“It’s not just music.”
Those few words from Matt Redman say so much about the unassuming British worship leader and songwriter whose music (“Blessed Be Your Name,” “Better Is One Day,” “The Heart of Worship,” “You Never Let Go”) is well-known the world over. Despite years of consistently acclaimed output and recording industry honors, Redman definitively shuns the “artist” badge, always viewing the fruits of his creativity as resources for the church rather than potential chartbusters. He composes with eternity in mind, never any showbiz trend.
But that isn’t to say Redman is unaware of the times. Quite the opposite, in fact, as his newest sixstepsrecords release, We Shall Not Be Shaken, was written fresh off the Passion World Tour and in the face of today’s global financial meltdown.
“This album praises God’s steadiness,” Redman says. “We’re being reminded how shakable earthly things are—job losses, home foreclosures. When we traveled to Korea, there were high-profile suicides due to the failing marketplace. So it feels appropriate now to address the economy in a worship song. Nothing in the psalms was ever detached from its era.”
We Shall Not Be Shaken is intentionally psalmlike, using simple poetic lyrics to express unbreakable truth in an age of utter brokenness. Working with producer Robert Marvin (Mat Kearney) and writer Jonas Myrin (Steven Curtis Chapman, Natasha Bedingfield), Redman penned several songs to center listeners on God’s unmatchable constancy.
“Through It All” transforms a cascading melody during the verse into a soaring anthem in the chorus, declaring: “Through it all You are strong / As we walk through the shadows still You shine on.” Just as certain and celebratory is “How Great Is Your Faithfulness,” which concurs: “Everything changes, but You stay the same / Your Word and kingdom endure.”
“In this world there are so many empty promises. But God always does what He says He will do,” Redman explains. “I want that truth to really connect with people’s lives. That’s the highest compliment for a songwriter, to have helped someone understand what they were feeling but didn’t quite know how to say. I want biblical certainty embedded in them.”
The goal of spiritual confidence points to the other key focus on We Shall Not Be Shaken, the centrality of Jesus and the cross. “This Is How We Know,” co-written with Redman’s wife, Beth, seamlessly blends the message of John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16: “This is how we know what love is; just one look at Your cross / For You so loved the world that You gave Your only Son / Love amazing, so divine, we will love You in return.”
Among Redman’s favorite tracks on the new album is “Remembrance (Communion Song),” which fulfills his long-held desire to write specifically for the ceremonial Lord’s Supper.
“I’d never written about the cross from that angle,” he says. “But I love old hymns in this genre, and we even worked some words from a Eucharist liturgy into the piece: “Dying, You destroyed our death / Rising, You restored our life / Lord Jesus, come in glory.”
To purchase We Shall Not Be Shaken, click here.
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