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Best Celtic Christian-Themed Artists

Posted in Lists | July 9th, 2020 | by

Celtic Cross against a blue sky — Courtesy papagnoc from Pixabay.com

I love Celtic music. I fell in love with it years ago, but I recently had a resurgence after my older sister presented me with my first Irish whistle last Christmas. Christian Celtic music isn’t very easy to find, especially original songs. There’s a plethora of hymns played in the Celtic style (which is absolutely wonderful – I just am often looking for more modern music). Here are five of my favorites (with two bonus honorable mentions!). This isn’t an exhaustive list by far, so if you know of ones that I’ve missed, please let us know in the comments, because I am always looking for new music to listen to!

Ceili Rain

Say KAY-lee album art — Say Kay-lee, Ceili Rain’s debut album

This is one of my favorite Celtic groups. It’s mainly Celtic/rock, but features a lot of traditional Irish instruments, including the fiddle, whistle, and button accordion. We were introduced to Ceili Rain (which roughly means “Party Rain” in Gaelic and is pronounced KAY-lee) in 2010 after we met lead singer Bob Halligan at a music conference (there’s a long story that goes along with that…for some other day). It was my introduction to Irish music, and I fell in love with it. Apparently, Bob gets many ideas for his songs from the Syracuse Times…which makes for some interesting songs. There’s often a lot of hard truths put humorously riddled (pun intended) throughout the songs. I wanna be different / I wanna be different / I wanna be different / just like everybody else! Ceili Rain’s last project was released in 2014, but we fans can always hope for more, right? Their discography also includes Ceili Rain: Say Kay-lee (1996), Erasers On Pencils (2000 – you know you want to learn what that song’s about!), Change In Your Pocket (2003 – my personal favorite), Whatever Makes You Dance (2005), I Made Lemonade (2008), Maunka Honey (2011), and Hymns and Hers (2014).

Eden’s Bridge

Celtic Psalms album art — Celtic Psalms (1996)

This was a very recent discovery for me. The music is not new (the last original album was released in 1999), but it is timeless in its beauty. Some songs are covers, others are originals. Eden’s Bridge’s discography includes Celtic Worship (1996), Celtic Psalms (1996), Celtic Worship (1998), Reflections on Celtic Hymns (1998), Celtic Lullabies (1998), Celtic Journeys (1999), Celtic Praise and Worship (2002 – it’s a compilation of the best songs from the two Celtic Worship albums with a new song, “Morning Prayer”), and Irish Christmas (2012). Led by siblings Sarah and Richard Lacy and hailing from Yorkshire, England, these melodies use many traditional Celtic instruments, including the uilleann pipes (which are essentially the Irish version of the bagpipe) and accordion. My personal favorite song that the group does is from their first record, entitled “Into the Light.” As I was perusing through some of their music not long ago, I discovered a song that we had listened to on the radio back when I was too young to remember, so it was cool to get to discover who the artist was after all these years!

The Willis Clan

While this family band is on permanent hiatus, some of their Celtic/pop/rock music was Christian-themed, such as City Down Below (based on the story of Abraham and Lot), City That I’m Looking For, and Is There More? The majority of their music is love songs, but the lyrics are very clean and family-friendly. And, if I can be 100% honest, it’s not so hard to turn some of those love songs in to love songs to Jesus…

The band released four albums, Chapter 1: Roots (2012), Chapter 2: Boots (2012), Heaven (2015), and Speak My Mind (2018). The first two are of slightly lesser sound quality than Heaven and Speak My Mind, but are worth giving a listen. The final album, Speak My Mind, features many songs of healing and finding restoration after (sadly) the father was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison for child abuse. If you’ve walked through anything of that nature, I recommend giving it a listen. And even for those, like me, who have never experienced pain on that level, I’ve found these songs to speak to me as well.

