After the sharing at church choir practice today, I realised how super blessed our choir, Calvary Pandan Chinese Choir is.
When I first joined the music ministry at 16, I joined the church choir with 4 of the 5 girlfriends from the 88 batch of Sunday School, Ruth, Leeling, Lydia, Bixia. We loved to sing so much that we'd get together to sing church songs when we're not playing and running our organs out at a game of captain's ball during free and easy time in youth camps. Our beloved 'class mum', Shu Juan Lao Shi, and the Sunday School department gave us many opportunities to serve as a batch. And we loved music so much that every programme we led revolved around the wonderful world of hymnal music. For Teachers' Day 2003, we played a live telecast of a dj at work (I was the dj!), dedicating favourite hymns to the Sunday School teachers. The hymns were sang by a live choir, comprised of my batchmates and yours truly. Then for Sunday School Sunday 2003, we acted a skit for the nursery, kindergarten, primary and secondary school students about a selfish little girl who didn't love her neighbour, and we tied in the theme song too. I can still remember I had to wear my Primary 4 blue chequered dress and clip my hair hmph and some children thought what we acted was real and started crying! hahaha. Then for Christmas 2003, we created a mini cantata with cello accompaniment for the primary school kids. We had shadow puppets and a live choir that sang beautiful carols like 'Silent Night', 'The First Noel, 'The Shepherds Left Their Flocks Astray'. Although our batch identity has pretty much dissolved, I am really thankful how God has preserved all 4 of us to be in His music ministry. It feels special, especially when no other batch girls are like that :)
Church choir when I was 16 was not anywhere as great as church choir now, though I really admired my cousin, Pei'er, who is a power soprano currently accompanying my cuz-in-law in Dallas Seminary. We took a long time to learn new pieces and weren't disciplined to sing or committed to even attend the practices. Turnover was high so the tone of the choir was always changing.
But I've seen God's Hand work in our choir. The turnover is greatly reduced, with people who were MIA-ers now committing as much more active members. Conducting workshops and annual voice courses have increased the quality of the choir, and the preparation for 25th Anniversary NIght of Sacred Music brought us all closer. Shu Juan Lao Shi would bring her coffee cakes to share with the famished choristers, and many of us would play with Cadence and babies before choir starts. I can feel that the love for God's music emanates from us all. The wives and babies of new fathers would wait at the back of B3 every Sunday so they can finally return home after spending 6hours in church. Though famished with loud growling empty stomachs, the younger people would bear their hunger (from morning, like 7plus 8 am!) till lunch after choir at 2plus. I see the small sacrifices that people in my choir is willing to make/has been making for years. For some, it's 14 or 20years. Though there is much room for technical improvement, what encourages me most is the uplifting of the passion for God's music. With passion, anything is possible because there is the heart to learn and serve. Though we might not be the best choir, we are definitely choristers who see our praise as a fragrant sacrifice to the Lord. I feel so blessed, thank God.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
self
here's what i took off from cell group yesterday.
The Christian's Self
Self LOVE: fully acknowledge my being, trusting that God created me out of His Wisdom and Beauty
Self ESTEEM: believe in my own worth, that God loves me and wants to use me.
Self Love is not sell-fish, while self esteem is not pride.
Self confidence is not believing in only myself,
and loving myself doesn't mean not loving others.
Self sacrifice is not losing my self and self awareness is not self-centredness.
That's quite a bit for me to digest!
The Christian's Self
Self LOVE: fully acknowledge my being, trusting that God created me out of His Wisdom and Beauty
Self ESTEEM: believe in my own worth, that God loves me and wants to use me.
Self Love is not sell-fish, while self esteem is not pride.
Self confidence is not believing in only myself,
and loving myself doesn't mean not loving others.
Self sacrifice is not losing my self and self awareness is not self-centredness.
That's quite a bit for me to digest!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
A Christ-ian
I am tired, like the wick of a candle that is almost going to start burning itself away. So I thought I should write about something that will make me think, and bring me closer to God, whom I can draw all strength and wisdom from. I'll share what I just took away from my quiet time.
"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things than these..." John 14:12 (NIV)
Jesus said this to reassure His disciples at the Last Supper, and He was just beginning to preach His last messages of promises, where interestingly, seems to have little interjections by the disciples themselves. In this context, I believe that Jesus was the only one who was clear about his motive for his lengthy speech at the supper table - the disciples were not fully aware of His impending capture and did not fully understand why he made those talks. It was only after Jesus' crucifixion and more significantly, His return, that the disciples saw the great need to find great strength and great faith in what Jesus had taught and said to them in the past.
