Is He Worthy? by Andrew Peterson

"Is He Worthy" by Andrew Peterson highlights the supremacy and uniqueness of Christ. It is a theologically rich song that follows a basic call and response pattern. This pattern is very foreign to most contemporary worship music, and may catch congregations off guard at first, but is easily learned. The call and response pattern allows the song to convey an impressive amount of theological truth. It has a wonderful unifying theme. Each line of the verses proclaims a truth which all christians hold in common. The church can feel so divided sometimes on different secondary issues, so to have a song that reminds us of our unity in Christ is amazing. One verse goes:

"C- Does the Father truly love us? R- He does.

C- Does the Spirit move among us? R- He does.

C- Does Jesus our Messiah hold forever those He loves? R- He does.

C- Does our God intend to dwell again with us? R- He does."

In the original, the worship leader takes on the roll of catechizer, asking the questions, and the congregation merely answers the questions with two word answers. This may be troublesome to some worship leaders. We want everyone to be actively engaged in worship, not merely spectating or listening. I think a very natural way to address this problem would be to assign rolls to the congregation. Maybe in verse one the women ask the questions and the men answer; in verse two the roles are swapped. Or one side of the room asks and the other side answers. These are options that each leader can consider and decide what works best for their context. Drawn straight from Revelation chapter 5, the chorus breaks from the call and response pattern, bringing the congregation together to sing:

"Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

The Lion of Judah, who conquered the grave, He is David's root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave. Is He worthy? Is He worthy of all blessing and honor and glory? Is He worthy of this? He Is."

This song is so rich from start to finish. From a musical standpoint, it is wonderful. It is relatively easy to play, but is far from boring. The harmonies are natural and sound great. This is a worship song that you most definitely should teach to your church!

Brandon's score: 10/10