Journal

How can I resist free worship songs?

Posted on August 3rd, 2009, in the afternoon

Church of Christ the King in Brighton have put two free tracks from their new album 'Have You Heard' online.

The title track is a high quality contemporary hymn, co-written with Graham Kendrick, following Jesus' path from incarnation to resurrection. It's great to have a solid verse on Christ's earthly life and ministry in a hymn like this - that theme is often overlooked in favour of skipping straight on to his death.

The other track - 'This Is For Me', written by Paul Oakley - is also good, but I must confess to feeling a little uneasy when phrases like "How can I resist this love that draws my heart?" come up in worship songs.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I suspect that the usual rhetorical intent of such a phrase - "I feel like I can't resist this love because of how incredible it is" - is less in view than a quite specific reference to Calvin's doctrine - "I literally do not have the option to resist because of God's omnipotent sovereignty" - which is a different matter entirely. Regardless of whether you hold to that doctrine I think that's a little disingenuous poetically.

Not a major gripe, and this particular song is not the worst offender by any means, but there it is.