Robin Mark

Revival In Belfast album art — Revival In Belfast (2002)

Best known for his hit song “Days of Elijah,” Robin Mark’s music tends to have a Celtic edge, while being primarily pop/rock. He frequently features the Irish whistle and accordions on his songs, including on the original “Days of Elijah.” His music tends to be live, and none of it is very recently released, but it tends to be very worshipful, which is really nice. Mark was born and lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland, so this is very authentic Irish music! His discography is fairly extensive, including Room for Grace (1997), This City, These Streets (1998), Sanctuary (1999), Shout To The North (2001), Come Heal This Land (2001), Revival in Belfast (2002), The Mandate – Experiencing God (2002), Songs And Hymns (2004), East of the River (2008), Living the Adventure – Mandate 2007 (2009), Year of Grace (2009), Days of Elijah (2010), Fly (2011), and A Belfast Symphony (2018 – which is a lot of his well-known songs with a symphony behind him). I’m not as familiar with Robin Mark’s music, but I remember as a child, we sang his songs frequently at church, so it’s always nostalgic to go back and give these a listen!

Keith & Kristyn Getty

The North Coast Sessions album art — The North Coast Sessions (2018)

I would call Keith and Kristyn Getty’s music slightly less “noticeably Celtic,” although their music, especially their hymns albums have some Celtic influence. (Note that Keith Getty is the same one who wrote the modern hymn In Christ Alone with Stuart Townsend.) Again, I’m not quite as familiar with their music, but the songs that I do know are very nice, though, as I said, depending on the album, it may not satisfy everyone’s Celtic tastes. The North Coast Sessions, for example, are quite Celtic in style, whereas Awaken the Dawn is not. Generally speaking, the later the album is in their discography, the more likely to is to have strong Celtic influences. The couple also has a number of albums for kids. Other albums in their discography include In Christ Alone (2005), Awaken the Dawn (2008), Joy: An Irish Christmas (2010), Hymns for the Christian Life (2011), The Greengrass Session (2014), Facing A Task Unfinished (2016), North Coast Sessions (2018 – this one is my personal favorite), Sing! Psalms: Ancient + Modern (2019), and Incarnation (2019).

And as honorable mention – Aural Axiom

He has released two songs on YouTube. Both are instrumental, but both are also absolutely beautiful. In his own words, “In exchange [for listening and using the accompaniment track], I ask only that you share this video with your friends. I believe that beauty is one of the more profound ways through which the Creator reveals Himself; it stands apart from the mundane and affords us a fleeting glimpse beyond the horizon of the shadowlands. Thus to experience beauty is to have an encounter with the divine, at least in some small way. So again, if you find beauty in this piece, please share it. Sola Gloria Deo.”

I’ve been blessed by his willingness to give away his music, along with the backing tracks so that I could learn the Irish whistle part on Celtic Hymn…which has been really fun, though my family’s ears sometimes complain because when I play it, it gets really piercing at the top of the range! (His version is not nearly so piercing…I will have to learn how that is done).

And as a second honorable mention – Wheels of Glory!

We released Celtic Hymn a few months ago, so go check it out! In addition, there is also some Gaelic influence on Mercy & Grace, our latest single.

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Practice Makes Perfect

Posted in Teaching & Musings | June 23rd, 2020 | by

I started my career as a novelist when I was thirteen. That’s right – thirteen. One January afternoon, I sat down at the computer, opened a blank document, and started typing. My first impression was that it took forever to fill just one page. But I chipped away at it, and I finished my first book when I was fourteen. Trust me, I was pleased with myself! I felt that I had poured my heart and my soul into it, and I proudly presented it to my siblings – and was rather crestfallen when they weren’t impressed. When they told me it had no plot. When they told me that I desperately needed to develop my characters.

You know, I could have given up. I could have said, “Skip it! I’ll leave the writing to the experts!” But I didn’t. I went ahead and wrote a second book. Actually, it wasn’t that much better than the first. It still lacked a believable plot, and the character development was abysmal. I could have given up again. But I didn’t. Instead, I wrote a third book. And then a fourth. And finally, a fifth.

