City Alight by St Paul’s Castle Hill
Album Review
Ever wondered why Christians sing together so much?
It’s more than group karaoke. Colossians 3:16 tells us that music is a great way of firing up each other to love Jesus more. Songs can teach us about God in a way that just talking about him can’t: music teaches our heads, captures our hearts – and maybe even moves our hips!
But, more importantly, singing is one way God has given us to worship him. Worship means approaching God on his terms. It’s respecting and serving him the way only he deserves. Worship is more than just singing: it involves your whole life! But biblical worship has always come with a soundtrack.
City Alight comes from St Paul’s Castle Hill, a large church in the Hills district of Sydney. The songwriters on the album understand how important singing is, and have worked hard to put the message about Jesus into some great tunes.
The songs are not afraid to tell the life changing story about Jesus, who died to save hopeless sinners like me and you. And they aren’t afraid to make it personal: ‘Broken I confess, you are all I need, for I wandered aimlessly, until I let you carry me’.
A standout track is ‘Light on a Hill’, whose epic chorus expresses a heart for our city to know Jesus: ‘Let me be a light upon a hill ... so you can shine upon ... a world that needs you, mighty one’.
Admittedly, not every song is as strong. I sense that St Paul’s full potential is still to come, as their songwriters continue to drink more and more deeply from the scriptures.
As a collaboration of many musicians across St Paul’s church, there is a massive variety of sounds. From earthy rock anthems, to a remix by hip hop group FreeForm, you’re bound to find something to sing.
You can find out more & listen to some tracks at cityalight.com.
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