4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Notes
Track six is the companion song to an article on Pristine Grace called Loving the Brethren by MPJ, and the song is built on the move the article makes - the slow narrowing of one word. We say loving the brethren like a creed, and we mean it. At the start, brethren takes in everyone Christ has saved. Then the circle starts drawing tighter, and before long the word means something far smaller than it began.
The pre-chorus is the device, and it tightens each time you hear it. Then it meant the ones who got grace right. Then the ones who got grace right our way. Then the ones who used our exact words. Then the ones who shared our every suspicion. Then the ones who would not even ask a question. That is the slope, and most of us are further down it than we want to admit. And the chorus lands the verdict from the Lord Himself - even publicans love who looks like them. That's what the Lord said to the men. If our love stops at the people who repeat us back, we have not done a thing publicans have not already done.
Verse three is the move the album keeps making. I have done it too. I have shut a brother out because his language wasn't mine. I called it standing on the truth - I was loving my reflection, and I was calling it divine. I have. And the final chorus widens brethren back to the size Scripture has it. Christ loves the brethren wider than the camp. Let our loving be that big again.
Lyrics
[Intro]
We say it like a creed,
"We love the brethren,"
But the word keeps shrinking down,
Watch it, watch it narrow.
[Verse 1]
At first it meant the brethren, every soul that Christ has bought,
A whole and gathered family from every kind of hall,
But we started drawing tighter, and we drew it tight as wire,
And brethren came to mean the ones who held what we held still.
[Pre-Chorus]
Then it meant the ones who got grace right,
Then the ones who got grace right our way,
Then the ones who used our exact words,
Then the ones who shared our every suspicion,
Then the ones who would not even ask a question.
[Chorus]
Loving the brethren! Loving the brethren!
The word has gotten smaller every year.
Loving the brethren! Loving the brethren!
Just loving our reflection in the mirror.
Even publicans love who looks like them,
That's what the Lord said to the men.
Loving the brethren got real small, real small,
Loving the brethren got real small.
[Verse 2]
Let a man drop one wrong word and watch our faces freeze,
Let him hold one thing we don't and feel the air go ice,
He might disturb the little kingdom we have built around our talk,
Where everyone repeats the same and no one breaks the lock.
[Pre-Chorus]
Then it meant the ones who got grace right our way,
Then the ones who matched our every emphasis,
Then the ones who shared our every suspicion,
Then the ones who never disagreed at all,
Then the ones who looked exactly like our wall.
[Chorus]
Loving the brethren! Loving the brethren!
The word has gotten smaller every year.
Loving the brethren! Loving the brethren!
Just loving our reflection in the mirror.
Even publicans love who looks like them,
That's what the Lord said to the men.
Loving the brethren got real small, real small,
Loving the brethren got real small.
[Bridge]
And listen, I have done it. Hand to God, I have.
I have shut a brother out because his words weren't mine.
I called it standing on the truth, I called it being faithful.
I was loving my reflection, and I was calling it divine.
What is so heavenly about loving who looks like me?
What is so heavenly about loving who uses my words?
The publicans love who looks like them. The gentiles love their own.
And Christ has loved me wider, wider, wider than my own.
[Final Chorus]
Loving the brethren! Loving the brethren!
The word was always wider, wider, wider.
Loving the brethren! Loving the brethren!
Wider than the language and the mirror.
Christ loves the brethren wider than the camp,
Christ loves the brethren wider than the camp,
Let our loving be that big, that big, that big,
Let our loving be that big again.
[Outro]
Loving the brethren,
Loving the brethren,
But who are the brethren?
But who are the brethren?
Wider than the language,
Wider than the mirror,
Wider than the camp,
Loving the brethren.
Commentary