Songs in Lent | Steve Bell

This is the fifth and final in a series of podcasts featuring music from our Wednesday evening Lenten series, this one with four songs by Steve Bell. Head to Steve’s site for more information and to find out how to purchase his music.

To access the other four music podcasts from this series, simply click here.

A Lovely, Longed-for Blue
Steve Bell, from a poem by Malcolm Guite

This is the day to leave the dark behind you
Take the adventure, step beyond the hearth
Shake off, at last, the shackles that confined you
And find the courage for the forward path.
You yearned for freedom
Through the long night watches
The day has come
And you are free to choose...
To set aside your still familiar crutches
To step into the lovely, longed-for blue

After the dimly burning wick of winter
That seemed to dull and darken everything
The Lenten sun shines clear beyond your shelter
Clean as sight itself while the reed-birds sing
As heaven bows
To kiss Creation’s surface
As light surrounds
And glimmers on the dew...
You pause to pray the holy saints preserve us
And step into the lovely, longed-for blue.

Breathe deep and be renewed by what you’re breathing,
Kinned to the keen east wind and the cleansing air,
As though the blue itself were blowing through you,
As though you always knew you’d find it there.
For all you know,
The aching of the ages
Awaits the blessed
Courage of the few...
Who join the company of pilgrim sages
That step into the lovely, longed-for blue 

Big Mistake
Music and lyrics by Malcolm Guite and Steve Bell

It was the night that brought me freedom
On the night you came for me
In the darkness you had kindled my desire
And your light pierced me through – and it drew me to you
I mistook you for a pillar made of fire

When we started in the morning
I was ready for the day
I loved you and I sang for you out loud
But as time passed I learned – how the desert sands burned
I mistook you for a pillar made of fire

You mistook me for the faithful
You mistook me for the true
You mistook me for the lover
Who would give her best to you
But you hurt me with your freedom
It’s a burden I can’t bear
And it’s all been a big mistake

When we came back to the mountain
Where our love had burned before
I remember how it felt like holy ground
When you drew me to the heights
With your darkness and your lights
I mistook you for the thunder all around

When my springs had turned all bitter
Then your love made them sweet
You were like a hidden river in the grass
But I sought my own will
And it poisons me still
I mistook you for a serpent made of brass

And you mistook me for the worthy
You mistook me for the free
You mistook me for the lover
That you wanted me to be
And I’m leaving your fold
On a calf made of gold
’Cause it’s all been a big mistake

Lenten Lands
Lyrics by Malcolm Guite, music by Steve Bell

My love is gone away in Lenten lands
Gone far away and clean forsaken me
And will she perish in those desert sands
Or will she turn again and come to me

I brought her out of Egypt in my youth
She clung to me when we were on the run
She tires of freedom now she tires of truth
And seeks for something new under the sun

The time of year has come when all things turn
The sun returns to warm the wintry earth
The land revives, the plants and seedlings yearn
Toward their rich beginnings and their birth

Will she turn? O will she turn again?
I hold my arms out wide upon the tree
And will she see me yearn to her through pain
And turn again, and turn again to me?

The time of year has come when all things turn
The sun returns to warm the wintery earth
The land revives, the plants and seedlings yearn
Toward their rich beginnings and their birth

The grapes are swelling on the fruitful vine
The figs are ripe and low upon the bow
I break the bread for her and pour the wine
And all I am is turned towards her now

This Is Love
Music and Lyric by Steve Bell

Father just before the hour comes
That was set aside to glorify Your Son
With a glory from before the world began
With a glory given to no other man

Protect the ones You’ve given me to love
I so desire that none of them be lost
They’ve yet to understand the mystery
Why the Son of God would wash another’s feet

But this is not the same
It’s a different thing
Altogether
This is not the same
It’s another thing
All together
This is love
This is love

My prayer is not for only these alone
But for those who follow after they’re gone
May they understand the love You have for me
As the kind of love that changes everything

They argue who will sit next to the throne
And I cringe to here them say Thy Kingdom come
They think they know what they’re getting into
We both know that they haven’t got a clue

But this is not the same 

Here’s something that they won’t like
Someone’s coming to take the life
No one has to look farther than me
I am he
Some will trust in the things they think they know
They should think again and let them go
Put away the sword and get behind
And let me die

’cause this is not the same
It’s a different thing
All together
This is not the same
It’s a better thing
All together
This is love
This is love