{"id":1517,"date":"2012-03-06T11:46:01","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T11:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/?p=1517"},"modified":"2018-07-20T20:43:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T20:43:45","slug":"free-to-love-and-love-to-free-compliments-of-mumford-sons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/03\/free-to-love-and-love-to-free-compliments-of-mumford-sons.html","title":{"rendered":"Mumford & Sons’ Free to Love and Love to Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonight Mumford & Sons is playing at the Ryman, in Nashville, Tennessee, and I’ll be there. \u00a0In addition to some really enticing\u00a0blends in sound- a mandolin, accordion and banjo often infuse the tunes of keyboard and guitar- the band’s lyrics, while\u00a0not explicitly “Christian,” are both poetic and philosophical, raising themes such as human nature and divine love, grace, and justice.<\/p>\n

Take, for instance, this refrain from “Sigh No More,” the cover song for the band’s recent album:\u00a0Love will not betray you,\u00a0dismay or enslave you,\u00a0It will set you free.\u00a0Be more like the man\u00a0you were made to be.\u00a0There is a design,\u00a0An alignment to cry,\u00a0At my heart you see,\u00a0The beauty of love\u00a0as it was made to be<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Or, consider these lyrics from my favorite of their songs, “The Cave,” which I think is really about learning to see oneself and the world through the lens of God’s grace and truth. \u00a0This requires journeying, in a very Platonic sense, from “the cave” out into the light, where we are able to distinguish the shadows and illusions that can enslave us from the light of Truth, which will set us free to be the people we were meant to be:<\/p>\n

It’s empty in the valley of your heart<\/em>
\nThe sun, it rises slowly as you walk<\/em>
\nAway from all the fears<\/em>
\nAnd all the faults you’ve left behind<\/em><\/p>\n

The harvest left no food for you to eat<\/em>
\nYou cannibal, you meat-eater, you see<\/em>
\nBut I have seen the same<\/em>
\nI know the shame in your defeat<\/em><\/p>\n

But I will hold on hope<\/em>
\nAnd I won’t let you choke<\/em>
\nOn the noose around your neck<\/em><\/p>\n

And I’ll find strength in pain<\/em>
\nAnd I will change my ways<\/em>
\nI’ll know my name as it’s called again<\/em><\/p>\n

Cause I have other things to fill my time<\/em>
\nYou take what is yours and I’ll take mine<\/em>
\nNow let me at the truth<\/em>
\nWhich will refresh my broken mind<\/em><\/p>\n

So tie me to a post and block my ears<\/em>
\nI can see widows and orphans through my tears<\/em>
\nI know my call despite my faults<\/em>
\nAnd despite my growing fears<\/em><\/p>\n

But I will hold on hope<\/em>
\nAnd I won’t let you choke<\/em>
\nOn the noose around your neck<\/em><\/p>\n

And I’ll find strength in pain<\/em>
\nAnd I will change my ways<\/em>
\nI’ll know my name as it’s called again<\/em><\/p>\n

So come out of your cave walking on your hands<\/em>
\nAnd see the world hanging upside down<\/em>
\nYou can understand dependence<\/em>
\nWhen you know the maker’s land<\/em><\/p>\n

So make your siren’s call<\/em>
\nAnd sing all you want<\/em>
\nI will not hear what you have to say<\/em><\/p>\n

Cause I need freedom now<\/em>
\nAnd I need to know how<\/em>
\nTo live my life as it’s meant to be<\/em><\/p>\n

And I will hold on hope<\/em>
\nAnd I won’t let you choke<\/em>
\nOn the noose around your neck<\/em><\/p>\n

And I’ll find strength in pain<\/em>
\nAnd I will change my ways<\/em>
\nI’ll know my name as it’s called again<\/em><\/p>\n

Here is Mumford & Sons in an acoustic performance of “The Cave”:\u00a0