Aug/092
Review: Matt Redman – We shall not be shaken
I’ve been a Matt Redman fan since the mid 90′s so I was really excited to hear that Matt, who now lives in the US, has released a brand new worship album. Having a few iTunes vouchers lying around I thought I’d get the album as soon as it came out and since then it’s been on a non-stop loop on my iPod.
I think we’re really blessed as a church to have song writers such as Matt Redman, Stuart Townend, Tim Hughes, Chris Tomlin etc… I think they’ve brought back worship music from it’s largely sentimental state to focus again on the transcendence and majesty of God. Matt’s album continues that trend. Songs like ‘How great is your faithfulness‘ that dwells on the certainty of God’s promises, ‘Remembrance‘ that contemplates the Lord’s supper and ‘My hope‘ which brings a new tune to the Edward Mote classic from the 19th century. The content of the album is first rate.
Whenever I listen to worship albums I normally listen to them on two hats on. I genuinely like worship music so I listen to it in order to enjoy it. But also being a church leader and part-time worship leader I listen to it wondering whether any of the songs would fit into a congregational setting. Having had a large dose of Stuart Townend from a recent conference I’m now on the look-out for more hymn-like songs for church. Modern hymns with good theology.
All of the chord sheets for the album are available from Matt’s website, so I got my guitar out and went through them and was really pleased to find that there were a few really good congregational hymn-like songs on Matts new album. I’m sure other churches with bigger bands and bigger congregations could pull off some of the others, but in a small church setting I thought these would work best:
- How great is your faithfulness. Lovely tune with a rising chorus that reminded me of the Pogues ‘Fairytale of New York‘. The chorus is high but not too high.
- Remembrance. Communion song. I really like the mid section for words and tune: Dying you destroyed our death, Rising you restored our life.
- You alone can rescue. Would be very easy to pick up. I especially like the line: You came down to find us. Refreshing that there are lyrics that don’t talk about us finding God but the much more biblical concept that it’s God who finds us. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Lk 19:10)
I know that Matt’s album isn’t just congregational music – it’s a great album in it’s own right, but it’s encouraging that there are songs that the body of Christ can use to encourage one another.
If you want to buy the album it’s available on Amazon (UK Store|US Store). Or you can listen to it on Spotify in the UK for free. Here’s the Spotify link: Matt Redman – We shall not be shaken.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Aug/090
Review: The Jesus Storybook Bible
One of the biggest problems amongst Christians, I think, is understanding what the Bible is all about. It comes out in moralistic Sunday School classes, where the Sunday School teacher talks about David and Goliath and then asks the children: “So, what Goliath’s do you face in your life?“. It comes out in a Bible Study on Moses and the burning bush when the Bible Study leader asks: “So, what are the burning bush experiences in your life?” The problem is understanding what the Bible is all about comes down to who the Bible is about. Is it really all about following rules or having heroes to copy? This just makes the Bible some form of Christian self-help book! The Bible tells us that our problems are so bad we can’t find the answers inside of us, they have to come from the outside.
One great resource I’ve come across recently is The Jesus Storybook Bible. It’s a Christian storybook Bible with a difference. The subtitle of the book is: Every Story Whispers his name. Instead of drawing simple moral lessons from the Bible stories or telling us to copy our Bible heroes, it explains that every story in the Bible leads us to Jesus. Rather than telling lots of individual stories, the Bible tells one story, a story that becomes clearer and clearer as the Bible goes on – the story of a mighty God who made us, saw us rebel and sent his one and only Son to save us.
Here’s a quote from the book:
No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne – everything – to rescue the ones he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life… There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them. It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the centre of the Story there is a baby. Every Story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle – the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture.
The reviews are quite revealing too. Here are a few from Amazon.com (lots of 5/5 stars!):
Without a doubt the best story Bible I have read to my kids. Buy it! I work with college students and I believe that if I could get them to read it, this story Bible would help them understand scripture 100% better.
This book is absolutely wonderful! I can’t stop telling people about it. I have been reading it to my two daughters (1 1/2 and 4 1/2) and they both love the stories and pictures. I have to admit that after my daughters fell asleep I took the book to my room and kept reading it! The writing is magical and the connections between the old and new testament are fantastic. This is the best children’s bible book I have ever seen – and we have MANY. I will be getting this for all the kids in our world.
This is the most beautifully illustrated and written bible I’ve seen yet, and I’ve searched for many! I can’t wait for a bedtime story either!
Sally Lloyd-Jones has done a great job of explaining the message of the Bible in a language that anyone can understand.
Popularity: 29% [?]
Aug/090
Review: ESV Study Bible
ESV Study Bible
When reading the Bible, if you struggle to read large amounts of text on paper, there’s a very helpful website I’ve found which has the entire Bible on audio available to listen to on-line. It’s in the ESV version (English Standard Version) and is available here. Search for the passage you want and click the ‘Listen’ link. The voice isn’t computerised, it’s a real person reading the Bible with all the right intonations in all the right places. In the options you can even choose between different people to read the Bible. So if you don’t like the default you can get a voice you prefer (although one does sound a little bit too much like Dr Who for my liking).
Another very cool idea from the people behind the ESV version of the Bible (Crossway), is the ESV Study Bible. You may be thinking, “Another study Bible, blah, blah, blah“, but this one is different for a number of reasons. Firstly it’s a study Bible. “How does that make it different?” I hear you ask. Well, it’s not one of these study Bibles that’s not really a study Bible:
- The Daily Study Bible for Women
- The Life Application Study Bible
- The Surfers Study Bible?
A study Bible should be a study Bible in my opinion and that’s what I want it to help me with – study. Secondly, it’s got some great articles, colour maps and a neat one column layout. Thirdly and most impressively in my opinion is the pioneering on-line version. If you buy a copy of the study Bible, go to their website, enter a special code you get with your study Bible, you get all the the study Bible features online as well. Print out the articles for your Bible Study group, search for phrases and passages etc…
I encourage you to take a look at the ESV Study Bible. It’s a little on the weighty side (physically) but if you can’t be bothered to lug it around you can always just use the online version instead.
Popularity: 23% [?]
