De La Mennais Brothers: Making Jesus Christ better known and loved by young people

Trump, Brexit, terrorism + extremism… enough to get you worried about the year ahead. But, what can we do? Well, we can start by showing a little bit more love to those around us. We can show more gratitude for the good things in life (maybe even give a little hat tip in prayer to God) and we can bring a little light into the lives of those in darkness by our simple presence next to them, by our smiles, by little acts of kindness. I think this video (which I’ve shared before) says it better than I can. The song is performed by children from around the world, some of whom have learning difficulties, one girl (the lead singer) is blind. "Everybody's got to live together, all the people got to understand, so love your neighbour like you love your brother, come on and join the band..." Love IS all we need… with a little peace, joy + understanding thrown in for good measure! Let me resolve to making love a reality in 2017. That’s my resolution.

I've been a big fan of the "Playing For Change" videos since the first ones were released 8 years ago, uniting non-professional + professional musicians from around the world in recordings of well known songs, motivated by the belief that "music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people". Mark Johnson, one of the PFC co-founders, remains its chief driving force. The  Playing For Change Foundation  was subsequently launched, "dedicated to building music and art schools for children around the world, and creating hope and inspiration for the future of our planet". See here for their latest video, a truly wonderful recording of "Love Is All", this time uniting young, mainly primary school-age musicians from around the world:

An amazing music project, with performers recorded individually around the world for a CD + DVD, that wonderfully highlights the rich tapestry of human culture(s) and shows the power of music to unite, to create fraternity and through that unity to communicate a joy that is contagious. "Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world." http://www.playingforchange.com/ Watch + listen to this amazing version of Stand By Me (takes a minute or so to really get going).