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The Father's Embrace - Live Worship from Stoneleigh Bible Week 2001

Beating Time

THE FATHER'S EMBRACE
Live Worship from Stoneleigh Bible Week 2001
Kingsway Music. $14.99 (CD)

The annual 'Stoneleigh albums' have been highly successful as both a source of new worship songs for the church and as personal devotional material. This album has extra significance since this year's Warwickshire-based conference was the last, at least in its present form.

The musical style of this album is fairly typical of the genre. Worship music by its nature must not only be Scripturally sound but should also appeal to the widest range of ages and tastes. Consequently, this album shows a diverse range of influences. The driving rock rhythms of 'Jesus, You Alone' to the funky Hammond-vibes of 'When I Was Lost' to the rootsy country-blues of 'Your Whisper' make for varied, if inevitably somewhat incoherent, listening.

We expect top quality production nowadays and on this front, Stoneleigh 2001 does not disappoint. A good mix between instrumentation and lead vocals make the lyrics easy to follow and take in. The audience is loud enough to give a taste of the excitement and passion of the thousands gathered.

The Stoneleigh albums have set the standard for lyrical originality and depth in recent years and this addition to the series follows in their footsteps. There are several stand-out tracks including the superb new hymn 'In Christ Alone' and the faith-filled meditation on Jesus's return, 'There Is A Day'. Another hymn, 'When I Was Lost' expresses the album's theme of thankfulness for God's grace: 'When I was lost You came and rescued me / Reached down into the pit and lifted me / O Lord, such love / I was as far from You as I could be / You know all the thing's I've ever done / But Jesus's blood has cancelled every one / O Lord, such grace / To qualify me as Your own.'

Just when it's all becoming a little introspective, the final track, 'There's A Call' demands a response to these reminders of God's goodness. A song of commissioning for world evangelism, it provides a fitting end to the Stoneleigh series.

There are many 'worship' albums I could not recommend because of their reliance on (undeniably excellent) music to generate excitement, sacrificing spiritual depth. This album, although clearly 'charismatic' in style, avoids excess and challenged and inspired this reviewer. Recommended.

Jon Mason