Brian Doerksen, the writer of such well-known worship songs as Purify my Heart and Come, Now is the time to worship, describes himself as being ‘called to give voice in song to expressions of intimate congregational worship’. The book actually has a quite arresting title. The author explains his view that ‘God is calling us to love and he is calling us to battle.’ Our songs of worship are part of our spiritual warfare against the Devil. Doerksen recounts the circumstances in which each of his songs came to be written. Each chapter also contains some ‘song-writing tips’, which will be very helpful to any reader feeling a call to write songs. The Trinity, the reign of God, and the central importance and privilege of worship are just some of the subjects Doerksen covers. ‘It’s time to worship the Father in spirit and truth.’ ‘There is power in praise’ – you’d expect a modern songwriter like Doerksen to say that! ‘But praise needs to rise from the ground of honesty’. I was struck by the candour of his comments, for example, on the absence of lament from so much of our worship (Doerksen toys with this thought: “Maybe the laments in scripture” - in many of the Psalms – “were God’s favourites!”). Suffering and grieving people may feel excluded by ‘the culture of happy appearances and upbeat performances’, which we get in perpetually ‘happy-clappy’ services. ‘The world lifts up the victorious and the successful, but God lifts up the brokenhearted!’ I really welcome these remarks, written as they are by a man in the forefront of contemporary worship, and I have no hesitation in recommending this book.