And what are the matters that Jesus had 'been doing'? He had been performing miracles of healing and resurrection, OF WHICH the prime motive is salvation. Jesus said that the disciples were to follow His footsteps of saving the lost, weary and hurt. In the early church, it was because the people followed Jesus' example so closely that they were inevitably being called Christ-ians (lit. meaning 'little Christs'). Such a label itself already gave glory to God.
But that was in the early past. We, Christians of now, have taken this label all so lightly and for granted. If Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism (the list can go on) were all one religion, we could almost just assume that the Hinduist is just another euphemism for the Christian. BUT, NO. As little Christs, we should and we want to continue God's work on Earth. What's more, He's promised us that we can do greater things than saving the bodies of Man - saving the souls from that horrible terrible fearful second death, simply by trusting in this Almighty God that cannot be seen.
Jesus ends off this mini-section with v14, "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."
What I saw was that He was implying the difficulties of carrying on Christ's work after He left. (And in literature, this is the technique of foreshadowing -whoa whoa!-) True enough the difficults were manifested in the forms of persecution, trials and tribulations and the limits of what the physical self can do. In Hebrews 11, people were 'chained and put in prison', 'sawed in two', 'faced jeers and flogging', and that was the price of living Christ's life. Similarly, we have own forms of equally challenging struggles and conflicts to grapple with. It will not be easy, but Christ has given His promise of Providence.
This reassuring promise tells my heart and soul that my Redeemer lives (on the earth again shall stand...), that Jesus never really left. That Jesus is Emmanuel.
THE TRUE CHRIST-IAN IS THE ONE THAT CAN DO WHAT CHRIST DID.
My QT book quoted the example of artist, Paul Gustave Dore (1832-1883), who had to draw his way through the airport customs to verify his identity, because he had lost his passport. You only know an artist is one when he can truly draw. You know a Christian is one when he is Christlike. How do we live a life befitting of a Christian? Christ has given us the Great Commission - "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28:19). To live like Christ is to do the work that called Him to die in the first place - to save the souls in the world. These souls are the souls of anyone who hasn't accepted the Saviour yet. They could be your mum or your dad, your grandfather who is in hospital or sipping coffee and scratching his toes at THE ever-generic kopitiam, your neighbour whom you've grown up with or never said hi to before, your closest friends who laugh and cry with you, your classmates who will be leaving to study overseas and have to face a new set of challenges unknown by local students, your teacher whose classes you always ponned/dozed off in, or a random person whom you bumped into accidentally. My point is, there are many people who have yet to become part of our family, and they do not have the peace and joy that we have in the Lord. It is our own responsibilities to reach out and evangelise.
I was also reminded of Phil 2:5, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus". At the heart of it all, a true Christ-ian is one who loves with the love of God. It is not possible to love in this way fully, but with the Holy Spirit, we have an amazing capacity to love, one that stretches the thresholds of humanly love. This capacity is great to the extent that one man give up his life for a brother. The sharing at fellowship reminded me of one of my resolutions this year, which is to love the unloveable. Christ kept Himself close to the beggars, the lame, the blind, the loose , the leprosied and the taxpayers, all of whom were discarded as remnants by His contemporaries. We don't have to go to the extreme of merely having unloveable friends (I admit that can be emotionally very draining), but we ought to make an effort to love these people, because Jesus loves them too.
It's not that difficult to be Christlike! Really. I've two reasons to justify my case.
ONE we are all created in the image of God.
We have the innate attributes that God has instilled in us since Adam was created. We have his attributes of love, mercy, compassion, the want of justice and holiness. Limitations aside, it is easy to love and make life better, because we want it this way. We were created to want it this way. We long and pursue that which is bright, good and beautiful.
TWO we have the residence of the Holy Spirit.
This is the more significant one of the two. Christians are under the protection and providence of God. Because of this, we can always cry 'Abba! Father!' to Him above to give us strength and wisdom to be Christlike.
We always highlight the struggles that we have being the salt and light in this dark and unsalty world. But we have the peace and joy that God gave. This peace is the peace that kept Jesus in slumber amidst the terrible thunderstorm at sea, and it is the peace that the world cannot take, and never gave. And this joy is what enables us to give thanks in all circumstances, for we know that all is done in the God's beautiful Will to make us prosper. Being a little Christ is not easy, but it is not that difficult either.
"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things than these..." John 14:12 (NIV)
Jesus said this to reassure His disciples at the Last Supper, and He was just beginning to preach His last messages of promises, where interestingly, seems to have little interjections by the disciples themselves. In this context, I believe that Jesus was the only one who was clear about his motive for his lengthy speech at the supper table - the disciples were not fully aware of His impending capture and did not fully understand why he made those talks. It was only after Jesus' crucifixion and more significantly, His return, that the disciples saw the great need to find great strength and great faith in what Jesus had taught and said to them in the past.
