[Intro - Both, layered]
Before the wedding, the covenant
Before the water, the Spirit
Before the ceremony, the thought
The substance always before the form

[Verse 1 - Male]
I watched her cross the aisle in white
A ceremony beautiful and slow
But the covenant was signed
Years before, in a thought no witness knew

I kept the ring, I spoke the vow
The minister said the words aloud
But the bond was not made that day
The bond was rendered into view

[Pre-Chorus - Female]
And that is how the Author works
In every frame, in every place
The real is real before it shows
The substance is the thing, the ceremony is the trace

[Chorus - Both, harmony]
Before it shows, it is
Before it shows, it is
The invisible, the real
The rendering is what you see
But the substance held it first
Before it ever showed
Before it ever showed

[Verse 2 - Female]
I stood in the water, they held me down
The preacher said the words above
But the Spirit had already come
Long before the river saw me go

The water did not make me new
The water rendered what was true
The baptism of the Spirit was complete
Before the baptism of the river met my feet

[Pre-Chorus - Male]
And that is how the Author works
In every frame, in every place
The real is real before it shows
The substance is the thing, the ceremony is the trace

[Chorus - Both, harmony]
Before it shows, it is
Before it shows, it is
The invisible, the real
The rendering is what you see
But the substance held it first
Before it ever showed
Before it ever showed

[Bridge - Call and response]
(Male) Marriage before the ceremony
(Female) Spirit before the water
(Male) Election before the calling
(Female) Justification before the cross

(Both, rising)
The Author always holds the thought
Before He ever speaks it out
The thought precedes the rendering
And the rendering becomes the sight

[Verse 3 - Both, alternating lines]
(Male) I used to think the world I saw
(Female) Was the whole of what was real
(Male) I used to think the substance came
(Female) From what our hands could feel

(Both, harmony)
But now I know the substance sits
In a Mind that thought it first
And the world I see is the rendering
Of what was already real

[Final Chorus - Both, soaring]
Before it shows, it is
Before it shows, it is
The invisible, the real
The rendering is what you see
But the substance held it first
Before it ever showed
Before it ever showed

The covenant before the ceremony
The Spirit before the water
The thought before the thing
The substance before the form

[Outro - Both]
Before it shows
Before it shows
It is
It is