It’s a mark of our hyper-connected age that song-writers can release a song just before Christmas and find it being sung in churches on the other side of the world by early January!

Of course, without doubt it’s also a mark of the power of a strong song.

And that’s certainly the case with the delightful new track from CityAlight, featuring Colin Buchanan, ‘Jesus, Strong and Kind’, which was only released on 12 December 2019. I’ve already heard of a number of churches singing it, and we had our kids’ group learning it and introducing it to the adults this past Sunday.

Dream Team

City Alight are quickly establishing themselves as one of the leading congregational song-writing outfits in the West at present. Based out of St Paul’s Church in North Sydney, they aim 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.’

For example, their 2018 track, ‘Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me’, has been hugely popular, exemplifying their trademark trusted lyrics and captivating melodies.

But this time they have teamed up with Colin Buchanan, an accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right, probably best known for his work performing and writing Christian songs for children (‘10, 9, 8, God is Great’, ‘Remember the Lord’, ‘God Never Says Oops‘, to name but three!).

A Modern Classic?

The result is ‘Jesus, Strong and Kind’, which is hauntingly simple, and very much in the style of the nineteenth-century children’s hymn, ‘Jesus Loves Me This I Know’. The chorus goes like this:

‘For the Lord is good and faithful
He will keep us day and night
We can always run to Jesus
Jesus, strong and kind’

Verses one, two and three recount different experiences, showing how Jesus meets those needs: feeling thirsty but Jesus being our satisfaction; feeling weak but Jesus being our strength; feeling afraid and Jesus being our shield. The repeated refrain at the end of each song invites us therefore to take him at his word and ‘come to him’.

Delightfully, the fourth and final verse then flips that around and speaks of being lost but Jesus coming to us:

‘And he showed me on that cross, He will come to me’

A Song for God’s Children of All Ages

But this isn’t just a song for kids. CityAlight call it a song for ‘God’s children of all ages’. In fact Colin Buchanan shared his hopes for the song during one recent performance:

‘[We wanted to write] the sort of the song that maybe your mum or dad could sing to you when you were small enough to fit in their arms, then maybe when you were two or three you’d start to learn some of the words and join in yourself then maybe when you were a bit older … you’d sing a song like this to your God [in moments of distress]… then maybe when you’re much older, songs like this perhaps can be a help and comfort at the very end of your life…’

Of course, what is it that makes a song such a blessing and source of hope throughout life’s journey? Well, because they simply but meaningfully point us to Jesus.

So, have a listen…

You can get chords and sheet music here.

“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.