he who has eyes...

“O, to see You as You are. To glimpse the wonders yet unseen.
Assist my sight, unveil my eyes to see You” [Matt Redman, Pure Light]

I was asked recently to write a couple of reviews of my favorite worship albums so that my church as a whole could know where the worship leaders draw their inspiration for musical worship from. Since I’ve been on such a hiatus from writing on here recently, I figured I might as well post my thoughts on these albums here, since they’re certainly relevant to the overall theme of this site.

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Matt Redman’s “Facedown” is, in short, my unquestioned favorite worship album. In fact, it’s in my top 15 albums of all time of all types. It’s musically satisfying, keeping you engaged with the talent of the musicians and giving relief from the cookie-cutter musical form that plagues so much of today’s worship music. But, it’s true strength centers in it’s lyrical content, as all worship albums should. In this album, Matt set out to explore one of the two literal definitions of worship as it is used in the Bible — specifically that as we come face to face with the living God, our response is to fall facedown in worship. Any experience of true worship of this caliber will transform you to become more and more like God. Gazing upon God transforms our appearance and causes us to reflect Him to the world (2 Corinthians 3). We become what we worship.

Over and over throughout the album, it talks about seeing God, the transformative power of this experience, and the overwhelming love that arises from it. With lyrics like:

“No one can sing of things they have not seen.
God, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse.
The glory of You, the glory of You.
God, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse.”
(from “Seeing You”)

and

“It’s the overflow of hearts as we gaze upon Your beauty.
A reflection of Your worth
For we’ve seen a glimpse of You in Your glory, Lord.”
(from “If I Have Not Love”)

Facedown exemplifies what I consider to be a fully-realized worship experience and the ideal toward which our musical worship should strive.

Matt Redman — Facedown

1. Praise Awaits You
2. Nothing But The Blood
3. Seeing You
4. Gifted Response (We Will Worship You)
5. Dancing Generation
6. Pure Light
7. Worthy, You Are Worthy
8. Lead Us Up The Mountain
9. Facedown
10. Breathing The Breath
11. Mission’s Flame
12. Raise A Voice
13. If I Have Not Love

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Musically, Hillsong United’s “United We Stand” is probably unparalleled in the worship genre. I love it. More so, it provides many examples of truly Christ-centered lyrical content that should be transformative to the Church at large. In fact, like most of their albums, “United We Stand” is themed mostly around the idea that the Church should be making a stand for God in a world where this isn’t expected. Not just to make a stand for the purpose of standing for something, but to stand specifically and radically for what God stands for — mercy and justice and on and on. In our increasingly post-modern world with it’s increasingly aggressive secularism, I think Hillsong United has a voice that needs to be heard by the generation of the Church to which I belong. With lyrics like:

“The time has come to stand for all we believe in.
So I for one am gonna give my praise to You.”
(from “The Time Has Come”)

and

“In my heart and my soul, Lord I give you control.
Consume me from the inside out.
Let justice and praise become my embrace.
To love You from the inside out.”
(from “From The Inside Out”)

I believe this album has a message that is definitely something the Church as a whole could stand to know more and more fully.

Hillsong United — United We Stand

1. Introduction
2. The Time Has Come
3. Take It All
4. From God Above
5. From The Inside Out
6. Came To The Rescue
7. A Reprise
8. None But Jesus
9. Selah
10. Fire Fall Down
11. Revolution
12. Kingdom Come
13. No One Like You
14. Sovereign Hands
15. The Stand
16. Selah
17. Hallelujah