Maverick City Music (Feat. Brandon Lake & Steffany Gretzinger) – Communion

Maverick City Music is a collective that acts as a congregation that sings together.  They released six EP’s and three albums, including:

• Maverick City Vol. 1 EP (2019)
• Maverick City Vol. 2 EP (2019)
• Maverick City Vol. 3, Part 1 (2020)
• Maverick City Vol. 3, Part 2 (2020)
• You Hold It All Together (EP, 2020)
• Maverick City Christmas (EP, 2020)
• Move Your Heart (EP, 2021)
• Jubilee (EP, 2021)
• Como En El Cielo (Spanish, 2021)

They recently won a Billboard Music Award for Top Gospel Album for their album (Maverick City Vol. 3 Part 1).

Also, check out my previous Maverick City Music reviews.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Maverick-city-music-communion-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

The entire song focuses on drifting away from God, with Maverick City Music returning to their former love.  This place is where God is near, His love abounds, and where they belong.  They had forgotten that nothing separated them from God’s love, allowing unnamed barriers to thwart their personal relationship with God.  They were previously unaware that closeness with God was available to them.

Side Note: To those who are sensitive to massive repetition, there is four in Bridge, the phrase “We are returning” seventeen times in Spontaneous (2), and “I didn’t know that I could have a friend like You” four times in Spontaneous (4).

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

This song is in complete alignment with Scripture.

[Intro]

Lines 1-3: More on this later in the song.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-4: Maverick City Music veered off course towards the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14), using images of the Garden of Eden, Communion, and personal experience to return to where they first met Christ.  The garden is where Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God, without shame (Genesis 2:25).  Communion is where Maverick City Music spends intimate time with God, praying alone as Jesus did (Matthew 14:1-13, Matthew 26:29, Matthew 26:42, Mark 6:30-32, Mark 14:36, Luke 4:1-2, Luke 4:14-15, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12-13, Luke 22:39-44, and John 18:11).

[Pre-Chorus]

Lines 1-4: Maverick City Music concludes that it’s easy to love and trust God when there’s no friction that prevents it.  They forgot that nothing separates them from God’s love (Romans 8:31-39).

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: This is so because God is spirit (John 4:24) and His Word penetrates deeper than flesh, dividing soul and spirit (Hebrews 4:12).

Lines 3 and 4: Maverick City Music experiences a dose of revitalization, similar to their spiritual resurrection (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).

Line 5: Those who follow Jesus are His friends (John 15:15).

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-4: Maverick City Music entered the place they desired in Verse 1.

[Spontaneous]

Line 1: See Chorus, line 5.

Line 2: See commentary on Verse 1, lines 1-4.

[Bridge]

Lines 1 and 2: Maverick City Music shares the same intimate closeness that Jesus has with the Father (John 14:20, John 15:1-11, and John 17:23).

Lines 3 and 4: What reason does Maverick City Music need to prove themselves?  They have the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Lines 5-16: Essentially repeats lines 1-4.

[Spontaneous (2)]

Lines 1 and 2: Truth.

Lines 3-5: That is, the place where we want God more than anything else.  We lay aside our yearnings at His feet (Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 24:7, Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 2:29, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and 2 Corinthians 7:10).

Lines 6-25: Essentially repeats lines 3-5.

[Tag]

Lines 1-6: Repeats Chorus, lines 3 and 4.

Line 7: Repeats Chorus, line 5.

[Spontaneous (3)]

Lines 1 and 2: Filler.

Line 3: That is because a preacher never told them (Romans 10:14).

Line 4: Combines lines 1 and 3.

Line 5: God is good (1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 23:6, Psalm 27:13, Psalm 31:19-20, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 86:5, Psalm 100:5, Psalm 106:1, Psalm 119:68, Psalm 135:3, Psalm 136:1, Psalm 145:9, Lamentations 3:25, Nahum 1:7, Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, and Luke 18:19

Line 6: Repeats line 3.

Line 7: Quotes from Proverbs 18:24, which undoubtedly includes God.

Line 8: Essentially repeats line 3.

Line 9: Maverick City Music doesn’t deserve it (Romans 6:23).  That’s the point of grace.  It is undeserved favor (Genesis 15:6, Exodus 33:19, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 4:3-8, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 11:5-6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 5:4, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Titus 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and James 2:23).

Line 10: Repeats line 3.

Line 11: God gives Maverick City Music more than they ask (Ephesians 3:20).

Line 12: Repeats line 3.

Line 13: Self-referential statement, that the next line should be sung acapella.

Line 14: Repeats line 3.

[Verse 3]

Lines 1-6: Quotes from Joseph M. Scriven’s hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus.  As children of God, Maverick City Music has the honor of offering their prayers to God (Hebrews 4:14-16), recognizing that sometimes, they do not receive because they did not ask (James 4:2).

[Spontaneous (4)]

Lines 1 and 2: Essentially repeats Spontaneous (3), line 3.

Line 3: Amid their sin, God died for Maverick City Music (Romans 5:6-8).  When they draw near to God (as they have throughout these lyrics), God will draw near to them (James 4:8).

Line 4: Essentially repeats Spontaneous (3), line 3.

Line 5: God is faithful to Maverick City Music even when they don’t reciprocate (2 Timothy 2:13).

Line 6: Essentially repeats Spontaneous (3), line 3.

[Outro]

Lines 1-8: Repeats Chorus, lines 3 and 4.

Line 9: Repeats Chorus, line 5.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Unbelievers should interpret this similarly to my explanation in section 1.  This song is written in everyday language, with words such as “garden”, “communion”, and the entirely of Verse 3 that points them to Christianity.  This place that Maverick City Music is attractive, which I hope those outside Christianity would explore and understand these things experientially.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God that Maverick City Music recognized that they moved away from their first love, wanting to return to their experienced relationship with God upon initial conversion.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Maverick City Music’s Communion is awesome.  It is about rekindling our strained relationship with God, coming back to the place of initial conversion.  This glorifies God.  Unbelievers should have little to no issue interpreting similarly, especially if they receive Christ.

While I don’t prefer its repetition, others who aren’t bothered by it might want to consider it for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Communion (listen to the song)

Artist: Maverick City Music (Feat. Brandon Lake & Steffany Gretzinger)

Album: Maverick City Vol. 2

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2019

Duration: 14:20

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

10/20/2022 – Added a link to the lyrics that was missing in my initial review.