Here’s a feel-good one for a Friday. At 86, Sir Cliff Richard is going after his fifth Christmas number one with a reggae version of Psalm 23, “The Lord Is My Shepherd,” Premier Christian News reported.
The details
- He teamed up with songwriter Chris Eaton, who wrote his 1990 Christmas chart-topper “Saviour’s Day.”
- Cliff told fans at an evening of conversation and songs in Kingston-upon-Thames that he’d never sung reggae before: “I can’t sing it yet as I’ve not learnt it.”
- He became a Christian in 1964 and appeared alongside Billy Graham. He has had 14 number ones, four of them at Christmas.
- His last chart-topper was “The Millennium Prayer” in 1999, which set the Lord’s Prayer to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. The BBC and other mainstream stations wouldn’t play it, but Premier Christian Radio played it every hour and it still reached number one.
- His 48th studio album, “Only Number Ones,” is out November 27, and he’s hoping for an eighth number one album.
My take
I love this. In 1999 the doors were shut to a prayer on the radio and it went to number one anyway. Now he’s pushing the 23rd Psalm at the charts again. You can’t keep the Word of God down.
And Psalm 23 is the right one. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” It’s the song of someone who knows he is led, even through the valley. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd,” and I believe the Holy Spirit still takes those ancient words and plants them in people who haven’t heard them in years. Imagine a reggae Psalm 23 getting stuck in somebody’s head on a December drive. That’s seed. Pray it lands.
Have a blessed day! And Happy Hacking!
