It's that time of year again where Hillsong Worship, the worship band from Hillsong Church, release their live album. This year's album is titled OPEN HEAVEN / River Wild and features a variety of new worship songs as well as appearances from the Hillsong United team and Hillsong Young & Free. The album can be purchased, along with other resources relating to the album, from the Hillsong online store here.
The opening track, O Praise The Name (Anastasis) is an excellent resource for a worship team to lead young people in worship. Anastasis translated to English means, "a rising up from the dead". It is a song of reverence and worship, giving all of the glory back to God. The song preaches the truth of the gospel, which is advantageous for youth ministry - if youth aren't listening during the preaching, they are still having the message of God's love for them poured over them during worship. You can find the lyrics for this song here.
The theme of the album is to open hearts to the presence of God, the expression "Open Heaven" meaning to allow for a sense of God's presence to be so overwhelming it's as if heaven has opened it's gates and is being experienced on earth. This open heaven creates a place where God's glory can work in its restorative nature, bringing the lost back to Him and the broken into His loving arms. River wild is used in context in the title track to be meant as an invitation for Jesus, the Living Water (John 4:14) to overflow in the lives of those who invite Him.
This album is a great resource for youth pastors, youth leaders and worship teams, not only to lead young people in worship but to open up a conversation around what the songs they are singing mean. There is nothing more important than connecting young people to Jesus, and a great way to do that is through an open conversation about what they are singing and who they are singing it to.
(MIN220 - Blog Post #2 - a130047)
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