Charity Gayle’s “Name Above All Names” – A Worship Song Review

Charity Gayle has released her latest single Name Above All Names. It’s recorded live in front of friends and family in a moving worship experience. Charity also caught the live recording on video in a longer version that is well worth the watch.

Charity says this song comes from a challenging time in her life. While on the side of the road with a broken down tour bus, her husband, Ryan, penned the words, “The cross still stands, the blood still flows, the work is finished and hell still knows!” This became the seed for Name Above All Names. 

Charity says, “No matter what trial we may face, Jesus is King and our hope stands in the finished work of the cross! We pray this song would be a victory shout for the Church as we sing, declare, and exalt His victory over death, hell, and the grave! He is Lord and worthy of all the praise!”

Music

Being recorded live Name Above All Names has an excellent extemporaneous musical backing. Charity utilizes a more analog texture with a solid rhythm section and tastefully applied electronic elements. 

The melody is interesting, easy to follow, and stays within a singable range. It’s recorded in a worship-friendly key and, although she moves into some improvisation, the melody is still prominent in the backing vocals for people to follow. Charity’s use of dynamics and breaks gives the song explosive energy.

Biblical Faithfulness

Name Above All Names directly reflects Philippians 2:8-11,

“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The power of God’s truth that Charity has set to music cannot be overstated.

Testimony

If you would allow me to veer from the usual review, let me testify to this. I sit this morning looking out at towering evergreens, under an overcast morning sky in the Pacific Northwest. The fire in the fireplace crackles and a mug of hot coffee sits on the side table. But I feel little comfort. 

In my humanness, I sit here, eyes rimmed with tears and an aching heart. I have endured several years of constant pain from an accident that will soon require the loss of my right foot. I have questions, frustrations, and anger. I am tired, so very tired.

Then I put on Charity’s song to review. God’s truth speaks to my soul through the chorus lyric, “All praise, all praise, to the name above all names. Jesus, you reign, [because] You’re the name above all names.” The God of the universe, the Name Above All Names, has chosen to love me. And if he challenges this borrowed body, I will still praise him because, as the song says, he is above all things.

Charity hoped this song, “…would be a victory shout for the Church as we sing, declare and exalt His victory over death, hell, and the grave!” It is, and not just because it’s a stellar worship song. Name Above All Names praises the God of all creation who conquered death, sin, and darkness. He is the Name Above All Names, and because of him, there are no challenges or trials that we need to fear.

I have more surgeries, pain, and challenges ahead. This song will be a lighthouse in the raging storm, declaring God’s truth which is more powerful than any drug or therapy of man.

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