Hillsong Young & Free has released two new songs with lyrics relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement – and both were written before 2020.
The youth worship outfit from Hillsong Church, Young & Free’s World Outside Your Window and As I Am dropped on Friday. Check out the live videos released for both songs and notice they were filmed at Hillsong’s Youth Summer Camps – in January. Yes, before coronavirus infections and restrictions – and the #BLM protests – took hold of our world.
“Let our praise of Jesus be seen and heard by those outside our windows.” – Aodhan King
World Outside Your Window features the very COVID-y chorus:
It’s not time to be silent
Don’t you dare hide your light
There’s a world outside your window
So don’t let it pass you by
Written by Aodhan King, Joshua Grimmett and Ben Tan, World Outside Your Window is a rally cry to not become too insular with your faith in Jesus. As co-writer King posted to Instagram: “I don’t ever wanna get so caught up doing ‘Church’ that I forget to be the Church.”
“Let our praise of Jesus be seen and heard by those outside our windows. [And this is] one of the most exciting songs to sing together … for now, maybe zoom will suffice.”
Like other musicians around the world during the coronavirus pandemic, other Christian artists also have written and released songs about iso-life. But Young and Free’s prophetic new song stands out for its eerie relevance to the 2020 we have all experienced.
Similarly, As I Am has been in the creative works for a few years. Also co-written by King, with Melodie Wagner-Mäkinen and Michael Fatkin, As I Am lands with many corners of the world still responding to the renewed #BLM cries.
When the world lets you down, run right back to Jesus who never will.” – Melodie Wagner-Mäkinen
Sample lyrics of As I Am hone in on the level playing field of communion with God in Jesus, as well as our shared standing before our heavenly father – no matter where we come from or what we’ve done:
So let us be together
Seated at Your table in communion
Everyone is equal in Your presence
Where I am from or where I’ve been
The way that I’ve lived or the colour of skin
Nothing will change how the Father loves me
“[As I Am] has been a labour of love and patience over the last few years,” revealed co-writer and lead vocalist Wagner-Mäkinen on her Instagram. “Good things take time, and God things are perfectly timed, so its release today during this global upheaving we’re experiencing is truly more than I could’ve imagined.
“I’m praying that both these songs would charge you up with truth and remind you that your voice is needed by the world around you … and when the world lets you down run right back to Jesus who never will.”