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I have been able to figure out how to combine Mumford & Sons and God, and I ..... Of all of the worldly struggles mentioned in Winter Winds which do you think is .
AWAKE MY SOUL A LOOK AT MUMFORD AND SONS SIGH NO MORE ALBUM

ONE SONG AT A TIME

TO LOOK AT OUR RELATIONSHIP

WITH CHRIST “IT IS NOT THE LONG WALK HOME THAT WILL CHANGE THIS HEART, BUT THE WELCOME I RECEIVE WITH THE RESTART.”

A TWELVE PART BIBLE STUDY



There are just a few thing I can say without any doubt that I love. God sits on the top of the list, followed by a jumble of different things: my friends, being outside, Young Life, fishing, my cow, and, Mumford & Sons. It would be pretty impressive if I could combine all of those things into something, but I have yet to figure that out. But I have been able to figure out how to combine Mumford & Sons and God, and I think if you’re really listening, it’s hard to ignore.

I have to start with a few ground-rules, let’s call them. 1. A lot of these songs sound like love songs, and they very well may be. I’m not Marcus Mumford, who am I to say what the songs are really about. However, let’s assume for the purposes of this that all of the songs do have to do with God, His love, and/or our relationship with Him. Not a girl. 2. These songs are dense. That’s part of why I really love them. Listening to the lyrics can make you think pretty deeply. I’m going to try to stick to just one or two themes I think are important in the song. Sometimes that means just looking at one or two lines! The questions at the end are meant to sum up what was talked about in the breakdown, not necessarily the entire song. 3. The lyrics are included for each song but you really should (I might stretch to “have to”) listen to the song too. I’m no music major, so I won’t break down the chords or anything like that, but part of the meaning definitely comes with how it’s sung. For pretty much every song I’ll tell you to listen to it twice. You should do it. 4. There are no “right” answers. I’ve put questions in that I think are good and help get at what lessons are at hand, but there’s plenty of room for interpretation. And I’d for sure like to hear your interpretation. The songs go in the order they are in on the album. I won’t go into why they might be in that order, but it may be something to think about as you go along. I’d love your input, answers to the included questions, or just to talk to you. So do it! I can be reached my email at [email protected].

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The Songs: 1. Sigh No More: love as it was made to be 2. The Cave: God’s faithfulness 3. Winter Winds: a life without God 4. Roll Away Your Stone: God’s grace 5. White Blank Page: sin 6. I Gave You All: frustration with Christ 7. Little Lion Man: worthiness 8. Timshel: community 9. Thistle and Weeds: Christ’s rain and reign 10. Awake My Soul: life’s purpose 11. Dust Bowl Dance: pride 12. After the Storm: God’s love

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1. Sigh No More: love as it was made to be Serve God, love me, and men,

This is not the end Live unbruised we are friends And I'm sorry I'm sorry

Sigh no more, no more One foot in sea, one on shore My heart was never pure you know me you know me And man is a giddy thing Oh man is a giddy thing Oh man is a giddy thing Oh man is a giddy thing Love that will not betray you, dismay or enslave you, It will set you free Be more like the man you were made to be. There is a design, An alignment to cry, At my heart you see, The beauty of love as it was made to be (x3) 1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts where you think it’s defining love as it was made to be. I really love this song. When people ask what my favorite song it, this is it. It describes love so well, and as one of my friends tends to say “I just love love.” This is a shorter song and I think fairly straight-forward. There are three lines that I really love and I want to look into each of those. 1. Serve God, love me, and men

This is my favorite line. It takes the two most important rules of a Christian life and makes it simple. Serve the Lord, and love your neighbor. Let’s start with serve 4

God. Serve is a funny verb, and I think easily associated with a server at a restaurant. If you’ve ever been to a restaurant, you’ve certainly had some bad servers. Maybe they were rude, or really slow, or really forgetful. But you’ve probably had some really good ones too. They might be funny, or really considerate, but the thing that makes a server at a restaurant good is that they seem to actually care about you. They do their very best to get you want you want and to give you a good meal. Serving God is like that. It’s not just bringing out the food and putting it on the table, it’s also being invested in those that you serve. Not only are we called to serve God by praying and worshipping, but also by loving Him and doing everything in our power to live like we are loved.

It says “love me” but adds “and men.” Life isn’t just about serving God and loving your friends or family. Loving God and serving God aren’t always easy things but they’re important. But love gets a little more difficult when it’s with your friends, who sometimes don’t seem to love you back. And gets even more difficult when your trying to love people who definitely don’t love you back. Life is about more than just loving the God who loves us, or loving the people who love us. It’s about serving God and figuring out how to love everyone from that. 2. My heart was never pure, you know me

I think this is a really important part of the song. It’s a reminder of how every human has a sinful heart, that’s how our race works. Our hearts aren’t pure without God in them. There is nothing we can do to change that on our own. We have impure hearts, but a God with the purest of hearts who died so we could be free from that. What’s more is the “you know me.” It’s possible it’s being sung to a friend or to someone he’s trying to tell about Christ, but I like to think it’s being sung to God. He knows us, that our hearts have never been pure. God acknowledges our impurity and is aware of how broken and sinful we are. He loves us anyway. He’s the one that shows us how to love. 3. Love that will not betray, dismay or enslave you, it will set you free

