Kings and Queens (an album lovefest...review), 37 of 40

So, I am not quite sure what to write about this evening. As you may have noticed I am coming up quite quick on the finale of this Lenten discipline of mine. I know there were some people out there that thought I wouldn't be able to accomplish the task [I'm talking to you Kenneth Stephens] but I am glad to know that I am about to prove the naysayers wrong, assuming that I don't go blind, lose my hands, or my hard drive crashes in the next few days, but bar that, or the world ending, or some other thing happening I should finish my 40th blog on Saturday. Of course, to have 40 on Saturday I need to write 37 today 38 tomorrow and 39 on Friday, so that's the plan.

Now, onto other things...

OK, I have a plan for today. I am going to do a track by track review of Audio Adrenaline's new Album Kings and Queens. I am a huge fan of it, so as I have stated in the blogs title, it will be a bit of a lovefest.

He Moves You Move
The album starts off with a real toe-tapper in He Moves You Move. It is an excellent song about the need to follow God's path as opposed to making our own. This has been an especially important song to me recently. I have been trying to figure out the next steps in ministry and life and far too often in the past I have moved and expected God to follow, which God does, because he never leaves us, but I know that I would have been more 'successful' if I had waited for God to move and then followed.

Kings and Queens
The title track, and first single, gets to the heart of Audio Adrenaline's current mission. The band reformed in part to help raise funds and awareness for the Hands and Feet Project [a ministry to Haitian orphans] that Audio founding members Mark Stuart and Will McGinniss helped start. It is a song about the potential that each child has to be Kings and Queens if we are Jesus to the least of these.

Believer
'I want to live this life, unsure, unsafe, but not afraid' with these words Believer kicks off. At base it is a song about having faith. As I have been reminded several times recently we are all people of faith, whether we follow a Christian God, an non-Christian one, or one at all. We all believe in something, this song is a reminder that putting our trust in Jesus allows us to be hopeful in good times as well as bad ones.

King of the Comebacks
If one song encompasses Audio A's new view it would probably be King of the Comebacks, which oddly enough flows quite well with one of their older thoughts that God is a God of the underdogs. King is a fast paced song with lyrics that bring back memories of various songs from Audio's past, much like Word to the Father did from dc Talk's Free at Last album. As I am sure you can tell from the title, the song is about how if God is behind the comeback no one can stop it.

Change My Name
If you know much of Kevin Max's back-story you might just think that this song would be his most personal, and perhaps it is. Beyond that it is a reminder that each one of us have come through times, places, and relationships that we probably wish we hadn't. It is also a reminder that in Christ we are a new creation, free from the burdens of the past, if not the consequences. [On a side-note I think that we Christians would do well to remember that we haven't always been the 'perfect little Christians' that we are now and extend the grace given to others as well.]

20:17 (Raise the Banner)
My favorite line from this song has to be 'with the armies in the back and the singers in the front.' This is a song about the fact that we do not need to be afraid of anything. They sing that we put our weapons down and raise our worship high, this is the real way that Christians should fight, not with weapons of the world or even weapons of faith, but with love and grace and mercy and faith.

Fire Never Sleeps
Fire Never Sleeps is a song asking for God to set us on fire, to give us a purpose and a meaning. It is a good song, but probably my least favorite.

Seeker
So often in the church we talk about being seeker-sensitive, meaning that we want to reach people who are not in church, people off the streets. What I love about this song is that it puts the seeker label on God and talks about how God is continually seeking us out. It is a good reminder that 'This is God, father to the fatherless, defender of the weak.'

I Climb the Mountain
'I Climb the Mountain and I'll hold the light until we are a city on a hill.' We as the church are meant to shine a light onto the wider world, unfortunately by and large we merely shine a light in our own faces. The song tells us that we each need to shine our lights out until we can collective shine them.

The Answer
The album closer is a declaration that nothing is going to satisfy us except Jesus, because as the chorus goes, 'You are the answer, I know it's true cause I've tried it all.' Jesus doesn't promise us a perfect life free from struggle or pain, but he does tell us that if we follow him we will have a life that fuller than the one we would live without him, fuller of love, fuller of hope, fuller of strength, fuller of grace and mercy.

I absolutely love this album. If you ever loved Audio Adrenaline you should give it a try. If you never did, you should give it a try as well. A month from yesterday and I'll be in Fort Wayne seeing them in concert and I can't wait.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K