The Hard Stone Café (HSC) began at St. John’s (Stone) Anglican Church, in Saint John, NB, in 2002, as a connection point for youth, aged 13– 18yrs, and in particular for youth without a prior connection to church or Christianity.  This was one program in an umbrella of programs created to engage the community [...]

Having already conquered Europe, U2 is about to take on North America with their “360 Tour.” With a new set of songs to deliver, and a massive space-inspired stage (known affectionately as “The Claw”) to perform them on, it seems a good time to check in on the Irish supergroup’s latest musical direction, No Line [...]

Usually at this time of year Bing Crosby is crooning out his rendition of “Jingle Bells” to anyone within earshot as they walk through their local mall. In fact, it was the day after Halloween this year that my wife and I were walking through the mall and we were surrounded by the sounds of [...]

[...]I didn’t begin to attend open mikes to evangelise; I went because I wanted to play music. But, once I was there, I decided to be myself: not just a musician, but also a follower of Jesus. And because I’d earned the right to be heard – both in terms of being a credible musician, and also in being genuinely interested in other people’s lives and willing to listen to their stories – well, then the opportunities for witness gradually began to come my way.

Many people enjoy “sacred music” without realising that each piece represents only a part of the Biblical narrative that underlies it. A church choir in eastern Canada put a number of such pieces together, so that by “joining the dots” they could tell the old, old story in a way it is seldom heard.
In [...]

How many lovers of Bach know that his Cantatas were written for singing in conjunction with a sermon on the same Biblical text? One church decided to introduce music lovers to the original Bach tradition of word and music.
Pauline Hale had an idea.  As a choir member at St. John’s (Shaughnessy) in Vancouver and [...]

In this thoroughly researched booklet, VanderSpek traces the history of U2 from the beginning to the present, pointing out the changing role of faith in their music through the decades. In particular, he shows how the Holy Spirit (frequently described as “she”) plays a recurring part, and how a love which is more than human [...]

October 31st 2000 was a beautiful day for U2 fans. After three years of waiting they got to hear “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” (ATYCLB), the landmark tenth studio album of the Irish super group. With more than twenty years of performing around the world, they are no stranger to travel, a fact which [...]