And here’s where it comes together, and there is a lot of power in the last part. There’s a lot of “love” in the world for sure, people trying to love others the best they can. But without letting God work in their hearts, and in turn, in their love, it can easily hurt you, betray you, enslave you. Love enslaves people all the time. Maybe it’s an abusive relationship they keep going because he “loves” her. Or maybe a guy who’s willing to do just about anything for a girl so that she might “love” him. Relationships, romantic or not, can be based in this worldly love and end up hurting us. We as humans can’t love others the way God loves us, it’s part of our condition of impure hearts. But we can try. The more we base our love in Christ and being Christ-like, and turn to Him to show us how to love, the more real our love becomes. Love with God as our base sets us free from all the hurt and fear, and from all the “love” we’ve been surrounded with.

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Read the following verses: 1 Corinthians 13:1-10 1. Which of these three points do you need to be reminded of most?

2. How do you see that in the Corinthians reading?

3. Which attribute of love from the song says the most to you? Which attribute from Corinthians?

4. Take a few minutes to pray about loving as God intended.

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2. The Cave: God’s faithfulness

It's empty in the valley of your heart The sun, it rises slowly as you walk Away from all the fears and all the faults You've left behind The harvest left no food for you to eat You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see But I have seen the same I know the shame in your defeat But I will hold on hope And I won't let you choke On the noose around your neck And I'll find strength in pain And I will change my ways I'll know my name as it's called again 'Cause I have other things to fill my time You take what is yours and I'll take mine Now let me at the truth Which will refresh my broken mind So tie me to a post and block my ears I can see widows and orphans through my tears I know my call despite my faults And despite my growing fears But I will hold on hope And I won't let you choke On the noose around your neck And I'll find strength in pain And I will change my ways I'll know my name as it's called again So come out of your cave walking on your hands And see the world hanging upside down You can understand dependence When you know the maker's land

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So make your siren's call And sing all you want I will not hear what you have to say 'Cause I need freedom now And I need to know how To live my life as it's meant to be And I will hold on hope And I won't let you choke On the noose around your neck And I'll find strength in pain And I will change my ways I'll know my name as it's called again 1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts where you think it’s defining God’s faithfulness I like to think of this song kind of like a conversation between us and God. It might not speak to your struggles entirely, but I think generally covers the broken relationship between man and God. Most of it is God talking, about how He knows us, how we choose to live life our way, how He sees us suffering and will continue to hold onto us. There’s a good chunk though, where man is talking. After each of the choruses, man talks about how we just want to live our life, how we know better, how we would rather just live life without Him. But the chorus comes through every time: “I won’t let you choke on the noose around your neck.” I think there’s some really great stuff said here. Looking at the chorus there’s two parts; I believe God says the first, and man the second. God will hold on hope that we’ll come running to Him, He’s never going to let us choke on whatever mess we get ourselves caught up in. And we say “I know, I know,” that we’ll change, we’ll do better next time, we’ll listen to Him next time. And the few lines following the chorus each time is us saying, “yeah that’s all great but I just need it my way.” But the last time the chorus is played, I think man actually means it. There’s nothing after it. The song ends on “I’ll know my name as it’s called again.” And it’s said with a lot of passion. I think our biggest struggle isn’t that we don’t believe in God at all, but that we don’t believe in God all the time. It’s easy to live life our way and then go running back to God when it gets bad. God is faithful to us. He’s never going to leave us alone, and never going to let us be choked by things we can’t handle. Just as God is teaching us what real love is, God is the example of true faithfulness. As He is always there for us, we need to be constantly renewing and recommitting in our 8

faith to Him. He loves us always, He looks our for us always, He’s there for us always. We should striving and working to love Him and serve Him with the same passion and faithfulness. Read the following verses: 1 John 1:8-10 1. What do you think you need to hear more; that everyone struggles with faithfulness or that God is always faithful?

2. What is it in your relationship with Christ that makes you want to faithful to Him? What makes it hard to be faithful?

3. Which reminder from the 1 John reading do you need to hear the most?

4. Reflect on something that has taken hold of you or choked you before, and how God was faithful in that. At what point did you realize that God would take care of it? How did that realization feel?