And what are the matters that Jesus had 'been doing'? He had been performing miracles of healing and resurrection, OF WHICH the prime motive is salvation. Jesus said that the disciples were to follow His footsteps of saving the lost, weary and hurt. In the early church, it was because the people followed Jesus' example so closely that they were inevitably being called Christ-ians (lit. meaning 'little Christs'). Such a label itself already gave glory to God.
But that was in the early past. We, Christians of now, have taken this label all so lightly and for granted. If Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism (the list can go on) were all one religion, we could almost just assume that the Hinduist is just another euphemism for the Christian. BUT, NO. As little Christs, we should and we want to continue God's work on Earth. What's more, He's promised us that we can do greater things than saving the bodies of Man - saving the souls from that horrible terrible fearful second death, simply by trusting in this Almighty God that cannot be seen.
Jesus ends off this mini-section with v14, "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."
What I saw was that He was implying the difficulties of carrying on Christ's work after He left. (And in literature, this is the technique of foreshadowing -whoa whoa!-) True enough the difficults were manifested in the forms of persecution, trials and tribulations and the limits of what the physical self can do. In Hebrews 11, people were 'chained and put in prison', 'sawed in two', 'faced jeers and flogging', and that was the price of living Christ's life. Similarly, we have own forms of equally challenging struggles and conflicts to grapple with. It will not be easy, but Christ has given His promise of Providence.
This reassuring promise tells my heart and soul that my Redeemer lives (on the earth again shall stand...), that Jesus never really left. That Jesus is Emmanuel.
THE TRUE CHRIST-IAN IS THE ONE THAT CAN DO WHAT CHRIST DID.
My QT book quoted the example of artist, Paul Gustave Dore (1832-1883), who had to draw his way through the airport customs to verify his identity, because he had lost his passport. You only know an artist is one when he can truly draw. You know a Christian is one when he is Christlike. How do we live a life befitting of a Christian? Christ has given us the Great Commission - "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matt 28:19). To live like Christ is to do the work that called Him to die in the first place - to save the souls in the world. These souls are the souls of anyone who hasn't accepted the Saviour yet. They could be your mum or your dad, your grandfather who is in hospital or sipping coffee and scratching his toes at THE ever-generic kopitiam, your neighbour whom you've grown up with or never said hi to before, your closest friends who laugh and cry with you, your classmates who will be leaving to study overseas and have to face a new set of challenges unknown by local students, your teacher whose classes you always ponned/dozed off in, or a random person whom you bumped into accidentally. My point is, there are many people who have yet to become part of our family, and they do not have the peace and joy that we have in the Lord. It is our own responsibilities to reach out and evangelise.
I was also reminded of Phil 2:5, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus". At the heart of it all, a true Christ-ian is one who loves with the love of God. It is not possible to love in this way fully, but with the Holy Spirit, we have an amazing capacity to love, one that stretches the thresholds of humanly love. This capacity is great to the extent that one man give up his life for a brother. The sharing at fellowship reminded me of one of my resolutions this year, which is to love the unloveable. Christ kept Himself close to the beggars, the lame, the blind, the loose , the leprosied and the taxpayers, all of whom were discarded as remnants by His contemporaries. We don't have to go to the extreme of merely having unloveable friends (I admit that can be emotionally very draining), but we ought to make an effort to love these people, because Jesus loves them too.
It's not that difficult to be Christlike! Really. I've two reasons to justify my case.
ONE we are all created in the image of God.
We have the innate attributes that God has instilled in us since Adam was created. We have his attributes of love, mercy, compassion, the want of justice and holiness. Limitations aside, it is easy to love and make life better, because we want it this way. We were created to want it this way. We long and pursue that which is bright, good and beautiful.
TWO we have the residence of the Holy Spirit.
This is the more significant one of the two. Christians are under the protection and providence of God. Because of this, we can always cry 'Abba! Father!' to Him above to give us strength and wisdom to be Christlike.
We always highlight the struggles that we have being the salt and light in this dark and unsalty world. But we have the peace and joy that God gave. This peace is the peace that kept Jesus in slumber amidst the terrible thunderstorm at sea, and it is the peace that the world cannot take, and never gave. And this joy is what enables us to give thanks in all circumstances, for we know that all is done in the God's beautiful Will to make us prosper. Being a little Christ is not easy, but it is not that difficult either.
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