Saturday, February 13, 2010

One of the best Christian worship albums ever.

Those of you who have known me for any length of time know that I have an affinity for good music, specifically worship music. I have been involved in leading worship in churches for over 20 years and have spent alot of that time reading and thinking and discussing what makes a good song for worship. I recently began to attend a different church in the Santa Clarita Valley named Crossroads Community Church. I had lunch with Paul Hoover, the guy who leads worship there, and as we were dialoguing about various things I brought up the point that there are few songs written nowadays for Christian worship that have Heaven as the theme of the song. It just seems like the average christian in the modern church does not think much about the joy of the eternal state; the joy of being with Jesus; the joy of seeing His face and no longer being afraid, guilty, sick, or sad. Theology proper refers to this as the Beatific Vision. In Christian theology, the beatific vision is the eternal and direct visual perception of God enjoyed by those who are in Heaven, imparting supreme happiness or blessedness. (Wiki) It is the event that contains all of the essence of all of our hope as christians, namely, that we will see the face of God and not be afraid! As we discussed this topic, Paul mentioned an album by a band called Enfield. Their first album is all about Heaven and the final rest of Christians. My first listen to it was stirring. Subsequent listening has confirmed for me that this is one of the most musically diverse and theologically sound worship albums I've ever heard. This album has changed me in that I long for heaven even more now; I long to be with Jesus more as a result of being reminded of the great truths presented in the songs of this album.

I heartily recommend it to you.

I purchased 15 of them from Grace Community's book store as gifts and/or "tracts" to those I might meet who are not Christians.

I encourage you to buy the album, sit down, get out the lyric sheet, and listen to all the songs in a row. You will be encouraged and you will look forward to Heaven and seeing Jesus for the first time. Enjoy!

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