So I never really made the whole blogging for the summer thing work, mostly because I never knew quite what to put, and didn’t want to bore everyone to death with work stuff! But tonight, I felt like I had something worth putting into words.
If you know me, you know how much I love music, and in particular contemporary Christian stuff, I think about 75% of my iTunes library is worship music, and I love keeping up to date with the latest music releases, and hearing what others are using in worship. I personally find it really uplifting when I have worship music on when im at home, or in the car, and can listen to the same album over and over again if there is something that grabs me about it. So in rotation at the moment is Matt Redman’s new album (We will not be shaken), Hillsong United’s latest release, and a couple of other albums. But the last few days, there has been one song that I haven’t been able to get out of my head: How He loves us, by John Mark Mcmillan.
Now, my brother has talked about this song for a while, but I have never got around to listening to it until this last weekend. Wow. What a song. I was listening to this version on Youtube, and eventually bought the album (and another one) by Jesus Culture. This wasn’t a group I had heard of before, but I would encourage you to check it out, really powerful times of worship and an awesome band.
Musically, the song is brilliant in its simplicity, but for me it is the words that are what keeps drawing me back to this song. The first verse goes like this:
He is jealous for me
There is something so fresh and powerful about the imagery he uses, that bring a unique perspective to the love of God for us and our relationship with him. The second verse continues:
We are his portion and he is our prize
At first I wasn’t sure about the “sloppy wet kiss” line, but it has really grown on me the more I listen to this and worship with this song. It becomes a beautiful picture of God’s affection for us, a father loving his children, a husband loving his bride. What a unique and fresh phrase that helps us dwell on the characteristics of God.
My favourite part of the song is the chorus, so simple and powerful:
Yeah, He loves us,
I love how it declares such truth in such few words, its amazing to play and sing, singing with passionate hearts about the love of our Lord and Saviour.
I cannot wait to use this song in corporate worship, I think it has such potential to draw people closer to God as we reflect on his awesome power and majesty, and then the personal relationship he desires with each of us.
So, I think I have figured out that I’m going to use this blog to journal the most important thing in my life, my relationship with God, to share stuff I feel he is saying to me, and things like that!
Cheers,
N.
