Christian leaders speak out, and trek, on Day for Creation Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT
German Protestant who sought media independence, remembered Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Focus on human aspect of Holy Land conflict, says churches' leader Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Indian churches hail halting of permission for Vedanta's mining Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Patriarch unveils Kremlin icon hidden after Russian Revolution Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT
Express train will carry Mother Teresa's message across India Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT
posted on September 1, 2010 in In Song
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I wonder if we suffer, not from a lack of faith, but from a poverty of imagination. Or do we accept what is dysfunctional because of our fierce loyalty to the church? Here are some more hymns to balance and shape us anew.
posted on August 15, 2010 in In Song
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Hymns shape us in ways deeper than our expressed theology—sometimes for good, sometimes not. Here are some hymns that should be shaping us. Agree? Disagree?
posted on August 1, 2010 in In Song
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Angus Sutherland, minister at Doon Presbyterian in Kitchener, Ont., is also a multi-instrumentalist: bagpipes, penny whistle and guitar. He is also a song and hymn writer.
posted on July 15, 2010 in In Song
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Hymn Societies, both local and international, keep lovers of congregational song in touch with what’s new and what’s familiar in hymnnody. Those who attend Hymn Society conferences find them invigorating and exhausting-and then they return with new ideas and new energy to their local congregations.
posted on July 1, 2010 in In Song
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A new CD of Charles Wesley’s hymns by the creators of Sing Lustily and With Good Courage makes the old new again. Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band present traditional hymns with a “gallery” band—flutes, lutes, fiddles and drums, singing and presenting them as they might have originally been heard.
posted on June 25, 2010 in In Song
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The leavening work of artists is critical to vital, faithful worship. This is because worship is not only an act of the heart: it’s a work of art. Arts organization Imago, under the direction of John Franklin, encourages and supports artists who work from a Christian imagination.
posted on June 1, 2010 in In Song
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Linnea Good and Bruce Harding are two Canadian song-writers who pursue that elusive middle ground between musty traditional and trendy contemporary: a middle way, but definitely not middle-of-the-road.
posted on May 15, 2010 in In Song
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I first met California singer-songwriters, Jean and Jim Strathdee, at the Naramata Centre, near Penticton, B.C., when I was writing for the church curriculum The Whole People of God.
posted on May 1, 2010 in In Song
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There’s an album, now 20 years old, that keeps popping into my conversations. It came up most recently in a planning meeting for the Emmaus Project.
posted on April 15, 2010 in In Song
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When I was seven years old, I lost my faith in organized recreation.
posted on April 1, 2010 in In Song
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Looking for contemporary songs in contemporary language? Here are some—surprise, surprise—in the Book of Praise.
posted on March 15, 2010 in In Song
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When I listen to CCM artists, I keep hearing the language of old hymns. Who is writing in contemporary idioms about contemporary faith?
posted on March 1, 2010 in In Song
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Shouldn’t churches avoid the new and trendy, and keep Mr. and Mrs. Stalwart comfortable until it’s time to shut the doors for good?
posted on February 15, 2010 in In Song
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I’ve spent a lot of time hanging around worship leaders, picking their brains. I here offer the fruits of my kleptomania.
posted on February 1, 2010 in In Song
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There they were, Haitians singing, dancing and drumming what CNN Guy called “religious songs” as they patiently waited for basic necessities. Here I was, safe inside my home, wanting to sing and pray along with these people that I didn’t know.
posted on February 1, 2010 in In Song
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Room 217 is a series of CDs designed to offer musical comfort to people suffering illness or facing death, and to those who care for them. This project, initiated, developed and produced by pianist and composer, Bev Foster, has many facets.
posted on January 15, 2010 in In Song
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Sometimes I wonder where Presbyterians are the most playful—and self-revealing. I’m not convinced that it’s when we worship… Was that a logical leap? Blame it on the New Year’s egg-nog. Or blame it on our Presbyterian thesaurus that doesn’t put “worship” and “play” together.
posted on January 1, 2010 in In Song
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As I described in an earlier In Song entry, a church’s recording project can invite a wider public to listen to what is going on musically in a congregation, opening a window, and sometimes an inviting door, into its life.
posted on December 15, 2009 in In Song
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Composer Ronald Beckett’s opera Ruth (1996) is the first in a trilogy of biblical musical dramas. It has been performed in a number of venues in Ontario, including Central, Brantford, where Beckett is music director. The CD of the opera lasts just over an hour, and is performed by a chorus of Israelites, a chorus of youths, and soloists who portray the characters Ruth, Naomi, Boaz and a Narrator.
posted on December 1, 2009 in In Song
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Churches are always in need—and sometimes in desperate need—of renewal in their worship arts. Congregational song is one strand in the tapestry of our church life that is dangerously frayed. Part of the problem is that we are not a singing culture.
