ChristianDance

"Same Jesus, Different Pew" by Estella Kirk is one of the songs on her upcoming EP, "Growing Pains." In "Same Jesus, Different Pew," she zooms in on that feeling of loneliness that can creep in when you're worshiping somewhere new, maybe with unfamiliar faces, and wondering if this will ever feel like home. Even though your familiar pew's gone, Jesus doesn't change.  Estella recalls the red walls and creaky floors of her old church, smiling through sermons but still feeling out of place. This isn't a song about loss, and she's not pretending that change is easy. The beautiful message here is that Jesus never changes, even when everything else does.  Estella sings about "seeking first" and still "finding You here," lyrics that hint at Matthew 6:33. Although the people around you may be new or the location may be different, the chorus reminds us it is still the "same Jesus, different pew." ( "Jesus Ch...

The song "Keep On" by Heather Pillsbury started in her classroom. Heather is a teacher-musician, and she encourages others to stay the course. At the same time she was quietly feeling discouraged about her own life. Heather shares: "This song became my reminder that the breakthrough often comes right after the hardest stretch of the journey." The lyrics read like the letter to God, acknowledging the world's attempts to tarnish God's name, and she admits that she too isn't blameless. Despite all of this, Heather points out that God never gave up! The lyrics of this song draw on the promise found in Galatians 6:9: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Heather opens the song with brutal candor, "I have added to the slander, fanned the flames." She adds: "You were calling me Your daughter long before I called You Gentle Father." This re-frames each of our ...

Rachael Mann's "Didn't Have To Do It" opens with an "alone stranger in deserted land," who discovers that she/he was never invisible. We have a Savior who has "always been there You have never left my side." Jesus has already written our names in eternal ink, and as Rachael states, he has "taken the cross for me."   The song is a front-row seat to the fact that Love doesn't stay distant. And most of all, the song is also a protest against that one stubborn lie that keeps haunting us… the lie that tells us that we must earn His grace.  You'll enjoy this beautiful duet between Rachael Mann and Terell Davy, accompanied by a piano. The two parts of the song that really touched me the most is the part where Mann and Davy sing, "And You tell me with You I'm okay I'm enough // Because I belong to You," followed by a question, "Why You did? You didn't have to do it." The answer? It's so simple that i...

"Come to Your Throne (Live)" by Arcadia Worship is both a confession and a surrender. It's an invitation for the Spirit to break through our hardness and make us whole again. The song was written from a place of struggling between guilt and grace.  The song starts with a prayerful confession, "Honestly, I come to Your throne." God makes it clear that we may come as we are, without polished prayers, and with all of our faults and imperfections. God asks us to come to Him with an honest heart.  This musical prayer continues with, "Shatter this heart I have of stone." Yes, we may admit our brokenness to God. But instead of feeling despair, we may know that each confession brings us closer to healing. We may ask Him: "Create a pure heart in me, God." Haven't we all needed that same prayer at some point in our lives?  What I love about this song is its invitation. It's an invitation to really see God, not as a distant God, but to see Go...

There's something about the quiet of the morning. It's during those early hours that it's easier to listen to our heart, when honesty can surface, and our prayers can rise before all of our daily distractions start to take over. Red Letter Society released "Psalm 5 (Lead Me)" and noted that the song is "a perfect praise in the morning."   "Psalm 5 (Lead Me)" is written together with Jordan West as part of an ambitious project to song-write through all 150 Psalms. Each of these songs is a modern cry straight from Scripture.  This song walks us through the cry of King David, who longs to be near God, "Hear my words, O Lord, my King // In the dawn, my prayers I bring." David is struggling with the brokenness of the world around him. And in that sense not so much has changed compared to present days, where we too see the brokenness of the world all around us. A world where the "wicked" can be described as deceitful, boastful, a...