Over the course of my life, music has always been something that captures my heart and soul. When I find a piece of music that can move me, I’m drawn into a place of serenity that is, quite frankly, difficult to explain in words. Music can create such an incredible emotional response within me that it’s difficult to contain most of the time. Between listening to music and playing it on my own guitar, music has a great deal of sway over my emotions and my general disposition. Generally speaking, I enjoy a wide variety of music, everything from Mozart to Van Halen, and I can become enraptured by any song at any given moment depending on the current emotions that I may be carrying. So with that in mind, I wanted to tell you all a story; a story of about music that has captured my attention and speaks in volumes about where I desire my heart to be in relation to my own faith.
The core members of The Neverclaim
This story begins in 2013 when I first heard a song called My Soul Longs by a band called The Neverclaim – This song had an incredible Nashville-esque twang that drew me in immediately, because at the time one of my favorite bands was Needtobreathe. I loved the elements and instrumentation that went with this worshipful and emotion-laced plea of longing for the coming of the risen Lord. My heart felt the same longing, and I remember rushing out and buying the CD and began the repetitive cycle of listen and fall even more deeply in love with the lyrics and music of that CD.
I spent the next year listening to them and becoming the superfan that I currently am. In the middle of summer there is a large festival of Christian music on the lake shore in Muskegon, MI called Unityfest. Out of chance I happened to discover that the Neverclaim was going to perform on one of the days so I snagged a couple tickets, and my wife and I were off to hear them. We placed our chairs in the grass and waited anxiously.
After they introduced themselves to the crowd, I watched intently as they took the stage and began playing their set. After the first couple songs Jeremiah Carlson, the band’s lead vocalist and lyricist, raised a quick prayer over the crowd and continued to speak of the God in Heaven that I believe in; a God who wants nothing more than to be in a true relationship with His children, a God who longs for the revival of His children through Jesus Christ.
The sentiments that Jeremiah preached about resonated with my heart and I was completely drawn into the atmosphere of worship that The Neverclaim brought me into. Through their music I could see that they weren’t just performing a scripted set of music, the music and the lyrics truly were the bands prayers and their hearts there for all to see, unabashed. The Neverclaim had come to the stage not to grandstand but to truly lift their passionate words up to the Father in Heaven. It was beautiful and soul-affirming to watch those men lift Jesus higher than their own status.
The worshipful ambiance that The Neverclaim brought me into was astounding. I remember sitting there under the beautiful blue sky and brilliant sunlight with my eyes closed just basking in the lyrics that Jeremiah sang. He sang about the thoughtfulness of being drawn together as believers, sang about the power and might of Christ, sang about the surrendering of his own heart and he sang a passionate prayer for God’s children to have their hearts stolen from a broken world.
There just aren’t words to truly express the gravity of the emotions that Jeremiah was able to draw out from my heart, and as I’m sure he would retort to that statement saying that “We never want to claim God’s glory as our own” – and that is the sentiment that permeates every song they sing.
It’s God’s glory, always.
Jeremiah, Mitch, Me, Brycen and Keely - Tulip Time (May 2015)
My story continues about a year or so later when I hear that the Neverclaim is coming out to Holland, MI as part of Tulip Time in conjunction with one of our local Christian radio station JQ99. They were going to hold a small acoustic concert outside of a local coffee hotspot, so my wife and I packed up our nearly 3 year old son and went on a short road trip to Holland on the chilly overcast May morning and sit down front and center as they get ready to bring their hearts out on display. They played a few of the songs that I loved so dearly and then they introduced some new music that they were working on. Quite inevitably, I fell in love with their new songs and I felt drawn to their ministry and worship. I bought the preorder of the CD, and waited anxiously for their second album, “The Joy” to release. Once it was available, I downloaded the tracks and quite literally have had them on repeat for the last month.
The album starts off on a high note with the title track of The Joy. The song exudes the emotion itself it is a joyful trip into the seeking of your own faith and finding the joy and peace of knowing the grace and love of God forever. With a great electric guitar rhythm and a sustaining drum beat, The Joy kicks the album off with a solid reminder of what true joy is. The delightfully insightful lyrics continue into the hook of the next track, Dance with God.
“Why be downcast oh my soul? We’ve been reconciled to the Father. Our lives are changed forever-more. Burdens lifted, chains are gone. Hear the declaration of the father. Get ready, get set – let’s go. Dance with God. Dance with God. We rejoice and laugh and sing forever in His love. Dance with God.”
The energy continues into the third track with the catchy electronic beat of Jesus Is which expounds on the truth that Jesus is alive and moving inside us. In this song we are given the concept that Jesus is alive forever, hope, life, all I need, everything good in me and the reasons why we’re alive; rather than focusing on the idea that Jesus was alive – we should always look at Him as being alive in us. The Neverclaim brings the energy down a bit as they approach a mellower introspective look at the world around us in the fourth track Go before calling us to the truth that we were made to go and spread the Joy in our hearts to the community and the world around us. Jeremiah sings about the desperation in the world and how we need to move within the world bringing the love of our God to all people and ramps up into a call to action to move in faith that God will bring new life. These introspective lyrics continue in the middle tracks on the album.
In the fifth track Everything we are reminded of the relationship that Jesus wants to have with us. He wants us to bring everything to him no matter the circumstance. He cares about it all, everything in your life. Ultimately through all the ups and downs; the fears and guilt, the needs and desires inside of us- God wants to hear about it all. He wants us to talk with Him constantly and effortlessly. If the following song, Our God Wins, we are given a powerful reminder that our God wins no matter what comes before us we can find hope in His ultimate victory.
“I may be pulled back like a bow and arrow, with him the tension that’s where hope begins. He is the victory, even the enemy knows how the story ends. Our God wins!”
No matter how we may feel, it’s when the tension rises that we find our strength in knowing that our hope in God is well placed, because He will find victory. Always.
Rise Up is a beautiful paean and a call to action to rise as a community, as a body of believers. We have the power to change the world when we band together and focus on what really matters. Jeremiah calls out to each and every person to fix their lives on Jesus, to stand strong so that we can live love and preach hope. This is more than just a statement; it’s a reminder that by rising up we have the power to change our own perspective as well as the world surrounding us. Rules and Reigns brings the Neverclaim’s music back down to its acoustic roots as we are reminded that Heaven and earth are His domain. Before our King all nations will shake and eventually sing His praise because He reigns over all and cannot be silenced.
One of the final songs is my personal favorite of the album, Mighty Men of God. It starts on an arpeggio acoustic picking pattern and builds into another anthemic song reaching out specifically to the men of the church, to empower them to stand firm to the faith in Christ. Jeremiah sings about the truth that standing as a man of God is a difficult road, but we all have the strength to be mighty men of God fighting for our family, striving to live a life that mirrors Christ as he pursued the Church. The world, no matter the attack, cannot touch us because we find our strength in the One who is mightier than we could ever be. We are left with a beautiful chorus reminding us that we can take courage in knowing that our hope, our joy, our peace and our strength comes from our mighty God and He has made us for these days.
The Joy is one of those albums that just exudes the worshipful hearts that the men in the Neverclaim have to share with anyone who will listen to their words. It's been a blessing to my own heart to listen to their music, and I believe that it will be a blessing to yours as well so go out and pick up the CD or head over to their website here and download the digital copy directly and listen to it now. Like seriously, right now.