By this point, I was sixteen, and it had been about three years since I’d first started writing. And I still hadn’t produced a decent book. I crafted words and plots in my head and tried to write them out. Dozens of stories flowed out of my fingertips, but I found that I was best at beginning books. Finishing them was quite another matter. My fifth book had been better than any of the others that I’d finished, so one day, when I was eighteen, I began its first major revision. If you would have told me that that was the first of six revisions that I would put it through, I would have laughed at you – and probably given up on the spot. But – I didn’t.

With fear and trepidation, I handed it over to be read by people with different tastes than me, and their reaction was relatively positive. I could hardly believe it. It had taken seven years, but I’d finally produced something worth reading. Within a couple of months, I’d finished up another book I’d been working on, and it was met with overwhelming positivity. I was ecstatic.

But as I thought back over my journey of learning to write, I knew that though I’d put blood, sweat, and tears into these narratives, it was the practice that had gotten me to where I’d gone. I couldn’t have sat down as a now twenty-year-old and written either book if I’d chosen to give up after my first failure – or even if I’d never tried. While the maturity that I’d gained in those last seven years definitely contributed to those successes, they hadn’t come out of nowhere. They came from practice.

If you would have told me that I was going to be twenty before I turned out a book that I could be proud to read aloud when I first started this crazy journey, I wouldn’t have believed you. And it would have been discouraging to hear.

But the truth is that practice is what makes perfect. Most of us aren’t born with giftings that they are just good at. They have to practice those gifts. I have. Don’t think that I haven’t thrown hours and hours at learning to play the piano and guitar. But practice doesn’t come by sitting around and pretending or imagining that you’re doing something. It comes through doing it. Even if you feel like a failure at first. Even if you need to improve. Because honestly, if God calls you to something, start practicing now so that you’ll be ready when you land in the place where He’s calling you to.

He spoke to me years ago and told me that I was going to lead worship. So I have trained myself in leading worship, selecting setlists, and guiding my awesome band as we play together both in the home and in public. I know that on that day when I land where God has called me to be, I want to be as ready as I can be. So I’ve practiced, because practice is what makes perfect.

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Amazing Jesus – VOTD.07.02.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | July 2nd, 2018 | by

Everyone was awestruck. They were stunned seeing the power and majesty of God flow through Jesus. Luke 9:43

My desire is that all I write brings glory to God. But in this meditation, I’m focusing on Jesus specifically. In reality, Jesus is too amazing for words. But the writers of the Bible inspired by the Holy Spirit did their best with words to help us understand just how amazing Jesus is.

Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Every knee will bow to him both in heaven and on earth. He is the most glorious One in both places. Highly exalted above all powers and principalities, much more powerful than anything that exists. Jesus Christ rules over everything that we think is in charge. He is the Lord over everyone who thinks they are in charge. His authority is perfect, complete, and forever.

He is life in eternity. Nothing and no one can measure up with Jesus, because He is perfect by every measure. The host of heaven rejoice and worship Him in total awe and rapturous esteem. Jesus is the ultimate joy of God the Father. He is the joy of humanity and all the beings of heaven. He is from eternity to eternity and is higher exalted than anybody else.

Jesus is too beautiful for words and the bringer of happiness to the people who love him. He is perfect Victor. He gives us His victory and fills us with hope. He makes our future beautiful instead of frightening.

Jesus is the light of the world. His radiance is brighter than the sun. His light is so magnificent that it banishes the deepest darkness. The light of His face is overwhelming and devastating to evil. Demons retreat in fear of His brilliant appearance. He is righteous and pure in everything He does, says and thinks. (more…)

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Free to Delight in Him – VOTD.06.05.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | June 5th, 2018 | by

How precious is Your loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your delight. Psalms 36:7-8

When we’re full of ourselves, full of other things, other programs and events and people, it’s hard to ‘be still and know that I am God’ (Ps 46:10). And sometimes our lives are like that—where the best we do is carve out time to spend in meditating on what God is saying and communing with Him. Sometimes it’s hard to turn our eyes, our focus, our attention, from the things of this life and spend time gazing on Jesus.

