4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Notes
This song opens the album, and it has a particular job - it carries you straight out of Outside the Camp and into a praise record. The last album left a man alone in a cold field. This one throws a door open and starts calling people in. Come in, come in from the cold. There's room at the fire, there's room in the fold.
And notice immediately whose work the gathering is. We did not build this house, we did not light the flame. He threw the door open wide. That is the grammar the whole album will keep - the saving verbs belong to God, and the only thing a person does is come, and sit, and sing. Each verse walks in a different outsider: the one with no pew left, the one the camp branded and walked to the edge, the one who slipped out the back and stopped coming. The album is making sure no one in earshot can think the door is not for them.
The bridge widens it as far as it goes, on the strength of one promise from Christ Himself. Him that cometh, He will in no wise cast out - not the least, not the last, not the lost. And then the line that ties this record to the one before it: the camp shut its gate, but the Lord never has. The cold field of the last album turns out to be holy ground - this field is a church when His people sing here. The door is open, and He swore it stays open till every last sheep is found. Come in from the cold.
Lyrics
[Chorus]
Come in, come in from the cold,
There's room at the fire, there's room in the fold.
We did not build this house, we did not light the flame,
He threw the door open wide. Come in from the cold.
[Verse 1]
You with no pew left to sit in,
You with no name on a roll,
There's a light out past the fence line,
There's a fire, there's a fold.
[Chorus]
Come in, come in from the cold,
There's room at the fire, there's room in the fold.
We did not build this house, we did not light the flame,
He threw the door open wide. Come in from the cold.
[Verse 2]
You they walked to the edge of the camp,
You they branded with the word,
There's a table they can't keep you from,
And a Shepherd who has heard.
[Chorus]
Come in, come in from the cold,
There's room at the fire, there's room in the fold.
We did not build this house, we did not light the flame,
He threw the door open wide. Come in from the cold.
[Verse 3]
You who slipped out the back and stopped coming,
You who wore out and let go,
He kept the lamp in the window burning,
More than you'll ever know.
[Bridge]
Him that cometh, He will in no wise cast out,
Not the least, not the last, not the lost.
The camp shut its gate, but the Lord never has,
And He has paid the whole cost.
This field is a church when His people sing here,
This cold ground is holy ground.
He opened the door, and He swore it stays open
Till every last sheep is found.
[Chorus x2]
Come in, come in from the cold,
There's room at the fire, there's room in the fold.
We did not build this house, we did not light the flame,
He threw the door open wide. Come in from the cold.
[Outro]
Come in from the cold,
Come in from the cold,
He is filling up the house till there's no more room to hold.
Come in from the cold.
Commentary