“We Have the Victory” – Jane Parker’s debut Christian Music album, reviewed by The Very Reverend Stephen A. Morrison O.Praem.

Sub-Prior and Curate
I was interested to hear what Jane had been up to these past months! This project, her debut Christian album, is an offering of her own talents which is full of the same lively enthusiasm that anyone who ever meets her instantly recognises.

What strikes me immediately upon listening to it is the sheer simplicity of it; the accompaniments are warm but not invasive, which leaves the words and voice to soar above in simple devotion. Isn’t that how we ought to pray? Simply and from the heart. Our words don’t need to be polished as long as they are loaded with love. The moving invocation of the name of Jesus in the track, “Let your love be shown” is a good example of this.

The second aspect of this album is that it seems designed to help. To help us to pray, and to voice what we might not be able to voice ourselves. However, if you know you don’t usually like Worship Songs, that doesn’t mean that you won’t appreciate the songs of this album. They are mostly very soothing, with some tracks referencing others in key, melody and mood, and there is no awkward uncomfortableness of genre here. Stylistically in fact, many of these songs have more in common with a children’s lullaby or a soulful folk ballad than with the ‘usual’ fare of rock and country tunes injected with scriptural platitudes. The result is not disagreeable: the directness of the lyrics means that Jane connects with immediacy to the listener through this album, letting her praying and singing facilitate your own conversation with the Lord who loves us and who never abandons us. Jane’s daughter Grace also contributes with the pretty “God is everywhere,” proof that there’s something for all the family on this CD.

The message of comfort, that we have the victory through Christ our Saviour, pervades all 17 tracks of this album. The songs which voice the Scriptures the most are to me the most appealing. “I and the Father are one” is a moving setting of John 10:27-30, in which music conveys the fact that Christ is one with the Father, just as we are one in Christ, and is my favourite track. But you will probably have your own favourite! Jane is highly to be commended for this offering of music and prayer, for the glory of God and for the spreading of the Gospel in our own day.