5. Pray for an understanding of God’s faithfulness, and to get closer to being faithful to Him in the same way.

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3. Winter Winds: a life without God

As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts Oh, the warmth in your eyes swept me into your arms Was it love or fear of the cold that led us through the night? For every kiss your beauty trumped my doubt And my head told my heart "Let love grow" But my heart told my head "This time no, this time no" We'll be washed and buried one day, my girl And the time we were given will be left for the world The flesh that lived and loved will be eaten by plague So let the memories be good for those who stay And my head told my heart "Let love grow" But my heart told my head "This time no" Yes, my heart told my head "This time no, this time no" Oh, the shame that sent me off from the God that I once loved Was the same that sent me into your arms Oh, and pestilence is won when you are lost and I am gone And no hope, no hope will overcome But if your strife strikes at your sleep Remember spring swaps snow for leaves You'll be happy and wholesome again When the city clears and sun ascends And my head told my heart "Let love grow" But my heart told my head "This time no" And my head told my heart "Let love grow" But my heart told my head "This time no, this time no"

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1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts where you think it’s talking about the struggles of a life without God This song, despite it’s cheery tune, is a really sad one to me, when you listen to the lyrics. It’s a story of a guy who’s choosing to live life without God, as he admits in the third verse that he’s turned away from God. Each of these verses address a different part of life that comes to be when we turn away from Him. The first verse is about sin, and his relationship with a woman asking “was it love, or just fear of the cold” that made us do that. The second verse is about death, saying that this life is all we have, someday it’ll be over, because there’s nothing after this. The third verse is about his shame and hurt, and how he was trying to find refuge in a girl, and now she’s gone and he’s alone again and hurt and hopeless. Just after that bit it says “you’ll be happy and wholesome again” but I don’t think he believes it, because the song doesn’t end on that note. It ends on the chorus. The chorus is the saddest part. It’s talking about this love between humans that clearly doesn’t have a base in God. His head is saying “I really want to love her,” but he’s been hurt by love too many times before to let himself do it. He fears love. It’s a pretty common fear; so many people suffer from heartbreak and just don’t want to risk that pain again. That’s where this guy stands. And because God isn’t what his life is rooted in and where his love is based, He probably would get hurt again. We all get hurt, that’s just how life goes. But we have a healer, stronghold in God. With God, we have hope. But even more than the chorus, I think the line that breaks my heart is his one line specifically about God: “The shame that sent me off from the God I once loved.” Shame is such a tough thing to deal with and can trump our lives if we aren’t turning to Him. Shame should be what brings us running to Him, not away from Him. But so many people run away from Him due to shame. God can lift shame from us, because we have no reason to be shameful with Him, not only because He already knows all of doings, but because He has promised to love us no matter what. It breaks my heart to think this guy in the song, and people everywhere run from God with shame, thinking they just aren’t good enough to be loved by Him. Read the following verses: Psalm 40:1-17 1. Take some time to think about what your life is like now in Christ, and compare it to what it could be if you were not rooted in Christ.

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2. Why do you think those differences exist? What makes Christians so different from everyone else? What makes Christians not different?

3. Of all of the worldly struggles mentioned in Winter Winds which do you think is one you fear or struggle with most? (sin, fear of hurt, death, shame, loneliness, doubt, unhappiness)

4. How does the psalmist, David, talk about shame? (V. 11-13)

5. Pick a verse or two from Psalm 40 that speaks the most to you and explain why.

6. Spend time in prayer with God asking for protection from the pains of the world and for faith to turn to Him in those times.

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4. Roll Away Your Stone: God’s grace

Roll away your stone, I'll roll away mine Together we can see what we will find Don't leave me alone at this time For I'm afraid of what I will discover inside 'Cause you told me that I wouldn't find a home Within the fragile substance of my soul And I have filled this void with things unreal And all the while my character it steals Darkness is a harsh term, don't you think? And yet it dominates the things I see It seems that all my bridges have been burned But you say, "That's exactly how this grace thing works" It's not the long walk home that will change this heart But the welcome I receive with every start Darkness is a harsh term, don't you think? And yet it dominates the things I see Darkness is a harsh term, don't you think? And yet it dominates the things I see Stars hide your fires, these here are my desires And I won't give them up to you this time around And so I'll be found with my stake stuck in this ground Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul Hide your fires, these here are my desires And I won't give them up to you this time around And so I'll be found with my stake stuck in this ground Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul And you, you've gone too far this time You have neither reason nor rhyme With which to take this soul That is so rightfully mine

1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts where you think God’s grace is described.

