In eleven days, we will have a night of worship and release our album down here in Fort Lauderdale. It will be a special night in a lot of ways. For me, it will be the culmination of three hard and wonderful years of ministry as well as the fruit of many more years of songwriting.

What These Songs Have Meant to Us

Julie Anne Vargas and I set out a year and a half ago to begin writing a fresh batch of hymns and worship songs for our congregation. God was pressing certain themes onto our hearts. We gathered a small group of musicians, artists, and enthusiasts together from inside and outside our church and shared our songs with them–a kind of informal singer-songwriter night–to elicit feedback on the front end as we were crafting these songs. We intended to produce an LP, a top-notch full-length record. God had other plans. Shortly after we completed the songwriting process, a seismic bomb blew up at our church and everything unraveled.

Strangely, eerily…well, providentially…Julie Anne and I were discovering that the songs we wrote were the songs that Coral Ridge needed to sing in this season. The last year has been marked by God’s gracious hand tenderly stripping us back, exposing our idols, foregrounding our need, and showcasing deeper riches of what it means to be found in Christ and Him alone.

The songs of Sacred On Our Tongues all testify to THAT.

What’s With the Title?

The phrase, “Sacred On Our Tongues,” comes from the opening track’s first verse:

Your holy Name is sacred on our tongues
Your Sabbath day is rest for restless ones
Incline our hearts to keep Your Word

We liked the ring of that phrase. There is an incarnational quality to the juxtaposition of “sacred” and “tongues.” The title offers a holy gravity which characterizes the feel of every song on the EP–distance and nearness, transcendence and immanence.

The phrase I think also offers a slightly intentional nod to two streams of Christianity that converged on this record–the traditional-liturgical and the charismatic. First, we wrote these songs under the heavy influence of Reformational liturgy and the post-Reformational English hymn tradition. “Almighty God (Our Hearts Are Open)” is a loose setting of Thomas Cranmer’s Ten Commandments liturgy at the opening of his 1552 Prayer Book. “High and Lifted Up” is a sung reflection on John 3’s exposition of Christ as the bronze snake in the wilderness, with strong poetic leanings into the hymn tradition. “His Be the Victor’s Name” is a recasting of our 2013 song, with some significant changes to the Bridge text and to the overall feel of the historic hymn. “All That You Are” is indebted to Joseph Hart’s theological vision for “Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy,” though it goes in a different direction.

But second, we wanted to offer these songs in rudimentary form to friends outside our tradition–brothers who have long been thoughtfully writing in the more charismatic spheres of Christianity. My friends, Matt Jackson and Daniel Bashta, graciously agreed to work on the project and to put their musical stamp on our demos. They helped us produce the record at 1971 Sounds with David Dalton and Mitch Parks in Atlanta, and I have to say that I’m blown away by what I’m hearing.

So, yeah. I’m hoping “sacred” will grab the liturgophiles and “tongues” will excite the Pentecosmics. But, perhaps the old addage will ring true: aim at everyone, hit no one. Who knows? I’m honestly less worried about who the album will reach and touch. I’m simply grateful to have been a part of creating an artifact that built some bridges across some unlikely boundaries. I think both our traditions will be the better for having worked together on this.

The Songs

Textually, Sacred On Our Tongues is a powerful mixture of theological depth packed into more lyrical simplicity than I’m used to. Musically, the album is far more lush, cinematic, and immersive. The five songs probably all reside in the realms of atmospheric, in your face, moody pop rock. I think that the producers’ arrangement choices are tasteful and fresh. The album’s aural color palette is far more brilliant than anything I’ve produced…I guess that’s what happens when you give it over to people who know what they’re doing in the studio. Here’s the track listing. Follow the links to check out the full text, along with (eventual) charts and lead sheets.

1. Almighty God (Our Hearts Are Open)
2. High and Lifted Up
3. Sing in Your Love
4. His Be the Victor’s Name (2016)
5. All That You Are 

Where to Get It

Sacred On Our Tongues should drop everywhere Sunday, May 1–iTunes, Spotify, etc. For those who purchase music (which we wholeheartedly encourage), we always try to make the lowest prices available at coralridgemusic.com.

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