Any investment made in our children’s knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, his word and his gospel is an eternal treasure of great value. Noble Bereans have made this kind of investment. Taste the New Testament is an album of kids’ songs for use in our homes and kids’ ministries. Noble Bereans is a music ministry helping kids connect with God through Scripture. A noble aim indeed! Kingsley Davidson, the artist behind Noble Bereans, has primary-school-aged kids and this is the demographic his album is aiming for.
Memory verses should not just be the kids’ ministry jam, right? Tasting Scripture (à la Psalm 119) is so vital to nourish souls. Songs help his words dwell richly in us. We all benefit from his words coming to us automatically as we walk with him through the mountains and valleys of our time on earth. So this album can help us all—grownups and kids alike.
Noble Bereans invite us to taste Hebrews, Colossians, 1 Peter and 1 Corinthians. The album features great singing and musicianship. It is well produced and each of the songs have a distinct vibe, I love that Noble Bereans cover a range of different genres (rockabilly, Oz rock, ballads, folky vibe and country touches). Kids’ taste in music is as varied as adults. This all makes it very listenable.
‘Jesus Christ Our Lord’, ‘Tell Me About Redemption’ and ‘Flowers Fall’
The song that stood out for me was ‘Jesus Christ Our Lord (Colossians Catechism)’. It seemed to me the easiest to sing along to. I also was touched by ‘Tell Me About Redemption (1 Peter 1:18-19)’ and ‘Flowers Fall (1 Peter 1:24-25)’. ‘Flowers Fall’ is a great topic for kids to consider as they are in the early stages of recognising mortality, maybe personally facing first losses. What comfort to be reminded: “his word lasts”.
This album’s strength is its fidelity to the exact words of Scripture. This is also what is tricky about what the album is attempting. For all songwriters who aim to put Scripture to music you have a glorious privilege and a great problem.
A Privilege and a Problem
The glorious privilege is having a divine lyricist to work with. The great problem is that of making a singable melody that scans and fits the lyrics effortlessly. It is not possible in most cases to have an easy catchy tune to sing without changing the lyrics at all.
Kingsley has chosen to stick with the original texts in most of these songs, as they are trying to help us memorise Scripture. Good for him!! It just means it might be hard to pick up the song quickly as different lines have different numbers of beats and syllables and the melodies are not always symmetrical or predictable. Some of the words may not instantly be clearly understood by primary-school-aged kids. But Kingsley doesn’t mind! He wrote to me:
Going to strong Bible-teaching churches my whole life, I’m assuming a fairly high level of Bible exposure, which I know many Christian families don’t have.
But I’d rather set the bar high, knowing that the words may not make complete sense today, but over time God will increase their knowledge and even bring these songs/verses to mind and help them as they walk with him.
Thank you Noble Beareans for investing in the lives of our kids and grandkids as they walk with him. I am a big believer in writing songs for those we love and do life with, where God has placed us.
