Jason Gray has shared the stage with almost every major contemporary Christian music star from Jeremy Camp and Big Daddy Weave to The Afters and Mark Schultz. It could be said that Gray is one of Christian music’s best-kept secrets. After over 20 years of full-time music ministry, the Minnesota musician has released six studio albums and a Christmas album with the label Centricity. In that time, he has shown his incredible ability for melody and thoughtful lyrics. His return with 2020’s ambitious Order, Disorder, Reorder, is no different.
As the album title suggests, the 18 tracks take the listener on a thematic journey as we start from an orderly and somewhat innocent life with songs like Maker of Mornings (I Am Loved).
“I’ll savor Your mercy with each rising sun
I can’t see the future, but I see enough
To know I’m my Father’s and I, I am loved.”
But like moving from innocence to experience, as the listener digs deeper into the album they hear Gray meditate on the disorder or the times in life when things don’t go as predicted. As he sings on the title track,
“I thought
The storm would never come to an end
I begged You again and again
To send a miracle
But the storm was
The way You broke my heart open wide
To get to what was hidden inside
And call it beautiful”
Finally, we move into the final act of Reorder as Gray recounts God’s ability to take our pain and make something beautiful. As he sings on Glory Days,
“I’m becoming more than I ever dreamed
In the glory days of my reorder
You make my heart stronger when it breaks”
It’s so rare to see such a grand vision for an album, and to see it executed so flawlessly. This isn’t just a collection of songs from one period of an artist’s life, but a meditation on a larger pattern seen throughout life.
Don’t miss one of the best albums of the last couple years. Find it and more of Jason’s music by visiting his website at jasongraymusic.com.
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