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Grace is a term that Christians throw around a whole lot, and sometimes have no concept of what it actually means. Grace is the word we use to sum up God’s incredibly vast forgiveness. Often, we take grace for granted, knowing that we are forgiven for our wrongs and fail to see the sheer beauty of God’s promise to forgive us. Some people think grace means that God forgives and forgets, but that’s not actually what God gave us. The best way to look at it is with an analogy. Imagine you go to a restaurant and get dinner but can’t pay the bill. The waiter pays your bill out of his paycheck. He doesn’t just say “leave before anyone sees you,” he takes your debt and pays it. That’s grace. Not the idea of pretending it didn’t happen, but knowing it happened and taking the hit for it without a hint of regret or remorse. This song talks a lot about vulnerability and openness, as well as grace. It opens with a verse talking about being afraid to open up, to unpack whatever is inside, in fear of what’s really there. And begging to not be alone in that journey. He goes on to say that he found emptiness in his heart, realized he was filling it with things he ought not to, and he was losing his character because of it. And ending with the conclusion that darkness dominates everything he sees. Sounds like a pretty tough experience. Our narrator opens with his realization of how empty and wrong his life is and goes into the chorus saying “all my bridges have been burned.” All of the things that were connecting him to his sinful life seem to be leaving him. And then it goes on with another favorite line of mine: “It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart, but the welcome I receive with the restart.” This is where he talks about grace. And it is such a good description of what grace really does and really is. Christ lived a perfect life and died a horrible death so that we could be forgiven no matter what our sin. It’s an amazing gift we’ve been given, but we have to accept it. Grace is two sided. We have an amazing loving and forgiving God, who time and time again, heals the brokenness in our life. The reason I love that line is because it actually talks about the two sides, not just the one. See, we have to go to God, to seek Him out. And seeking Him changes us a lot. People mature when they start seeking God’s grace, they tend to start living a better life. But grace is not earned, it is not given to us based on any of our merits and we aren’t expected to prove that we are worthy. Grace is given to us. And so although we grow from our seeking out of Him, our hearts change when we accept His gift to us. When we accept that we are forgiven, that the past has passed, that we are made new in Him. God welcomes us when we turn to Him and that opportunity to start over, to become clean again is what changes our hearts. The remainder of the song following the first chorus is about the narrators life after accepting God’s grace. How sinfulness can no longer corrupt him. How his desires 14

are new and unlike what they were before. How he is passionate about the grace he’s received. How no one can take away that grace or rob him of the fact that he is a son of God. Read the following verses: Ephesians 2:1-13 1. Was there a time where it was hard for you to accept that Christ has forgiven you? What did it feel like to accept that grace?

2. Read verses 12 and 13 again. What do those verses mean to you? How does your life before knowing Christ compare to your life now?

3. What do you need to do to have a “newly impassioned soul?” What does that look like?

4. Thank God for His graciousness and pray that you might accept that grace with passion.

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5. White Blank Page: sin

Can you lie next to her And give her your heart, your heart As well as your body? And can you lie next to her And confess your love, your love As well as your folly? And can you kneel before the king And say I'm clean, I'm clean? But tell me now, where was my fault? In loving you with my whole heart Oh, tell me now, where was my fault? In loving you with my whole heart A white blank page and a swelling rage, rage You did not think when you sent me to the brink, to the brink You desired my attention But denied my affections, my affections So tell me now, where was my fault? In loving you with my whole heart Oh, tell me now, where was my fault? In loving you with my whole heart Lead me to the truth and I Will follow you with my whole life Oh, lead me to the truth and I Will follow you with my whole life

1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts that seem to contrast two different lives. This song addresses almost everyone’s least favorite topic: sin. I get kind of uneasy when conversations start about sin, it makes me uncomfortable. Why? Because I know I sin. Everyone does, but no one likes admitting it. As Christians, there’s an undeniable pressure to be perfect. Because we are Christians, we shouldn’t screw up or sin, that’s what everyone else does. But that is a lie that we tell ourselves. As Christians, we are working to become more Christ-like and to stray from sin. But we

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suffer from this condition of an impure heart, and no matter how hard we work, sin happens. This song is about a guy who really loves this girl. And the chorus is this question of “where did I go wrong?” All he was trying to do was love her. But he slipped into sinfulness, giving her his “body and heart.” He realizes that what he’s been doing is wrong, that somewhere this thing that was supposed to be good, became bad. He struggles with a sin as old as time, as common as any. He knows he’s done wrong and wants to fix it. In the last verse he talks about wanting to change, wanting to know “the truth.” The truth is that Christ died to clean us from our sins. He could kneel before His father and say “I’m clean,” while we cannot. But by accepting Him, we become clean. I think the most important part of the song is the last verse. We want to be that person he talks about in the last verse. We are surrounded by people, Christian or not, who make mistakes, ourselves included. Even our closest and most faithful friends have sin and brokenness in our lives. Our job as Christians and people who simply love others is to point them to the truth. Our work as friends is only capable of so much. We need to acknowledge that there is sin and that it’s something to work through, but not only with each other. Ultimately, we need to be working through our brokenness with the God who loves us better than anyone else, and so as friends with that knowledge, we are made to show our friends the truth by letting them follow us there. Not only do we need to pursue God in our sin, and tell our friends to do the same, but we should be pursuing God with them and praying with them and helping them work through their sin with God, standing next to them through it. Read the following verses: Galatians 6:1-16 1. Who were the people and what were the events that lead you to the truth?

2. What does it feel like to be forgiven by a friend when you’ve wronged them? What does forgiveness from God feel like comparatively?

3. Reread verses 1-3 and think about how they relate to the song, the last verse especially. What of those verses stands out most to you? Why?

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4. Verse 15 talks about being made new. What do you think is mean by “new?” (ie. clean, forgiven, kinder, more loving, ect. ) (this could be just for you, or for everyone)

5. Spend time in prayer thanking God for His forgiveness and asking for it in places you may need. Thank Him for making you new in Him.

