“‘I do not exist,’ we faithfully insist.” Singer/songwriter Aaron Weiss kicks off the album Brother, Sister mumbling this line. Their unique sound and wonderful lyrics within this song set it off right. The first verse, mumbled to the sound of rain, begin a metaphor held throughout the entire song. “Sailing in our separate ships and from each tiny caravel. Tiring of trying, there’s a unnecessary dying, Like the horseshoe crab in its proper season sheds its shell.” Throughout the song the lyrics speak of life in a ship. As humans, we’re prone to sin. We can’t help that, it’s our nature–like a horseshoe crab shedding its shell. The result of this sin is unnecessary dying, as spoken of in Genesis. “Such distance from our friends, like a scratch across the lens, made everything look wrong from anywhere we stood.” The sin in our lives distorts our view. It makes us selfish (alluding back to sailing in separate ships), and separates us from those closest to us.
The metaphor continues in the next verse. At the beginning of the verse, all of the instruments come in and Aaron switches to his usual singing voice from the quiet mumbling. “Caught me making eyes at the other boatman’s wives, and heard me laughing louder at the jokes told by their daughters.” The life on a ship is life living in sin, as seen when the narrator finds himself lusting after other mens’ wives. “I’d set my course for land, but you well understand, it takes a steady hand to navigate these adulterous waters.” The narrator speaks of how he would turn his life around and flee from sin, but that is far easier said than done. Battling adulterous waters means turning against his own nature; something no one could do on their own. “The propeller's spinning blades held acquaintance with the waves, as there’s mistakes I’ve made no rowing could outrun” the boat he is in wants to be with water–just as the body’s we’re in want to be in sin. We cannot escape this sin by ourselves. No amount of running (or rowing) can help us escape from sin.
Verse three emphasizes total depravity. “I’d never want someone so crass as to want someone like me.” As humans, we want others around us, but here the narrator realizes that anyone who could bear his sin would have to be too sinful for him to want to be around. Sin is really a problem, it messes up how God intended us to be. We want to be loved and want to be around others, but sin prevents that from happening. The narrator expands the metaphor of sin and the sea with, “But a few leagues off the shore, I bit a flashing lure, and I assure you, it was not what I expected it to be.” We’re told by temptation that sin will be enjoyable, easy, and without consequences. This could not be further from the truth; sin leaves us broken, alone, and in pain–it’s not nearly as satisfying as we hoped. Aaron expands this thought as he describes how useless sin is with four more similes. “I still taste its kiss, that dull hook in my lip is a memory as useless as a rod without a reel.”
My favorite verse, the fourth, shows the listener the turning point of total depravity. “Floating forgetfully along, with no need to be strong, we keep our confessions long, but when we pray we keep it short. I drank a thimble full of fire, I’m not ever coming back... Oh, my G-d.” We get so swept away by sin, we really do float forgetfully along. However, when get that taste of consequences, a taste of eternal loneliness and separation from God, we wont go back. Even a thimbleful of this fire is enough to catch our attention, and make us surrender to God. In the booklet that comes with the CD, they print “G-d,” to show even more respect to our creator. We truly need Him to turn our life around, to flee from that sinful life at sea.
“‘I do not exist,’ we faithfully insist, while watching sink the heavy ship with everything we knew.” After we surrender everything we are to God, our old, sinful selves sink fast. A radical change happens, from a completely self-absorbed, sinful human in need of a Savior to a still selfish and still sinful human, forgiven by a perfect Savior. This perfect Savior didn’t just forgive us, but died in order to forgive us. He rose from the dead, altering history and saving us from eternal damnation. “If ever you come near, I’ll hold up high a mirror. Lord, I could never show You anything as beautiful as You.” This is a perfect ending of a wonderful song. Once we surrender everything we have and everything we are to God, we see His beauty compared to our sin. Instead of longing to have our identity something of this world, we long to reflect God. We want others to see God when they see us, an indescribable privilege from such a loving God. Our identity is in Jesus Christ, and our sins our wiped away. Incredible? I think so. MewithoutYou does a wonderful job of portraying this life changing fact in a single song.
For more, pick of the Bible and read the Gospels. Let God speak to you, rather than some sinner redeemed by God.
~Becca French