But this isn’t abundant life…this is what Jesus set us free from when He came. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me TO PROCLAIM FREEDOM for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, TO SET THE OPPRESSED FREE, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:16-19)

The “thing from which you derive the most pleasure is the very thing you worship. For some people it is Prozac, or the NFL… It could be a wicked or a mundane thing. But ask yourself: where do you find the most irresistible pleasure? That is what you worship.

“We must worship and serve God for one reason alone: because we can’t help ourselves. We are entranced. God is that delightful to us.

“Worship is basically adoration, and we adore only what delights us. There is no such thing as sad adoration or unhappy praise. We have a name for those who try to praise when they have no pleasure in the object. We call them hypocrites.”–John Piper (more…)

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The Breadth of God – VOTD.05.14.2018

Posted in Verse of the Day | May 14th, 2018 | by

When Paul says, “Praise the Lord all you nations, and let all the peoples extol him” Rom 15:11, he’s saying that there is something about our God that is so universally praiseworthy and so profoundly stunning and so precisely worthy and so deeply satisfying that God will find passionate lovers in all sorts of different people.

Jesus’ true greatness is demonstrated in the breadth of people who identify themselves with Him and cherish Him. His glory is shown to be higher and deeper than if He was only found awesome by a narrow, insulated group of people who see everything the same way.

But instead of attracting only a single kind people, His appeal is to the deepest, highest, largest capacities of our souls. It all testifies to His incomparable glory.

And it all challenges the smallness of our personal image of God. And that’s important because our image of God drives every single part of our life and determines how we live out our lives. (more…)

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Nothing I Desire But… – VOTD.01.08.18

Posted in Verse of the Day | January 8th, 2018 | by

(Paul prays that) you will be given the full riches of complete understanding, in order that you may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the riches of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3

Stretching back into the achieves of Christian worship music, there was a song that was hugely popular in its day. It’s one of the early vertical worship songs I ever knew, and it went like this:

Lord, You are more precious than silver;
Lord, You are more costly than gold;
Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds;
And nothing I desire compares with You. (Lynn DeShazzo-1982)

Playing off of Proverbs 8:10-11, the song compares God to a number of things that are considered of great value—silver, gold, diamonds—Even 2500 years ago, these were seen as valuable in and of themselves. “Choose my instruction instead of silver, my knowledge rather than choice gold, for (God’s) wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with it.”

That song’s popularity was probably, in part, due to the fact that in its day there was little competition for worship songs that spoke adoration directly to God. Something in our souls was crying out to express to Jesus how much we loved and valued Him. He was always doing such great things for us and we simply wanted to tell Him how grateful we were and how wonderful He was.

Which brings up a point: How much do we desire Jesus? Does our desire for Him surpass all other desires? Or does our preoccupation with currently unmet desires overshadow our gratitude and joy for all He’s already done for us? (more…)

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In Search of a Thankful Heart pt 1 – VOTD.08.07.17

Posted in Verse of the Day | August 7th, 2017 | by

Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Hebrews 12:28

According to today’s verse we are receiving the kingdom of God… the very presence of the King is being received by us… not just once, a long time ago at an altar, but continuously, right now… It’s not some day in the future in heaven, either. It’s continuously, right now…

Since we are receiving the presence and majesty of Jesus on a continual basis, “Let us be thankful”. What an understatement! You would think that since we’re receiving a Kingdom we’d be overwhelmed with gratitude, but apparently Hebrews has to remind us to be. I wonder why?

Why do we have so much trouble being thankful in the NOW? Today’s verse suggests it’s because we aren’t satisfied with the Kingdom we’re receiving. I suspect that’s because we have trouble being satisfied with Jesus in the now.