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6. I Gave You All: frustration with Christ

Rip the earth in two with your mind Seal the urge which ensues with brass wires I never meant you any harm But your tears feel warm as they fall on my forearm But close my eyes for a while Force from the world a patient smile How can you say that your truth is better than ours? Shoulder to shoulder, now brother, we carry no arms The blind man sleeps in the doorway, his home If only I had an enemy bigger than my apathy I could have won But I gave you all I gave you all, I gave you all Close my eyes for a while Force from the world a patient smile But I gave you all I gave you all, I gave you all And you rip it from my hands And you swear it's all gone And you rip out all I have Just to say that you've won And you rip it from my hands And you swear it's all gone And you rip out all I have Just to say that you've won, you've won Well, now you've won But I gave you all I gave you all, I gave you all

1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts that you think express frustration with Christ. This is a bit of a tougher song. It’s about frustration with God. Life with Christ isn’t always easy, sometimes it’s really hard. Sometimes we think life is supposed to be 19

easier as a Christian. If He loves us so much, why wouldn’t He just make us happy all the time? The song starts with the narrator essentially admitting that He understands God is good and powerful, and that he’s sorry for having let Him down at points. But he says he’s faking a smile for the world; he’s unhappy. He goes on to say how broken the world is. “How could You possible be good with people in the world who are hurting, or without food or home?” He answers his own question, though, in the next line. Apathy. There aren’t enough people in the world who are selfless enough to help. The true frustration is show in the chorus. He says, “I gave you all.” I gave you my life, I’m trying to be a Christian and I am still unhappy. I’m still faking my smile. What’s more is that “You rip it from my hands and say it’s all gone.” This line is sort of dense. He’s talking about his sin, his old ways. God has taken those old ways from him, and they’re gone. And in some ways, that can be such a huge relief. God has lifted us of our wrong doings. We don’t have to feel guilty anymore, because we’re forgiven and don’t have to do those things anymore to find worth. But he’s frustrated, because sometimes we miss those things. We know we’ve been forgiven and we have new life, and don’t need whatever those sins were that were filling our lives before. But this guy is giving God everything and he’s still not happy. He’s missing his old ways because although it’s wrong, he remembers it making him happy. This is not uncommon at all, people struggle with this everywhere. Everyone around us seems to find happiness in sin, be it partying, or sleeping around, or treating people poorly. We are told to give our lives to God and live like He did. Sometimes that is way harder said than done, a lot of times, really. And it is more than tempting to just conform to the world. But the last line of the chorus is “you’ve won.” God won, God wins. He wins over sin, over temptation, over loneliness. And He wants to win us, He wants us. The song ends not talking about how he’s unhappy or how the world is broken, but how he’s giving God his all. And that is really hard sometimes, and sometimes it seems like everyone else around us is having more fun. But God wants to hear us say “You win.” God wants to hear us say “I’ll give you my all.” It’s going to be frustrating at times, but in the end, He wins. Read the following verses: Colossians 3:1-17 1. When have there been some times where you were frustrated with Christ or where being a Christian doesn’t seem “worth it?” Who or what serves as your reminder that it is worth it?

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2. Where did you used to find happiness? Where do you find happiness now?

3. What does it mean to you that “you have been raised with Christ who sits at the right hand of God?”

4. Look at the nouns in verse 12. How can you be working to make those things the center of your life?

5. Thank God for His love for us and for winning us over. Pray that you would not be tempted by the world.

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7. Little Lion Man: worthiness

Weep for yourself, my man You'll never be what is in your heart Weep, little lion man You're not as brave as you were at the start Rate yourself and rake yourself Take all the courage you have left Waste it on fixing all the problems That you made in your own head But it was not your fault, but mine And it was your heart on the line I really messed it up this time Didn't I, my dear? Didn't I, my dear? Tremble for yourself, my man You know that you have seen this all before Tremble, little lion man You'll never settle any of your scores Your grace is wasted in your face Your boldness stands alone among the wreck Now learn from your mother Or else spend your days biting your own neck But it was not your fault, but mine And it was your heart on the line I really messed it up this time Didn't I, my dear? But it was not your fault, but mine And it was your heart on the line I really messed it up this time Didn't I, my dear? Didn't I, my dear? Well, it was not your fault, but mine And it was your heart on the line I really messed it up this time Didn't I, my dear? But it was not your fault, but mine

