When listening to The City Harmonic, you instinctively turn up the volume and join the chorus as the music dynamically bounces from sparse intimacy to soaring celebration and back again. It's a musical metaphor for the band that plays it—with their feet in the dirt and their eyes toward the heavens. It isn't long before you find yourself singing along and not because you ought to, but because you want to. Like a spontaneous outbreak of "Hey Jude" around the campfire, you want in on the moment. And getting people in on the act—hearts pounding and feet moving—is at the core of what The City Harmonic is about. 

 

No worship band in recent history has created the kind of reaction the Dove Award nominated The City Harmonic has with their EP, Introducing The City Harmonic and their powerful full-length album I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home). Once you hear The City Harmonic for yourself you'll feel what the buzz is all about. Instantly addicting, they express profound truth and worship in simple and musically creative ways that will resonate with real people. The band, consisting of frontman Elias Dummer, bassist Eric Fusilier, guitarist Aaron Powell and drummer Josh Vanderlaan, isn't as interested in finding fans as they are looking for participants in the journey. 

 

"Both art and worship are participatory acts—not consumptive acts," says Elias. "What is meaningful for people is the experience, that creative moment when art is shared. To us, it's almost as though these songs just don't sound right without everybody involved."

 

I had the great opportunity to interview front man Elias Dummer in person at Creation Festival Northeast about their newest hit song "Mountaintop."

 

 

The song is about living out the message of the lyrics: the valley low, that's where we'll make our homes, but this I know that's what He saved us from. In Martin Luther King's final speech the night before he was assassinated, he delivered a hopeful speech. He knew there was trouble brewing and nonetheless, he said, "I just want to do God's will, I may not get there with you, but we as a people will get to the promised land…"

To me, it was the perfect illustration of what happened in Matthew 17 during the Transfiguration. Jesus reveals Himself to the disciples, and because of their religious context, Peter tells Jesus we're going to put you away now, and build a place for you to live, and for us and our friends to live, building tents or to "tabernacle." He tells Jesus that they'd like to stay there with Him forever and come see Him in His holy place. Jesus stops them in their tracks and He says, "Trust Me," and down they go back down the hill to the valley. What's interesting is that they encounter the demon-possessed boy when they come down from the mountaintop. That illustrates that God is in both places, as Jesus came down as well. What's fascinating is that many years later as Peter reflects on this encounter in 2nd Peter, and having seen God's face, he says, "So long as I am in the tent of this body, so I will tell of these things that I have seen." Peter could have said that a number of different ways, but he chose the word "tent" or "tabernacle" to symbolize that so long as our bodies are the place that God lives, and we are the body of our God, we'll continue to tell this story and embody Jesus in our bodies and as the body of Christ as His Church.

 

 

James 2:14-17 is perfect for this song: "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

 

Also… 2 Peter 1:12-15: "For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease."

 

 

So often we look for mountaintop experiences. Christ has trusted us as His bride to be the body of the living God. We are His body and need to represent Him while we are here, down in the valley. We are the product of an extremely dualistic culture. Yet we read a Book that is the product of a completely holistic culture and we serve a holistic God. God saw no separation of heart, soul, mind, strength, and finances if you will. There is no sense that I can do one thing with my beliefs during the week and another on Sunday morning. We're faced with ultimately having to contextualize Scripture.

The reason in the Book of James that he didn't wrestle with that is that he literally understood that he was one of God's people. He knew that he had to believe in God, and demonstrate God's love in his actions. We know we aren't saved by our actions, because our actions can never add up to salvation. Nevertheless, we must show our love. That's what Jesus said when He was asked about the greatest commandment. He told them the well-known "love the Lord with all of your mind, all your soul and all your strength," and then He surprised them with "the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself." I think we often skip over the bridge to "the second is like it." We cannot separate our capacity of loving our God with our heart, soul, mind and strength from loving our neighbor as ourselves.

 

 

Asbury's Bible commentary: "Faith is alive in self-forgetting deeds. This removes the tendency to make good works the instrument of salvation. Failure to put faith into practice promotes a selfishness that protects self and withholds material help from those in need. Its heartlessness hides behind the façade of politeness."

 

What's most impressive is how catchy the songs on this album are. They will have you singing along at the top of your lungs after just a couple of listens. This is the best new worship band I've heard since Delirious, which is absolutely incredible. Just like Delirious, I think The City Harmonic has a great opportunity to reach the lost for the Kingdom of God with their transparent lyrics and incredible musical talent. 

 

The album I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home), completely rocks and is loaded with songs you can proudly share with your friends and family. The themes of this album are to trust God, love Him and love others as He loved us. All of the songs are catchy, exciting and worshipful. After listening to the album, I am stirred with compassion to love people as Jesus loves us. That's the heart behind this album, and thank you The City Harmonic for blessing us with your music and for singing the Truth of the Gospel for the Kingdom of God.

 

"Mountaintop" is the type of song I wish I was singing at my church right now. The song boldly declares a statement of faith. This worship anthem is just the type of infusion that the church needs with its honesty and bold lyrics. This song is all about the celebration of God's mercy in forgiving us and as Christians, we need to pay it forward. If the spirit of mercy is a basic element in Christian faith, then the expression of mercy is an integral part of faith. This expression of mercy constitutes faith in action. 

 

As Elias and I discussed the song and the profound message, we talked about how we are commanded to love others by Jesus. This song challenges me to think about how well I am loving others. 1 John 4:19 says "We love because He first loved us." Be challenged by singing along with these words: "We build our temples, we build our walls, but they can't hold Him in, we are the temple of Our God, but we can't hold Him in…We are the body of Our God." Amen.