There are some seemingly innocent emotions that can be gratitude-breakers in our lives. Fore example, how can we be thankful and be Angry, Depressed, Discouraged, Jealous, or Full of self-pity? These things are incompatible with genuine gratitude. Here’s why: (more…)

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Hallowing God in Life – VOTD.09.27.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | September 27th, 2016 | by

But in your hearts hallow Christ as Lord. 1 Peter 3:15
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name… Matthew 6:9

When we got up this morning what thought was on our minds? One particularly good thought would be: Today the ultimate purpose of my life is to hallow the name of Jesus…to establish our Father who is in heaven, as hallowed.

Some people would say the reason we exist is to achieve our own self-actualization—make the most of ourselves. Jesus offers that, but that’s not the main point of the Christian faith. That’s not the main point of today. That’s because hallowing God is the main reason you and I are alive today—to show forth the value of Jesus.

Now what’s your reaction to that truth? Is it a relief or a burden? Does the calling upon each believer to live for the hallowing of Jesus’ name feel like bondage or like freedom? Opportunity or risk? Exciting or mundane? Does it energize us or is it more like an interruption in our day?

Something to think about on a Tuesday.

“Yours O Lord, is the…majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is yours: yours is the kingdom, O LORD. You are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of you, and you reign over all.” (I Chron 29:10-12)

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The Majesty of God in Worship – VOTD.09.26.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | September 26th, 2016 | by

“Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your (money); I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’ Luke 19:20-21

Today we’ll look at a second change that affects our Scriptural basis of worship…our view of God changes from a wrath-filled, exacting God to a majesty-filled Father God. In today’s verses, the third and worthless servant explains why he has not done what the king asked. He was afraid of the wrath of the King—if he risked the money he might lose some or all of it and he was scared stiff. The other two servants were just the opposite. They saw the majesty of the king and went out and used the king’s money to create more money.

In recent time: the character of God has shifted in Christian thought. God didn’t change, but how the church views Him has. We have moved from a focus on the wrath of God to the majesty of God. A good thing. A holy fear of God is not a cringing fear, but a reverential awe (and yes, even an un-reverential camaraderie with the Holy One. Jesus wants friends, too –Jn 15:15.).

This has powerful implications for worship. We might grovel before a wrathful God, but we can’t worship Him. We can’t really even follow Him. But the more the majesty of God moves to the forefront the more we will desire to worship Him and follow where He leads.

So what is the majesty of God? To try describe God’s majesty is kind of like describing the splendor of the Grand Canyon. Words can’t do it justice. Even pictures don’t really provide the full impact. You just need to see it! (more…)

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The Scriptural Basis for Worship – VOTD.09.20.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | September 20th, 2016 | by

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. John 4:20

I had spent much of a Saturday morning on the platform of an evangelical church’s sanctuary worshipping my heart out. It was a glorious time, where those who wanted to, came and joined together with voices and instruments and anyone could call out the next worship song from a sheaf of about 500 chord/lyric sheets provided (the only real limitation to what you could choose). People came and went as they needed to, something like a pick-up volleyball game, but mostly people stayed.

Of course, stalwart worshipers had an awesome time worshiping with fewer fetters than a typical church service would allow. And many of them enjoyed having my gang there because we came with fewer fetters than they were used to. On the music stand underneath the sheaf of chord/lyric sheets I found a detailed blueprint of the service which was scheduled for the next day…right down to the minute, exactly how long each song, prayer and spoken words would take to fit into the package called ‘Sunday Worship Service’.

I was there the next day and marveled at how well the worship leader feigned spontaneity and freedom while meticulously following the schedule I’d seen. Nothing wrong with this, mind you; he did a good job; it was practically a work of art. But it reminded me of the worship struggle that has emerged in churches over the past few decades between format and freedom. (more…)

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