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And it was your heart on the line I really messed it up this time Didn't I, my dear? Didn't I, my dear? 1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts that talk about worthiness (or unworthiness). I don’t think there’s a song on this album that sounds more discouraged than this. And passionately discouraged, at that. And I think the reason that this is the most popular of their songs up until now is because everyone has felt like this. Everyone has a moment or a day or a period of time where they feel like “Man, I really screwed up this time.” And more than that, “I am really not good enough.” There are parts in this song where it’s pretty clear it’s about a girl or someone in his life. But I think the underlying themes describe exactly how we feel about our relationship with God sometimes. Like we’ve just messed up too much this time, that we’ve relied way too much on ourselves and we’ve reached a point of no return. Why even bother asking for forgiveness? And there’s no doubt we’ve all made mistakes, some bigger than others, and it is way too easy to think that there’s just no way that we’ll be forgiven this time. I used to think that living in the lie that I wasn’t good enough was a way of being humble. But by not accepting God’s grace, we aren’t really accepting Him. If we don’t accept that despite our sin, we’re forgiven, it’s saying that Christ dying wasn’t good enough for us. And what greater love is there than living a perfect life to die on a cross so that we can live forever with Him? There isn’t greater love than that. The thing is, none of us are “good enough.” That’s not the point. Grace is given, not earned. No matter how good or bad we are, He still loves us, should we choose to accept it. Read the following verses: Romans 3:21-31 1. Take a few minutes to reflect on how vast God’s forgiveness is. Jot down any notes you may have.

2. What would it take or did it take for you to believe that you are worthy?

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3. Reread verses 22-26. Think about some of the sins in your life that Christ died for. What does that mean to you?

4. Commit John 3:17 to memory.

5. Spend time praying with God accepting His forgiveness and praying that you might understand how loved you are.

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8. Timshel: community

Cold is the water It freezes your already cold mind Already cold, cold mind And death is at your doorstep And it will steal your innocence But it will not steal your substance But you are not alone in this And you are not alone in this As brothers we will stand And we'll hold your hand Hold your hand And you are the mother The mother of your baby child The one to whom you gave life And you have your choices And these are what make man great His ladder to the stars But you are not alone in this And you are not alone in this As brothers we will stand And we'll hold your hand Hold your hand And I will tell the night And whisper, "Lose your sight" But I can't move the mountains for you

1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts that you think talk about community. When I was on Work Crew with Young Life, one of the things we talked about was our community. Our boss said to us how important it is to be vulnerable with each other and be there for each other, but ultimately, our job is to point our friends to Christ. We are made to be in community with each other and be there for our friends as much as we can, but we can only do so much. Being a good friend means

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knowing that, and turning to God with our friends, rather than just instructing them to do so. This song speaks so well to that. It talks about how the world is a hard place to live in; not everyone lives a life with Christ, and there’s corruption everywhere. It can be really hard to withstand temptation. But the chorus says “You are not alone in this.” This is speaking to two things. 1)We are never alone because God is with us. He has a plan for us and will get us through everything He puts us through. But the second half of the chorus brings us to 2)we have friends who will hold our hand through everything difficult. True friends will walk next to us in hard times. Something that can be so easy to forget, though, is that we need God in our friendships too, even the very healthiest ones. The last part of the song says “I can’t move the mountains for you.” We can be great friends and there for those we love and focused on Christ, but have to remember we can’t move the mountains. We can’t fix it all. That’s what God does. He’s the one who can really heal and really solve our problems. As good friends, we have to remember that we are not the healers or the miracle-makers. Friendship becomes really exhausting when we try to fix each other’s problems and bear one another’s struggles. Which is why we pray, we spend time in community with Him, and help our friends see Him in hard times. We walk next to them, toward God. Read the following verses: 1 John 1:5-7; 1 John 2:3-9 1. What does your community of friends look like? How can those friendships be better centered on Christ?

2. What does it feel like to try to solve or bear someone else’s struggles? Have you lifted your friends struggles up to God to fix? What does that feel like?

3. Reread 1 John 1:7. How does that highlight the truth’s sung about in Timshel?

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9. Thistle and Weeds: Christ’s rain and reign

Spare me your judgements and spare me your dreams, Cause recently mine have been tearing my seams, I sit alone in this winter clarity which clouds my mind, Alone in the wind and the rain you left me, It's getting dark darling, too dark to see, And I'm on my knees, and your faith in shreds, it seems. Corrupted by the simple sniff of riches blown, I know you have felt much more love than you've shown, And I'm on my knees and the water creeps to my chest. But plant your hope with good seeds, Don't cover yourself with thistle and weeds, Rain down, rain down on me, Look over your hills and be still, The sky above us shoots to kill, Rain down, rain down on me. But I will hold on I will hold on hope, but I will hold on, I will hold on hope, and I will hold on I will hold on hope, but I will hold on I will hold on hope, I will hold on I will hold on. I begged you to hear me, there's more than flesh and bones, Let the dead bury their dead, they will come out in droves, But take the spade from my hands and fill in the holes, you've made. But plant your hope with good seeds, Don't cover yourself with thistle and weeds, Rain down, rain down on me.

