Author: Bruce Harding

What an amazing whirlwind of a weekend we just had in Toronto at More Franchises: A Second Cup, a conference sponsored by The United Church of Canada in partnership with Emmanuel College, Toronto. Over 500 participants, over 100 workshops, an intercultural band of ten wonderful musicians – what more could we ask for?

And in the midst of the event, we celebrated the 85th anniversary of the United Church with a big worship service at Metropolitan United Church, with participation via video feed and Twitter from across the church, the whole thing streaming live to the internet. An amazing experience, and an honour to be involved in organizing and leading such a Spirit-filled service! The service is now archived online.

A big thanks to all our musician friends who helped lead music for the weekend: Maki Fushii, David-Roger Gagnon, Linnea Good, David Jonsson, Amy Lee, Lloyd MacLean and Neeraj and Sajan Prem. I couldn’t have done it without you!

Wow! Going Global, our ongoing series of concerts with a fabulous team of intercultural musicians, was again a great success on June 4th at Crossroads United Church in Delta, BC. Four area congregations came together to host a weekend celebration, with the Friday night concert followed by a loud and proud joint service on Sunday morning celebrating the 85th anniversary of The United Church of Canada. Such fun! And many thanks to all who came out to sing in the mass choir, and to the intergenerational Crossroads worship band who helped anchor the weekend instrumentally.

More dates are always in the works, so check back to see where we’ll be Going Global next…

Join us as the Going Global concert series continues! We’re gearing up for a big concert at 7pm on June 4th at Crossroads United Church, North Delta, BC. A five-piece band plus choir, piano, organ and additional instrumentalists, sharing in a participatory evening of roots music and songs of the Spirit from around the world. More than anything, it’s an opportunity to make music with some of my favourite people: Rob Copeman-Haynes (double bass), Kocassalé Dioubaté (djembe and percussion), Leonard Eagle Cloud Howell (vocals, guitar, native flutes) and Amarjeet Singh Vabhana (tabla), plus mass choir and musicians from the local community. If you’re in the area, we’d love to see you and sing with you! This will be an amazing evening of singing, rhythm and Spirit. Details at events.evensong.ca.

Would you like to sing in the Going Global choir? Then we want you! Come to Crossroads on Thursday night, June 3rd, at 7pm for a choir rehearsal, then join us on the 4th for the big evening! All voice types and levels of experience are welcome.

What a great time we had at Rhythms of the Spirit in High River, Alberta, May 14-16! One of the largest gatherings of United Church musicians ever organized: Cheryl and Bruce Harding, Paul Rumbolt, Linnea Good and David Jonsson, rEvolve, Common Cup Company, Barry Luft, Peter Woods and Brian Browne, Betty Lynn Schwab and David Robertson, all in one place for workshops, worship and concerts! It was wild and crazy and a logistical nightmare, but having such an amazing group of musicians to spell each other off and support each other made for much magical music and merriment indeed. Many thanks to Susan Lukey and David Robertson plus all the organizers and the host congregation of High River United Church for putting it all together. Let’s hope a similar event can happen again, and soon…

I wrote two rhythmic chants for worship on the Saturday, “Receiving, Responding” (pdf) and “Rushing Rain” (pdf). Download and enjoy, and let us know if you find them useful.

On the highway home yesterday I was still filled with the spirit of all we had shared together, and so I wrote a lively new Sanctus paraphrase, “Holy Love Abundant,” (pdf). Cheryl was driving, I promise! Download it if you wish and enjoy it with your congregation, as a gift from us.

We would appreciate it if you would ensure the full copyright credits are included on any copies you make, and if you have a license from www.licensingonline.org, please record any songs of ours which you use in worship to help support us in our music making. You can also make a donation anytime for the use of our music, as you see fit, by clicking on the Pay Now button on our MelodicArts sales page.

Our Going Global concerts were again amazing, with high energy and lots of singing. Thanks to all who came out to join in the celebrations, and to the host communities in Abbotsford and Parksville who put all the details together and made us feel at home. And of course a big thanks to the choir singers who joined us, and to the local musicians who added great energy and musicality to our ensemble.

New date announced for another concert in the series – join us June 4th at Crossroads United Church in Delta, BC!