When from Death I’m Free: A Hymn Journal for Holy Week has been a #1 New Release on Amazon for a week now. One of the things that makes this resource from Next Step Press unique is the way it interweaves good, old favorites and classic hymns with new music that expresses the heart of Holy Week in new ways.
This Hymn Journal highlights the music of Kip Fox. If you aren’t familiar with Kip, I want to give you just a little introduction.
As the bio in the back of the book says, Kip is a nationally recognized singer/songwriter and worship leader. He currently serves at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Mesa, AZ.
I’ve known Kip for a few years in the way you get to know people you bump into at events and you get to work with once or twice; we recognize each other, and think well of each other, and in general would be glad to hang out, but it’s not like we exchange Christmas cards.
(Actually, I stopped exchanging Christmas cards 20 years ago; my last Christmas letter came out on Ash Wednesday, and I gave it up after that. But you get the idea…)
The real reason I was so glad Kip said yes when I invited him to be part of When From Death I’m Free is because of his theology.
Don’t get me wrong; I really like his music. The melodies are easy to sing without being predictable, and the way he turns a musical phrase is often quite fantastic. But what keeps me coming back isn’t just the chorus I can’t stop humming. It’s the words.
I’ve sat in on a songwriters workshop that Kip was leading, and the guy knows his stuff. He is adept at words and language. And the Scriptural truth he portrays is profound and personal.
I know Church workers who were given new hope by the words, “Come every servant with no candle left to burn…”
The deep theology of portraying the cross as defeat (“On that night death had its way…”) and the resurrection of Jesus as the victory (“but on that morning I was saved”) is in the Bible and the Early Church, but hard to find in contemporary Christianity.
The poetic irony of phrases like “see how He loved us to death” or “Glory be to the one who took death in His hands” just blow me away with their insight, power, and pointing to Jesus.
So if you don’t know Kip or his music, I hope this hymn journal experience gives you some new music to listen to, sing along with, and love. But mostly, I hope Kip’s words find their way into your heart. They will bring you Jesus.
And if you already know Kip, then I’m not telling you anything new! If you want to invite a friend you know knows the music of Kip Fox, try sharing this link: New Resource Featuring Kip Fox.
You can listen to the three songs I quoted above, along with setting for all the other songs and hymn in When from Death I’m Free here.
But I’ll a share couple of them here, too…