Best known for their song, God Of This City, Northern Irish worship band, Bluetree, has just released their latest album, Worship & Justice. Following life changing experiences in Thailand and Myanmar, they returned to their home church in Belfast and began to reexamine the meaning of 'Avodah,' the Hebrew word for "worship and work." Aaron Boyd, founder of Bluetree, explains: “We went back home asking, ‘How does this all work? Whose responsibility is it to see these girls released from prostitution and transformed…because if I just pray over the city and nothing happens, then it’s God’s fault, right?’ It’s very easy to push that over on God, but Scripture tells us to go into the world and love people.”
“I think the church finally understands that our entire lives are an act of worship in the Kingdom of God," Aaron continues. "When we sing on Sunday mornings, that’s an expression, but when we go to work, when we go to school, when we are smuggled into a country to go and encourage the underground church, or minister to prostitutes—that is all an act of worship, individual to God. We carry it everywhere we go…. Understanding that when we love God and we love our neighbor, we understand that worship is justice.” "Jesus Healer" examines Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, keying in to Isaiah 53:5 which says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." "My Redeemer Lives" tells of God's power and grace, rejoicing that "My Redeemer lives. My Redeemer lives. No more in darkness, raised now to life, my Redeemer lives" while "Each Day" reverently proclaims that God promises never to leave us alone, even when storms and trials come into our lives.
Worship & Justice - Bluetree
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