Prepare Him Room - An Album Review

Sovereign Grace Music have served the church for over 30 years by writing theologically rich and doctrinally sound songs with contemporary music.

In 2014 they released an album called “Prepare Him Room”. The title makes it pretty obvious that the album is centered around the birth of Jesus.

The really short review would be that that album is excellent. I only bought the album just before last Christmas (2015), but we listened to it on repeat in the car for about a month, and this year we are enjoying it again.

There’s a great balance of traditional Christmas carols (such as O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Joy To The World), some with new arrangements and others with with additional lyrics, as well as some wonderful new songs written specifically for this project.

One of the new songs, which is the favourite of our girls, is called “Who would have dreamed”. It speaks of the how there was a promise of a coming King, God’s Anointed One, but when He arrived, He was not what was expected. The chorus goes like this:

“And who would have dreamed or ever foreseen

That we could hold God in our hands?

The Giver of Life is born in the night

Revealing God’s glorious plan

To save the world”

Another of the new songs called “He who is Mighty” has some wonderful lines in it, but I really like the way that is uses the start of Mary’s song in Luke 1 to form the bridge section:

“Now my soul magnifies the Lord

I rejoice in the God Who saves

I will trust His unfailing love

I will sing His praises all my days”

Lastly let me quote some of my favourite lines from “Our God Made Low”. It’s another of the new songs and the lyrics are very clever at capturing the mind-blowing truth of the incarnation:

“In cattle stall they find a girl

Who holds the hope of all the world”

“As He sleeps upon the hay

He holds the moon and stars in place

Though born an infant He remains

The sovereign God of endless days”

Most of the songs on the album could be sung congregationally, whether you have a lone piano or a full band, which I believe is a real blessing to the church. It means we can have fresh songs to sing together that will encourage us to marvel at the awesome nature of the incarnation.

And yet, at the same time, the album is great to have on in the car or around the house in the lead up to Christmas.

I warmly recommend it to you. It will bless your heart by pointing you to Jesus.

Risen - A belated review

Earlier on this year, just before Easter in fact, Sovereign Grace Music released their latest offering into the ever-growing world of praise and worship music.
I own quite a few of their albums and I have to say that this is one of the best. Themed around the resurrection of Jesus and the theological and practical implications of that in the Christian life, the album beautifully combines contemporary music and excellent lyrics.
There is a real mixture of upbeat songs of celebration and slower, more reflective tunes. From the opening track, "Alive" which boldly declares that the life of the Christian is wrapped up in the life of their Saviour all the way through to "Hail the Day" with its melodic and majestic feel as the lyrics sweep through the life of Christ and focus in the chorus on His sitting on the throne in heaven, the album really warms the heart and informs the mind.
I'm not going to cover ever song on the album, as I'm not a music critic. But I will pull out a few of my favourites.
"To live is Christ" is taken from Philippians 1v21, and expounds some of the applications of that verse; not grieving the way the world does for love ones who belong to Jesus because they are with Him and it is gain, as well as the reminder for those of us here that we have a wonderful privilege of living for Jesus now before we go to be with Him.
"You are our Hope" was one of the first songs I heard from the album. Bob Kauflin taught it to a few thousand of us at New Word Alive. It's a very rousing track, good for congregational singing and once again focussed on the fact the Jesus' resurrection is our only hope. If He didn't rise, there is no hope, but because He did, he is the overcoming King.
"Jesus Lives" is my overall favourite track. I have taught it at my home church. In fact, anyone who spent time with me after Easter and over the summer will probably have heard me singing it. So much so that the students on the summer team mission trip to Montenegro this year were all singing the chorus as we went around places because I had been singing it and playing it a lot! "Jesus lives and so shall I, I'll be raised from the dust with Christ on high, Jesus lives no more to die and when He returns with Him I'll rise, Jesus lives." Simple but profound!
I will get told off by my wife for saying this, but, "We will rise" is a song I would love someone to sing as a solo at my funeral. It's a beautiful song, that's the only way I can describe it. It wonderfully speaks of how our bodies die, but our souls await the returning King Jesus when we will get a new, more wonderful resurrection body. "Thought outwardly we waste away, within we are renewed" is another wonderful lyric, taking on exactly what 2 Cor 4v17 says.

The other tracks not mentioned here; "O what a Day", "You have been Raised", "We have been Healed", "Your Name alone can Save", "He has Risen", "Name above all Names", "Behold our God" are all very good too. Name above all names is apparently excellent for congregational singing.

In conclusion, Sovereign Grace Music have once again blessed the wider church with a wonderful array of songs to build the body, teach good theology and empower personal reflection. Keep up the good work guys. I look forward to the next album!