Rediscovering Eden
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the bright and morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours
Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
and watch me rise again
Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
I am Yours
dailies
Sunday, August 05, 2007
End of the course
-3:11 AM
Today marks the end of the vocal lessons I had with church friends every saturday. Essentially what I do is I go through with them what I had learned from GV17 on voice as well as what i know about Biblical Worship.
I woke up close to 12nn and realised that I had forgotten to rent/borrow Les Choristes(The Choir Boys) which I had wanted to screen today. Techniques of singing are incorporated into the film itself. I went to Jurong Point's Music Junction and they said it wasnt there anymore. The shop next to MJ did not even know there was such a show. Oh wells. Shall show them some other time.
So, I went to church wondering what I will do to replace that slot for the movie. In the end, I taught the kids piano and vocals started late. We started warming-up and they've really improved heaps since the first time I taught them. It was fun even doing the warm-ups and it sounded like a real choir, singing with unity and continuity. After that came the final presentation. I came up with a list of songs for them to choose to sing for this final presentation and despite the level of difficulty, they really did well! So happy that they were brave enough to singing in front of an audience despite it being the first time for some of them. I had to sing a few songs for them in the end as well although my only practice was probably leisure singing or singing to teach Emily and Gwen the songs. I am so pretty sure that I went a bit off key at the high notes. Heez. At the end of it all, there was the informal speech-saying by me and closing of the course by Auntie Boon Eng.
Hee. The suprise was that the kids drew on the board something for me while the adults bought me a huge sunflower, a treble clef pendant and everyone wrote their notes of appreciation on a transparency which was decorated to look like the stave for musical notations. No wonder the kids were disappearing one by one when I was teaching piano and when the adults were singing. Auntie Amy made Sushi for everyone and Auntie Doreen bought moist chocolate cake. YUMMY!
finally got my teble clef pendant! smiles*
Love all my prezzies!=P
I had to rush off however since it was already 530pm and I was suppose to reach Grace 2 at 5pm for their Young Adults Service. Its their Gold service as it marks the one-year anniversary of Grace 2. Daddy drove me there. When I arrived, everyone was in the front in the midst fo worship and I was contemplating whether or not I should go to the front as well. In the end, I did not. Even with her back facing me, I could recognise Gloria from her petite figure. Distinct. Worship ended and everyone went back to their seats. I sat with rae, shari, dora(fmss senior) as the offering bags were passed around and the guest speaker, a missionary based in Beijing, China, began his message.
What I got out of the sermon at the end of the day were mainly two principles:1. Church Vs Kingdom of God. 2. Self-centered Vs God-centred. The very two things I got out of MEET. During the sermon, it was noted that the word "church" was said only twice in the all 4 Gospels collectively while the word "Kingdom of God" was used extensively, approximately 100+times. So, the question is what is God looking for? Church or Kingdom of God(which in fact is His Church). Issues like competition amongst churches in terms of number of attendees etc. as well as competition even amongst ministries in the same church, were brought up. As the sermon went on, I recalled a quote in Stephen's email. It says "Kingdom people seek first the kingdom of God and its justice. Church people often put concerns of church work above concerns of justice, mercy and truth. Church people think about how to get people into the church. Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church. Kingdom people work to see that church changes the world.(Howard Snyder)." If people are solely concerned about church business, all they are concerned are will be of church business and religious behaviour. Kingdom people seek to have a relationship with Christ, and seek to see whatever they are doing to be saturated with spiritual meaning and kingdom significance. Its about Christ as King and us as His citizens. We normally think:me first, church second and kingdom third. Yet the preacher was challenging us to shift our perspective to seeing the kingdom as foremost and paramount.
When Christians put the church ahead of the kingdom they settle for the status quo and their own kind of people, but when they catch a vision for the kingdom of God their sight shifts outside the walls of the church to the lost and the needy. They see the life and work of the church from the perspective of the Kingdom. If the church has one great need, it is this to be set free for the Kingdom of God. (Howard Snyder) In all these, we are not putting down the importance of church. Church is still very important but it is our attitude and perspective that makes the difference. Is church about ourselves and how well we run the activites and govern the church? Or is it looking at all the churches and saying that we are all part of the same church?
This brings me to the point on interdenominational. No doubt there are differences in certain practices but at the crux of it all, isnt it so that we all believe in God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, that He is God and Creator, Ruler of our lives, Author and Finisher of our faith, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End and thus are in fact, of the same Church/Kingdom? I guess life is so gonna be interesting in heaven where all the different denominations are together worshipping the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The second point on being Christ-centered rather than self-centered was a good reminder to me. The question posed was "why does God forgive you of your sins?" My ans: Cos God loves me. Next question: Why does God listen to you? " My ans: Cos God still loves me. And for the next few questions, my answers were all the same. No doubt, my answer is true and is a fact. But it is an answer incomplete.
Isaiah 43:25 says"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for MY own sake; and I will not remember your sins."
Psalms 23:1-3 says "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake."
My first human instinct when the preacher pointed this out was that " Eh God, why you like that? Everything for Yourself." Yet, God in His very own right, deserves and has every right to please Himself. He is God. But God is different from us. Christ being blameless, 100%unselfish, and full of love, is so good that whatever He does to please Himself or for His own purpose, its good will outflow and benefit us as well. In other words, it is also for the good of us that He pleases Himself since He is faultless and will never harm us. It starts with His godly character! He is good so whatever He does is good. It was a new perspective to me. I realised that my first human instinct was as such because I am full of faults, sins, and selfishness. In my own limited eyes and brain, I immediately used that as the standard so judge God, as if He would be this way. For most humans, it would be whatever we do, whether the deed being good in itself or not, the motive behind that deed will have a certain degree of self-centeredness in it. The way I questioned God at the start would be, in the Chinese proverb, "以小人之心度君子之腹".
~
After service at Grace 2, I had to rush off again, this time for Chien Kai's 21st party. It was held at his place at CCK and the bus188 took eons to come. Anyhows, got there super late and ate and talked with my JC friends. And I had to forget to bring my hairclips. I just cut my hair yesterday and so it is still what i classify as "unstable" with turfs of hair sticking out where it shouldnt. So the people asked if I had just woke up. Humph! so sad! But actually, i felt that yea it was curly and stuff but I thought it looked ok-ay cause of the dye. Oh wells. The photos turn out fine can already. Hee hee!
In anycase, HAPPY 21ST CK!!!
In Him, there are no what ifs, no but i cant, no excuses but sheer obedience to His call.