1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts that you think talk about Christ reigning our life. This song is pretty tricky to break down, there’s a lot of good stuff in it. I think of all of their songs, this one might make the most references specifically to the bible, but it has a fairly broad lesson. There are a lot of lessons in the bible that have to do with planting yourself in good ground (Matthew 7:24-27) and not being amongst “weeds” (Matthew 13:24-30). There are tons of verses about hope, half of Romans is about hope it seems. This song talks about the pain in having friends without faith,

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and how the world around us has the ability to corrupt our faith. There’s so much here. My favorite part of the song though is the “rain down on me” line. The reason for this is because when you listen to a song, you don’t generally look at the lyrics. And so not only do I hear this as “rain down on me” but also “reign down on me.” Two different, but similar ideas that really outline what life with Christ looks like. Those are two things we should be asking God for daily if we really want to be close to Him. Christ’s raining down on us can mean a lot of things: a showering of His presence, knowing He is there. Sometimes I think that means is giving us struggles, so that we have reasons to lean on him. I also think this idea of raining can mean showing us who He is, in nature, in our relationships, in our life in general. Ultimately, this idea of “raining Christ” is about seeing Him and knowing He is with us all the time. Reigning is a little different. When I ask Christ to reign down on my life, I want Him to take control. To remind me He is king, He is in control. It means lifting our worries up to Him and being ready for Him to shape us. It means living the life He wants for us, and being shown what that looks like. We as Christians should be ask for both of these things in our life, they cover a good portion of what we should be seeking in our relationship with Christ. We need Christ’s presence in our life and to be looking for Him in all we do. That can be hard to see sometimes, and we need to remember to ask for Him to help us see. Help us see Him raining down on us, and understand that He reigns over us. Read the following verses: Ephesians 3:14-20 1. Do you think Christ dwelling in your heart has more to do with His rain or His reign?

2. Is knowing the fullness of God more about rain or reign?

3. Which of these do you think you need more of in your life? Spend time praying about that and thinking of ways to see more of God in your life.

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10. Awake My Soul: life’s purpose

How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes I struggle to find any truth in your lies And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know My weakness I feel I must finally show Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all But lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall Lend me your eyes I can change what you see But your soul you must keep, totally free Har har, har har har har, har har Awake my soul... Awake my soul... How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes I struggle to find any truth in your lies And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know My weakness I feel I must finally show Har har, har har har har, har har In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die Where you invest your love, you invest your life In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die Where you invest your love, you invest your life Awake my soul... Awake my soul... Awake my soul... For you were made to meet your maker Awake my soul... Awake my soul... Awake my soul... For you were made to meet your maker You were made to meet your maker

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1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts that show life’s purpose. This is a really strong song. Like Timshel, there is just a lot here. This song holds some of my favorite lines: ‣Where you invest your love, you invest your life ‣You were made to meet your maker ‣You’re soul you must keep totally free ‣My weakness I feel I must finally show These are bold lines, talking about some really important things in our life with Christ. We need to be vulnerable in order to have true community. And although we will stumble along our journey with Christ, if there’s one thing we should try to do is keep our hearts, our souls, focused on Him. And the first line I listed says so much about what Christianity says. When you invest your love in Him, you invested your life in Him. Where are you investing your love right now? Sometimes that’s a question I need to sit back and ask myself. However, among those lines, I think the second one I listed is the most important one they sing. And it’s the last line too, which I think shows they just might feel the same way. We were made to meet our maker. To reside in Heaven with Him for eternity. To pass from death to life through Him, and live in Him. That’s some pretty heavy stuff. But it is true. The world around us tells us we were made for all sorts of other things, be it to make money, or to have lots of friends, or to find love. And that is not to say those things aren’t important or good. But we were made to meet our maker, to be in community with Him. And it very much relates to that first line I highlighted. Where you invest your love, you invest your life. That should be Him, because that’s what we were made to do. Read the following verses: Galatians 5:13-26 1. Verse 13 says “we are called to be free.” What does “free” mean for us as humanity, and for you specifically?

2. What does “meeting your maker” mean in your opinion? Is this a physical thing, or a commitment or something else?

3. What line of the song stands out or means the most to you? Why?

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4. What parts of the passage outline ways to invest your love in Christ? Which of them are you doing? Which do you need to work on?

5. Pray that you might allow the spirit to dwell in your heart, and thank someone who helped you come to know Christ better.

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11. Dust Bowl Dance: pride

The young man stands on the edge of his porch, The days were short and the father was gone, There was no one in the town and no one in the field, This dusty barren land had given all it could yield. I've been kicked off my land at the age of sixteen, And I have no idea where else my heart could have been, I placed all my trust at the foot of this hill, And now I am sure my heart can never be still, So collect your courage and collect your horse, And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse. Seal my heart and break my pride, I've nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide, Align my heart, my body, my mind, To face what I've done and do my time. Well you are my accuser, now look in my face, Your oppression reeks of your greed and disgrace, So one man has and another has not, How can you love what it is you have got, When you took it all from the weak hands of the poor? Liars and thieves you know not what is in store. There will come a time I will look in your eye, You will pray to the God that you always denied, The I'll go out back and I'll get my gun, I'll say, "You haven't met me, I am the only son". Seal my heart and break my pride, I've nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide, Align my heart, my body, my mind, To face what I've done and do my time. Seal my heart and break my pride, I've nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide, Align my heart, my body, my mind, To face what I've done and do my time. Well yes sir, yes sir, yes it was me, I know what I've done, cause I know what I've seen,

