25 Albums I Can't Live Without: #23
Hillsong United, "United We Stand"
Last week’s entry in this list was Brooke Fraser’s “Albertine.” I first became aware of Fraser through her work with Hillsong United, the youth and young adult band at Hillsong Church in Australia, so it’s a perfect segue to the next album on the list.
I became familiar with Hillsong United when I volunteered in our student ministry at church. Our student band played several of their songs, and when 2006’s “United We Stand” came out, we also began using some of their songs with our adult worship band as well.
What set Hillsong United apart from a lot of youth-oriented worship was that it rocked without being cheesy, and it was sincere without being over the top. This album had its share of upbeat songs and heartfelt ballads, and most of them still hold up well today.
The most powerful moments are the slow, more worshipful songs. Fraser sings “None but Jesus,” which she also wrote.
The two songs from this album that we incorporated into our adult service “hot list” were “From the Inside Out…”
…and “Came to My Rescue” (originally listed as “Came to the Rescue”). We sang this one in our Sunday morning worship just a couple of weeks ago. It still moves me as much as it did back in ‘06.
Hillsong United even recorded it in Spanish under the translated title “Unidos Permanecemos.” The writers and worship leaders carefully translated the songs and learned them in near-perfect Spanish.
There are a lot of negative things we can say about Hillsong Church and Hillsong United. The church’s theology has long been problematic, and scandal rocked the congregation at the turn of this decade. Marty Sampson, one of the main leads on this album, publicly renounced his Christian faith a few years ago as well.
But there’s something special about being able to sing lines like “The time has come to stand for all we believe in,” “There is no one else for me / None but Jesus,” “The cry of my heart is to bring you praise / From the inside out.” and “My whole life I place in Your hands / God of mercy, humbled, I bow down / In Your presence at Your throne” nearly 20 years later is testimony to the power of worship through song.
Photo credit: Camille King, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons