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| Bluetree : God Of This City |
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Lyrics |
Get It |
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Life's Noise |
Bluetree |
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Burn Me Up |
Bluetree |
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For You |
Bluetree |
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God's Plan |
Bluetree |
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God Of This City |
Bluetree |
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Each Day |
Bluetree |
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When I Survey |
Bluetree |
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Oh My God (Refrain) |
Bluetree |
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River |
Bluetree |
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Who Has Held? |
Bluetree |
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Your Love |
Bluetree |
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Standing Out |
Bluetree |
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Great Is Your Name |
Bluetree |
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Even with an ocean separating the United States from Bluetree's home of Belfast, Ireland, the band definitely identifies with the common struggle of desensitization to a seemingly constant stream of bad news.
With bombings, a long history of bloodshed between those who actually claim to love and serve God, and random acts of violence the stuff of daily headlines in Belfast, the band's lead vocalist and guitarist Aaron Boyd admits that "you eventually grow so numb that when you hear that a car bomb killed 10 people, you immediately go on with the mundane business of the day without as much as giving it a second thought."
That's precisely why Boyd and his bandmates, which includes bassist Andy McCann, drummer Johnny Hobson, and deejay Pete Kernoghan, have never been interested in writing feel-good worship songs that may incite a few goosebumps on Sunday morning, but don't exactly inspire change and action once the church service has ended.
"What we often forget sometimes is that we're the solutions," Boyd says. "Jesus Christ has already done everything, and now, we are His hands and feet in the world. Let's not just ask God to change everything, but let's be a blessing and speak words of life into people's difficult circumstances. That's where I've been writing songs from - the simple truth."
Driving the message home is Boyd's emotive vocals and the album's lushly crafted soundscape that brilliantly underscores the very real hope that's alive and well when we actively pursue a relationship with God. While an unabashed attitude of worship runs through all of the songs on God Of This City, even a sunny track like "Each Day" wasn't inspired when life was leisurely coasting along. Instead these songs reflect the highs and lows that inevitably come with the journey of faith.
While "Each Day" is ultimately an upbeat declaration of a believer's unwavering trust in God, when Boyd sings of "You never leave me alone/Even when storms cloud my way/ And I can't see the breaking day/ You never leave me alone," the lyrics were actually born out a season of struggle when his daughter Lily was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis not long after birth.
"When I first head the news, I freaked out. I didn't even know what cystic fibrosis was," Boyd shares. "This thing just rocks your world because you really begin to look at what you believe. God is a loving God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And I know He does not bless you with an incurable disease to teach you a lesson. He does not do that. So I suppose I got to a place where I struggled, even when I knew that God is a good God."
And that's exactly what Boyd hopes that listeners will experience when listening to Bluetree hope not necessary dictated by circumstance - the moment when God does some of His best work and shaping.
Armed with encouraging words for a hurting world, Bluetree has made it a priority to live missionally, which eventually led them to a life-changing gig in the Red Light district of Pattaya.
Thailand, a beautiful city badly tarnished by sexual slavery. Known as the capital of the world's sex trade, Boyd admits he was "a bit frightened" by what he'd gotten himself into. But "The intense darkness" the band "simply couldn't miss" inspired Bluetree to lead worship in the most unlikely of places, a club which doubles as a brothel known as the Climax Bar.
Proving yet again that "God works in mysterious ways" something special began happening during one particularly memorable two-hour set. As the band worshipped and prayed, a message of hope for the people of Pattaya emerged - a revelation that even in that darkness, God was still the God of these people. Despite all the depravity and darkness, whether they were the victims or even those who chased after the darkness, God loved them and pursued them - even if they weren't even aware of it. And before long, it became apparent that this "prophetic shout over the city" wasn't just for those living in Pattaya, but for the whole world.
You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are
The simple lyrics for what became Bluetree's "God Of This City," the title track of the album which releases in the States on March 3, not only blessed those listening in the Climax Bar that night, but also deeply resonated with another fellow worship artist, Chris Tomlin. In fact, when Tomlin first heard the words during the band's 4 o'clock set in Northern Ireland one afternoon, he knew there was something particularly special about this anthemic cry for God's intervention in every city on the planet.
After connecting with the band later on, a partnership was eventually forged, and "God Of This City" was not only covered on Tomlin's critic and commercial smash Hello Love, but it played an integral role in the Passion's recent world tour - something that Boyd still can't believe.
"It has been one crazy journey," Boyd confides. "It felt really amazing to be part of speaking into the Passion movement. I remember standing on a stage at a Passion event in Los Angeles, and I still couldn't believe this was happening, Here this group of Irish guys were playing alongside David Crowder Band and Matt Redman, and I wondered 'What is going on?'"
Since then, the band's momentum has been nothing but fast and furious. "Everything has gone so crazy so quickly, and it's only going to get crazier," Boyd says. "But it's all been so much fun, and we're up for the challenge. We have a common goal and a great camaraderie as a band. And it doesn't hurt that we're all a wee bit crazy."
But when Bluetree plays in a city near you, don't expect them just to play a show and hit the road. "We don't want to just roll in, do our thing and leave people with the Bluetree spirit or whatever. We want to build relationships with people," Boyd says. "We want to be able to come back and see people we know. That's what I love about my guys in the band. They absolutely love meeting people." And that community spirit is befitting of the band's name, which is all about being unique in a world that often reveres conformity. "If you're in a forest and there's nothing but green trees - everything being as you'd normally see it - but then you see a blue tree with blue bark, blue leaves, blue branches, well, it would catch your eye," Boyd says. "And as Christians we're called stand out, to be different - like blue trees."
For more information about Bluetree, check out www.brelutreeonline.co.uk.
The Stories Beyond the Song
Belfast-based worship band Bluetree took part in a short-term missions trip to Pattaya, Thailand. It was the first time the band had been out on a trip like this, and they came back with something they never expected. Aaron Boyd of Bluetree talks about the trip, the impact and a song that can't sit still.
I was frightened. I mean, not just a little bit - but a whole lot. I blame our Mission Pastor; he'd done such a great job on us - warning about the dangers that we were up against in one of the world's most infamous destinations for sex tourists - that we spent the first day or so in Pattaya, Thailand, wondering what we'd god ourselves into.
None of us in the band are much good at sensing things, but there was an intense darkness in then air around the place that we just couldn't miss. As we were in the city to lead worship - along with a bunch of other Christians - it seemed like there was something going on there, something beyond what we could see. It all added to the fear.
After a few days the nerves started to lift. We were feeling that even though we'd been busy we'd not been busy enough. We wanted to play more and started nagging our Missions Pastor to get us more opportunities to do what we were most passionate about ; singing songs to God in the midst of all that darkness.
We ended up getting the chance to play in this venue called the Climax Bar. It's in the city's red light district and to get into it you have to walk past a flight of stairs leading up to another club - the sort that has a pole outside and girls hanging about or dancing trying to hook people in. We just put our heads down and kept on walking.
The Climax Bar isn't a big place. There's a small dj booth on the left and a stage that's wide and shallow on the right. We were setting up in the afternoon and it was all fun, but as it got darker and we started to play things began to change. After two hours we'd played every worship song that we knew but it wasn't time to finish. Something was up.
Growing up in Belfast means that we've grown used to people crying in church, begging God to change our city. I don't know whether you become numb to it all, but I do know that I had never really had those kind of feelings for a particular place. It all changed that night in Pattaya. The feelings of compassion took over and I started just to sing out what I knew was true about who God is to the people of the city. And that was when it felt like things started to happen.
I remember looking over to my left and seeing a group of English guys in the street. My guess is that they were just over to buy time with cheap Thai girls and do whatever they wanted with them. But you could see their surprise as they heard the truth deep in the words we were singing out; that God was a part of this place, that greater things were to come, that there is a light that eliminates the darkness.
Something was happening, but whether it was in us or beyond us we couldn't tell. All we knew was that we'd been in the middle of something we'd not experienced before.
On the bus ride home and over the next few days we nailed the rest of it, but the way the song arrived that night was pretty much as Chris Tomlin ended up recording it on the latest Passion album.
There's one part of the song that came along after the night : 'Where glory shines from hearts aloud with praise for you and love for you in this city...'
I can still remember those girls who were being sold on the street whenever I sing these words. Their lives are caught up in so much pain, but I'm convinced that they've got a better song to sing, I'm convinced that there's glory and praise that can shine from their hearts and lives.
When the trip was over we came back to Belfast and kind of knew that something significant has taken place. The first time we ever played that song - apart from in Pattaya - was at Manafest - a monthly Youth For Christ event we were regulars at. We did the song, and I think it took me about half an hour to tell the story I was crying so much. A little later we were opening for Chris Tomlin at the Odyssey Arena. He heard it then and ended up adopting 'God Of This City' as Passion's anthem of the moment.
As a band we just want to be obedient to whatever God's put in front of us and God's blessed us with a song that's shouting across the world. Off the back of it all - the touring, the sales and royalties - we're going to be able to support plenty of different projects that help transform lives that would otherwise be trapped.
What I believe shouldn't happen is this : 'God Of This City' should not become just another Evangelical anthem that we sing to make ourselves feel good. It must do more than just please our ears or give us goose-bumps; it has to propel us out.
There's so much pushing us into ourselves these days that I think we need daily reminders that we are called to be God's hands and feet, that we are called to practically change people's lives, that we are called to actually be hope in a hopeless situation. We - the Church - must be the source of love where there is no love. We should worry less about condemning the things that are wrong with the world, and put more of our energies in to putting those things right. We need to be the church that deals in love, not in hate. And we're called to do all this with the knowledge that greater, and greater and greater things are still to come.
Search for 'God Of This City' on YouTube and you'll see that so many cities and towns around the world have used the song to help bring into focus the needs around them. But I don't think that the song is there to be used as some kind of tool to 'claim' a city. It has to be accompanied by the actions - not by begging God to come and revive our city, but by getting hold of the idea that we have the responsibility to change the city, to be hope to the hopeless and peace to the restless. The truth is simple; we are God's hands and feet.
We could sit and beg God to change India, Pattaya, Cambodia or whatever other oppressive situation you could mention, but I don't think that's the point: I don't think it's up to us to twist God's arm into fighting injustice, I think it's up to us to get on and fight it ourselves, to look around and realise quite how well God has equipped us to transform our communities and global neighbours. Like I said before; we're God's hands and feet, if we want to be serious about our faith we don't have any choice other than to act.
That's what the song's all about, and that's why the stories that grow from it will be told by people we may never had heard of - everyday Christians putting their faith into action and transforming their world, one person at a time.
"God Of This City" has become one of those unique soundtracks; a declaration of the truth and an encouragement to all who hear it to believe it. That growth means the song has now travelled far further than the band itself. "God Of This City" seems to have struck a chord, not just with groups and churches, but also individuals who are no longer satisfied with living out a short-sighted faith.
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