John Mark McMillan’s The Medicine - worship album review

By Josh Weisbrod in Arts and Culture in Worship on 7/29/10

In worship music what most people are searching for is authenticity. Most of us are looking for authentic personal responses to the grace and mercy that God has given us. Many times that can sound like loud stadium rock that rejoices, and sometimes it has a more intimate sound.
I have had the pleasure of listening to some great worship over the past few years, but the album by John Mark McMillan is definitely one of the most interesting worship albums I have listened to. The album The Medicine was originally released in 2008, but John Mark re-released the album this year with Integrity Music. When I first heard this album i was surprised. There are not a lot of worship albums out there like this, let alone albums from Integrity.So why would Integrity Music sign this southern influenced, unpolished, vastly different worship leader? The answer is in John Mark’s heart. Every song echoes the authenticity of a man who is working out his relationship with God. Many people are unaware that the song How He Loves Us was written by John Mark McMillan. The song has since been recorded by major artists such as David Crowder and Kim Walker, and even sung in concert by bands like Flyleaf. What most people are not aware about this song is that it was written in response to John Mark’s friend dying in a car crash. In a recent interview with Relevant Magazine John Mark recalled, “He was my best friend.I’d known him since we were children. We were baptized together. Really, what it came down to is I was angry with God. I didn’t quite know what to do with those feelings, but through that anger and resentment, I was able to see the heart of God in it all. God was able to take something terrible and show me something through it.” The song How He Loves Us was written out of conversation with God, and the personal struggle and emotion is audible in every word. “I sat down to have a dialogue with God and, really, He ended up having a dialogue with me,” John Mark recalls, “It’s like He was speaking to me through the song.”

The same personal authenticity is very apparent in this new album.  The Medicine is an album that really addresses a theme of resurrection, and how we live in that resurrection in our daily lives. When listening to the cd I am filled with a sense of rising from dry bones and living in the resurrection of Jesus. The very first song on the album, called Reckoning Day, sings of a day when death no longer has power over us. Skeleton Bones, the single from the album, echoes the the words in Ezekiel 37 of dry bones coming to life and singing praise to God. When I listen to this song I just begin to picture the dry and dead people in the world waking up to the glory of God and singing His praise. Even when I say that resurrection is a theme of this album it feels like an understatement. John Mark is truly a poet who has written songs and an album that reflect his heart. When you worship with this album you come face to face with a life of worship. These are songs written to lift up as conversations in a personal relationship with a resurrected Savior and a loving God.

I know for may people this album and the lyrics found it might seem too different, but I charge you to listen with an open heart. Many times our hearts cry out in hurt or need, and from that we so desperately desire worship that would reflect that heart. Well, here you go. John Mark McMillan’s The Medicine is that very album.

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