A few weeks ago, I was at a workshop of church musicians discussing theological claims in contemporary music. One of those people was Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan. I got a couple of his CD’s and will review them here, starting with his 2004 release: worldmaking.
This CD is a fantastic example of how to use guitar-led worship in a liturgical manner. The liner notes put it well, “Worldmaking worship anchors itself in the ancient heritage of the faith while dedicating itself to the most innovative ways to express and explore the spiritual life.” The point of this CD is to have congregational song that the assembly can relate to while filling them with faith. Bruxvoort-Colligan does this.
This CD is filled with thoughtful, emotional, and theologically sound music. There are no “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs in this album, there are, however, songs that will work as parts of the Liturgy (Kyrie, Gloria, Alleluia, Offertory etc.) or as congregational songs or hymns.
One part about this music that I love is that many parts of the Liturgy are connected musically, so it is easy to teach to an assembly. Plus, there are parts of the Liturgy! That, in and of itself, is amazing!
Open Unto Me is easily my favorite, because it fills some of what Travis was mentioning in a previous post about Laments in a “Contemporary” service.
It is important to note that this CD is NOT for plugging into your car and listening to, it is really designed as a demo CD so that your band can learn these songs or for you to pick them for worship. Though the vocals are great and the instrumentals are impeccable, you will not catch me at a stoplight with this cranked. I did, however, give this CD to our pastor for selecting songs for worship.
All in all, I give this collection of songs 2 thumbs up and encourage everyone to go to www.worldmaking.net and pick up this CD and Music books.
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