“What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer
There is no more for heaven now to give
He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom
My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace”

So goes the opening couplets of CityAlight’s recently released track, ‘Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me’, a stunningly beautiful song that powerfully lays out the truths of the gospel before inviting those singing to join in ‘holding’ onto them.

If you’ve not come across City Alight, based out of St Paul’s Church in North Sydney, then you’re in for a treat. As someone has said, they manage to “walk the line between a Getty-ish hymns style and a more contemporary feel that appeals to a younger generation too”. Their aim is simple:

“We desire to get out of the way so the truth upon which all our songs are built can properly shine. We pray that the lyrics and melodies of these songs would fix eyes and hearts and minds on Jesus.”

A bunch of their songs from earlier albums have made their way into UK churches over the last couple of years: from the Yours Alone record (2014), ‘Home’, ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Love of the Father’ have been popular; and from Only a Holy God (2016): ‘Christ is Mine Forevermore’ as well as the title track. But my sense is that ‘Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me’ seems to have reached new levels of both popularity and recognised ‘playability’ in a congregational context for CityAlight, despite it only being a few months out the blocks.

The tune is simple and picks up very easily, with each of the four verses beginning by delightfully recounting the promises of God in the gospel, and building to a repeated refrain: “To this I hold…”, before each concludes with the song’s title, “Yet not I, but through Christ in me.” It is wonderfully and unashamedly Jesus-centred, running from the striking opening lines all the way to the end:

“To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus
All the glory evermore to Him
When the race is complete, still my lips shall repeat:
Yet not I, but through Christ in me!”

Interestingly, the song’s theme was echoed in its writing process:

“The song was very difficult to write. Aside from being a slow process, we felt it falling apart a number of times, and could not get it back. We went through some difficult weeks personally, At this time the message of the song began to show itself in the very writing of it. We sat at the piano, pleading, ‘Yet not I but through Christ in me’, and knowing very well that the song would not come together unless Christ worked. And he did. The song could not have been written by us alone. And, in fact, that goes for all things.”

Have a listen:

Or to see the band playing it live:

You can download free chords and sheet music for the song direct from City Alight’s website.

‘O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer’ is one of the stand-out tracks from Sovereign Grace Music’s Prayers of the Saints album and has been quickly winging its way into churches around the globe. If you’ve not come across, it’s rich lyrics and soaring melody mean it’s well worth introducing to your congregation.

For a start, it’s a song about God. That might sound obvious, but there is something of a modern tendency to sing about our response to God. This is countered here with some beautiful lyrics that display the nature and character of God, as seen in verse one:

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Greatest treasure of my longing soul
My God, like You there is no other
True delight is found in You alone
Your grace, a well too deep to fathom
Your love exceeds the heavens’ reach
Your truth, a fount of perfect wisdom
My highest good and my unending need

Secondly, the song is grounded in the messy realities of the Christian life. The song has a simple three-verse hymn-like structure, with verse two describing how God’s nature as our ‘Rock’ and ‘Redeemer’ particularly makes a difference when life is hard:

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Strong defender of my weary heart
My sword to fight the cruel deceiver
And my shield against his hateful darts
My song when enemies surround me
My hope when tides of sorrow rise
My joy when trials are abounding
Your faithfulness, my refuge in the night

Thirdly, it is gospel rich. God’s love isn’t vague or abstract, as can sometimes be the case in some contemporary Christian music. Instead, verse three anchors us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This verse also begins with some alternative minor chords that add some fitting variation, before an epic repeat of the second half of the verse:

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Gracious Savior of my ruined life
My guilt and cross laid on Your shoulders
In my place You suffered bled and died
You rose, the grave and death are conquered
You broke my bonds of sin and shame
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
May all my days bring glory to Your Name

We’ve sung this a couple of times at Grace Church over the last few weeks and it’s seemed super-easy to pick-up. The melody is both very singable – and very enjoyable to sing! Have a listen and give it a whirl. I wondered whether some might enjoy changing ‘my’ to ‘our’ in the repeated opening line of each verse. You can pick up the sheet music and chords here.

Co-written by Matt Boswell & Matt Papa, ‘His Mercy Is More’ has the feel of a modern hymn that celebrates the wonder of the Christian gospel: though our sins are many, God’s mercy is more. Searching verses ponder the depths of God’s grace, through the form of the Christian asking just whether such a majestic and holy God could ever love people like us:

“What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father, so tender, is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more”

These build into a beautifully simple chorus of response:

“Praise the Lord
His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, new every morn
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more”

At Grace Church we’ve recently used this as part of our Genesis series. When faced with the reality of humanity’s cosmic treason in Genesis 3, it is remarkable that God should continue to show kindness to us. The promise of a serpent-crusher and the provision of being clothed through sacrifice point us forward to Christ and remind us that though ‘our sins they are many, his mercy is more’.

The song was actually inspired by a John Newton sermon. Newton, who captured similar themes in his most famous hymn, Amazing Grace, said this:

“Are not you amazed sometimes that you should have so much as a hope, that, poor and needy as you are, the Lord thinketh of you? But let not all you feel discourage you. For if our Physician is almighty, our disease cannot be desperate and if He casts none out that come to Him, why should you fear?

Our sins are many, but His mercies are more: our sins are great, but His righteousness is greater: we are weak, but He is power. Most of our complaints are owing to unbelief, and the remainder of a legal spirit. And these evils are not removed in a day.”

You can download the full song pack here or there are some chords here.