gets harder to see
With the eyes of a man

I hear
“Come further up, Come further in
The greatest story, none on earth have read”

So I’ll search for the melody
Offering everything
Till I am called out by name
Cause the chord that was struck
On the strings of my heart
Is still echoing throughout my frame

And when this long day ends
And the morning begins
And the Song that has found me I’ll sing!
Written over my bones
In a carving on stone
By a rose, let my epitaph read

Come further up
Come further in
My greatest story
Has yet to be read
Marvel of Marvels
Of all that He said
I who am nothing
He called beloved

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