Real Worship

Though new to me, “More Than Noise” is the third studio album from Pocket Full Of Rocks and is set to release March 2, 2010 on Myrrh Records.

PFOR’s lead singer/songwriter Michael Farren had this to say, “A lot of what I’ve been sharing out on the road deals with losing your religion and finding relationship with an amazing God.”  I personally believe that the message conveyed in these words and the title of the album are critical and vital for the Church at this time.

This seasoned five-piece, worship-focused band clearly have a message that, in my opinion, deserves to be heard.  Listen to what else they had to say:

“Much of our message is that you’ve got to make more than noise.  It’s easy to just walk into a room, sing the songs on the screen and lift your hands; but if you can walk out and not be transformed or see the world around you transformed, then that wasn’t worship.  Real worship comes with change, both in you, and the world around you.  If you encounter a real God in a real setting of worship, you can’t leave the same.“

Musically, PFOR’s style is, for me, reminiscent of Casting Crowns and Michael Farren’s vocal reminded me in places of Tom Petty.  More Than Noise was produced by the more than capable Ed Cash (Chris Tomlin, Leeland, Steven Curtis Chapman, Bebo Norman) and from the opening song, “Alive” – the first single (co-written with Stu G, Delirious) – the album resonates with a vibrancy & passion (captured both musically and lyrically) that stirs your heart, fixes your attention firmly on the love, grace and goodness of God, and inspires and invokes heartfelt worship.

The album contains a number of songs that could easily be sung by congregations in a corporate gathering; songs like the anthemic ballads, “Ever Close To You“, “Wonderful” and “Let It Rain” (the song made popular on Michael W. Smith’s Worship Album – written by PFOR’s Michael Farren); the hymn-like, “Jesus Died My Soul To Save” and “Your Love For Me“; and the driving, “Let Our God Be Praised” and the opener “Alive“.

There are also songs that tell a story; songs like, “Strong“, “When Love Whispers Your Name” (written with Farren’s 14 year old daughter, Madison) and “Come As You Are” (co-written with Chad Cates & Tony Wood) – I love the opening lyric to this song, “He’s not mad at you and He’s not disappointed.  His grace is greater still than all of your wrong choices.“

One of the songs which stands out for me is the final track, “A Worshipper’s Prayer“.  It is a beautiful,  intimate and honest song which brought me to tears when I first heard it; stripped down musically (piano & strings), you can hear the emotion in Farren’s voice as it cracks over the lyric:

“Here I am

And like a thousand times before I sing again

And when all my simple words have found their end

Once again I’m even more amazed

By the beauty and the mystery of your ways

Oh how marvelous to hear You call my name

So when there’s nothing left to bring

And there’s no song left to sing

Here I am.“

Worship was never about the songs we sing.  It is so much more than that.  I think PFOR understand that.

I shall be playing this album for some time to come!

Another release from Windblown Media; “Bo’s Cafe” (John Lynch, Bill Thrall & Bruce McNicol) kind of crept up on me & bit me on the backside!  Don’t get me wrong, I went into it with my eyes wide open; I had read a brief synopsis of the book & thought to myself, “I need to read this”.  It was only while reading some of the later chapters with tears rolling down my cheeks that I became aware of how much I needed to read it.

The story follows Steven Kerner, a young, high powered business executive who seemingly has it all; or at least that’s how it appears on the outside.  Despite his best efforts at home, things are far from good.  Enter Andy Monroe, an old friend of Steven’s dad.  Through Andy, Steven is introduced to a colourful group of characters that meet regularly at Bo’s.  As he gets to know Andy & the others, Steven discovers the freedom of living authentically; no more masks, no more having to perform.

For me, Bo’s provides a beautiful picture of the Church – God’s people (or at least, how we should be); a safe community, where broken people can journey together and are transformed by the power of God’s grace & unconditional love.

The book was  easy to read.  I found myself wanting to read on – keen to discover what happens next and encouraged to by the short chapter lengths.  I liked the characters I was introduced to and found myself yearning for what was on offer at Bo’s (no, not the food).

I would say that though Steven is a man and his situation & circumstances aren’t uncommon among men,  his deepest issue, however – the thing that drives all of his behaviour, is common to both sexes.  I would therefore  recommend this book to both men and women alike.

As a church family, we have been on a tremendous rollercoaster ride over the past few years.  We’ve been rediscovering God’s grace, His passion for His church and His heart for relationships (how we relate to Him & to others).  At the end of his message last Sunday, Mark read out the following statement adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 & Galations 5:22-24 (from The Message translation) as a vision of what church life could be:

Church life never gives up, cares more for others than for self; we don’t want what belongs to others.  We don’t strut and display a swelled head, we don’t force ourselves on others, we are not a “me first” family; we don’t fly off the handle, we don’t keep score of the sins of others, we don’t revel when others grovel, but we take pleasure in the flowering of truth; put up with anything, trust God always, always look for the best, never look back, but keep going to the end.  What is more, we have a growing affection for others, exuberance about life as well as serenity in a mad world.  We have developed a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.  We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.  We know that legalism is helpless in bringing this life about; in fact it only gets in the way.  Because we belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good — crucified.

I’m reminded of the verses in I John 4:19-21 where the writer states that we cannot love the God we can’t see if we don’t love the brother we can see; also in John 13:34-35, Jesus said that our love for one another would be how all men would know that we were His disciples.

“Oh God, let the worship I bring be an authentic expression of the love you gave to me; and let that same love flow freely from me to those around me.”