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I went out back and I got my gun, I said, "You haven't met me, I am the only son". 1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts you think talk about pride. This is a really dense song that, to be honest, I don’t fully understand. It’s an anecdote about a boy who kills someone out of vengeance, and owns up to it. And that’s a pretty complicated story with a lot of questions of what’s morally right and wrong. But I want to just look at one part that I think digs at something that’s really prevalent in our lives: pride. Just reread the first chorus: There will come a time I will look in your eye, You will pray to the God that you always denied, The I'll go out back and I'll get my gun, I'll say, "You haven't met me, I am the only son". I really like thinking about the last two lines and ask myself “how often do I tell that to others?” and the answers is a lot. No, I don’t go out and grab a gun from my yard and kill people. But I get really frustrated at times when people try to tell me they understand, and just want to yell that they don’t understand. It’s easy to be convinced that we are the only one dealing with x, y, or z, and no one could ever have any idea what it’s like. Take a minute and think about the fact that there are 7 billion people on this earth. Is it really possible that you are the only one struggling with this or that? It’s pretty selfish to believe that. Sometimes that pride gets to us, and we can hardly help it. However, I’ve certainly found that every time I get in this mindset, God provides someone to prove me wrong. I can spend as much time as I want saying “You don’t know me,” but God does. God knows every part of our being, every struggle in our life, every thing that we stumble over. With a God that loving and understanding, there’s no room for pride like this. It’s silly. There are a lot of people out there who haven’t met you and don’t yet know you, but that doesn’t mean they can’t. Read the following verses: John 10:11-16 1. What are the things in your life that you convince yourself no one could understand? Where have you been proven wrong in that?

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2. Reread verses 14 and 15. God knows in the same way He knows Jesus, which a pretty deep knowledge. What does that mean to you and what do you think it means in regards to God’s plan for you?

3. “So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” What does it mean to you to be part of one flock?

4. Pray about pride and thank God for knowing you as well as He does.

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12. After the Storm: God’s love

And after the storm, I run and run as the rains come And I look up, I look up, on my knees and out of luck, I look up. Night has always pushed up day You must know life to see decay But I won't rot, I won't rot Not this mind and not this heart, I won't rot. And I took you by the hand And we stood tall, And remembered our own land, What we lived for. And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears. And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. Get over your hill and see what you find there, With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair. And now I cling to what I knew I saw exactly what was true But oh no more. That's why I hold, That's why I hold with all I have. That's why I hold. And I will die alone and be left there. Well I guess I'll just go home, Oh God knows where. because death is just so full and man so small. Well I'm scared of what's behind and what's before.

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And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears. And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. Get over your hill and see what you find there, With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair. And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears. And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. Get over your hill and see what you find there, With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair 1. Listen to the song and underline what sticks out to you. 2. Listen to the song a second time and underline parts you think talk about pride. Well, Mumford does it again, ending their album with the same concept as it started: God’s love. Take a look at the chorus: a time with no tears, where love doesn’t break your heart, but dismisses your fears. Sounds pretty awesome to me. And, it’s offered to us. A perfect, amazing love. Take a look at those three qualities: 1. No more tears. God invites us into a love where the only tears we really need to shed are those of joy. We live in a really broken world and there is plenty to be sad about. Sadness happens, and there’s certainly no shame in that. But there’s a God that dries our tears and loves us more than anything that has the capability to break our heart.....which leads us into: 2. Love will not break your heart. There is a whole lot of love in this world that is capable of breaking our heart. Most people date at least two people in their lifetime, which means they had a break up somewhere; that can be a pretty tough heart break. And remember middle school? How many friends there managed to break your heart. God loves in a way that cannot hurt us, unless it’s from being so overwhelming. He is the only one that loves us unendingly and unconditionally, and will never put us through heart break. 3. Dismiss your fears. “There is no fear in love,” (1 John 4:18) and God delivers that real love. Everyone gets scared, but we have the Lord as our rock and our shield: the ultimate comforter. And when we let Him in, He can lift fear and worry from us. 36

In short, this song says it all. God has our back and loves us in a way we can’t even fully understand. But we get to be a part of that love, and that is pretty awesome. Read the following verses: 1 John 4:7-19 1. What part of God’s love as outlined by After the Storm stands out to you the most?

2. What does it really mean that “God is love?”

3. What does it mean to you that “we love because He first loved us,” and “He loved us and sent His son?” How does it make you feel to know that these things are true?

4. Read lines 3-5 of the song and think for a minute about what that says about God’s love. Write down how that relates to God’s unending love for us.

5. Thank God for His grace and love and pray to grow in it, and to be come closer to loving others as He loved us first.

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Mumford & Sons is easily one of my favorite bands. I love these songs and they so speak to me in God’s light. I could quote their music all day, pulling out lines that I love and often find myself getting the reminders I need at the times I least expect it, just by hitting play in iTunes. And I didn’t even talk about all of those things in here. These songs are dense and hopefully you were able to see that just in listening to them with a tuned ear. It’s funny how if we choose to, we can hear God in most anything.

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