Resurrection Letters, vol. 2

Russ Breimeier at Christian Music Today reviews Andrew Peterson's latest. An excerpt:

I know I keep saying it in my reviews, but it's true: if you miss the late great Rich Mullins, Andrew Peterson is carrying his torch about as well as anyone. One track he's an evocative poet, the next a storyteller, and before long he's singing praise to the Lord—all within the same album. Though he resides in the same folk-pop vein throughout, he varies his scope from song to song (like Mullins) and thus more fully articulates Christian living than most of today's faith-based artists.

Listening to a song like "Hosanna," I'm struck by Peterson's rather gutsy approach, contrasting and confessing sins, then giving praise to the One who forgives all: "I have cursed the man you have made me/I have nursed the beast that bays from my blood/I have run from the One who would save me … See the long-awaited King, come to set his people free/Won't you tear the temple down, raise it up on holy ground?/Hosanna!"

"Love Is a Good Thing" is equally provocative. Think about how many Christian artists have sung about love by lazily reciting 1 Corinthians 13. Now consider Peterson's mastery of language to express the power and potency of love: "It knocked me down, it dragged me out, it left me there for dead/It took all the freedom I wanted and gave me something else instead/It blew my mind, it bled me dry, it hit me like a long goodbye/Nobody knows here better than I that it's a good thing/Love is a good thing."

HT: Challies (again)