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CURRENTLY IN MUSIC
Responding to the Father’s love

Nelson Boschman

The Father’s Song Matt Redman. Worship Together, 2000.

To countless congregations around the globe, the name Matt Redman over the past few years has become synonymous with passionate, biblically sound, honest and energetic worship music. Through songs like “I Will Offer Up My Life”, “Once Again”, “It’s Rising Up” and, more recently, “The Heart of Worship”, Redman has given a new generation of worshippers an excellent repertoire of music to help them meet with God.

The Father’s Song is Redman’s fourth solo recording and possibly his best to date. Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of this album is that Redman has once again crafted a set of songs that convey what is truly at the heart of worship. If worship is, as Richard Foster put it, “our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father”, then worship should be primarily about what we can give to God. It is ultimately not about what we can get. Redman clearly communicates this understanding throughout the album’s 14 songs.

Other refreshing elements of this CD are its diverse instrumentation and unique arranging approach. Instrumentally, the album at various points features sitar, a string section, drum loops, a gospel choir, flamenco guitar, and some of the best synthesized programming I have heard. Redman’s arrangement of ideas is creative and inspiring, causing the listener to pay close attention to what the words are saying. As already mentioned, the words are very much worth hearing.

While the album will appeal mainly to youth and young adults, it deserves – and will probably receive – a much wider audience. If you have been impacted by any of Redman’s songs in the past, The Father’s Song would be a welcome addition to your CD library.

Nelson Boschman is instructor in worship ministries at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C.

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Last modified March 30, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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