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a visit to City Harvest Church
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I have been a very naughty girl. I woke up in the morning feeling extremely fatigued and it was only after the snooze alarm went off 7 or 8 times ( yes i was that determined to go to class ) when i decided to drag my tired self to the bathroom only to realise ( with unabashed glee though ) that my eyes were too bloodshot . Took me about 2 seconds to decide that i should skip class because of my strawberry eyes. And i dived straight back into my snug bed.
Anyway.
As you all know , i attended evening service with Yan at City Harvest Church last Saturday.
Now , you may think that there is nothing interesting to write about , after all , thousands of people attend church service every other day.
But i am different. Not only i am a non-believer , i am also a skeptic when it comes to religion.
So on Sat i took the loooooong train ride to Boon Lay from Tampines and upon reaching CHC , i found myself being surrounded by english-spewing teenagers , one of the many traits found in christian youths.
1) They are usually from JCs. Dunno why also.
2) They are an embarrasement to their own races because they cannot speak a word of their mother tongue , or pretend to be because it is so uncool to ace your second language papers.
3) They are damn musically-inclined , or so they potray themselves to be because they always have a guitar case slung on their backs.
4) They all have this certain "christian" look about them to me , just like how convent girls and JC students have that certain look. However i might be wrong because i exude that certain "convent christian girl" vibe to many people as well. How very wrong.
After playing hide-n-seek with Yan for ten minutes we finally found each other in the huge compound of the church. They even have bouncer-like security people dotting the areas !
I had barely warmed my seat when the pastor urged everyone to stand up and "Sing your praises for the sweet Lord above , hallejujah !"
I noticed that everytime the pastor says "Hallejujah" or "Amen" , the few thousand strong congregration will sudden burst into a chorus of the same word , accompanied by energetic clapping and cheering. As if on cue !
So , let the singing begin !
The songs of choice were extremely "pop-like" and thus easy to sing to , but because most of the time i was too enthralled by the drummer , preferring to concentrate on the drum beats than to actually follow the lyrics , i was pretty distracted to make a good observation.
The exuberence of the congregation is definitely at its peak during this sing along session ( or whatever you call it ) because everytime a song hits the chorus , almost everyone starts moshing ( or rather , a subdued version of moshing ) , prancing and twisting their bodies about as they sing about their faith and their devotion.
I don't know if its a monkey see , monkey do situation because the same thing happened when a slow ballad-like song starts playing and the auditorium is thrown into a hush , and suddenly right hands are patriotically outstretched , as do the choir members on the stage.
It was during one such restrained moment that i noticed this boy around my age. Halfway through the singing session he suddenly knelt down on both legs with both hands outstretched , eyes closed and frowning in concentration. Suddenly in my mind's eye he morphed into an albino.. Somehow he reminded me of Silas from the Da Vinci code . My overactive imagination saw him mortifying his back with a flagellant as he sought repentance from his God.
Anyway.
The singing ended on a high note about 40 mins ( I think ) later and it was time to partake from the communion. I know i shouldn't but drink and eat i did because i was too damn thirsty to reject the offer of a capsule of blackcurrant juice. I ate the little sliver of flour product too , just for fun.
Yan chastised me for not contributing to the offering and i was like.. Wtf , it is called an offering because you want to offer it from your own free will. She wasn't convinced and wants me to offer at least $5 the next time round. I looked at her in the eye and said "What next time?!" and that prompted her to shake her fist in front of my face malevolently. Some best friend huh!
And then it was time for the sermon. The pastor preached about "the art of forgiving". I must say i actually listened and chewed on my cud for awhile reviewing his words , although for most of the sermon i was thumbing through Yan's bible and getting confused by the myriad of characters in the bible.
Trivia : There is two accounts of incest being practised in the bible , though for good reasons. To procreate.
During the sermon i actually felt affected by what the pastor had said about forgiveness , that why would one rather spend his life in bitterness and resentment than to forgive the person who had hurt him ? I agreed whole-heartedly and set my mind on forgiving whoever has caused me grief. Who was to know that i would face such a challenge so soon ?
In a nutshell : Its easier said than done.
And so.
It was time to sing again but not before the congregation fell into silence to pray. With my head bowed and hands clasped together , i did the same. I prayed for alot of things . I prayed for the ache in my grandfather's leg to ease , i prayed for happiness for my family and friends. I prayed for a safe trip to someone due to fly soon and i prayed for Ju to have a smooth pregnancy. However because i know that i have been such an asshole , my prayers will be ignored anyway.
After the service , Yan's cellgroup members pounced on me like vultures on a carcass and tried to coerce me into joining their cell group. Because i wasn't in the least interested , i lied that i was an atheist here just to broaden my perpective on religions ( true to an extent anyway ) and they were appalled to even hear the dreaded "A" word. Not surprisingly they left me alone after that. :p
Frozen and ravenous , we hailed a cab down to Jurong Point where i grabbed a Ramly burger and a packet of luscious looking strawberries at the Pasar-Malam. We headed to Orchard where we spent the rest of the night chatting cus' it has been like two weeks since we last had a good bitching session. Did i mention i bought NYDC's "O" cheescake ? ORGASMIC !
Chocolate mousse , decadent cheesecake and an oreo cookie base ! mmm.
To sum it all up , i feel that different churches have different styles , and because of their rather innovative methods , CHC's population is made up of mainly youths. Personally if i were a christian i would prefer to pray in calm environment and singing traditional hymms. Generally not recommended for first time church-goers because it would pretty traumatise them just like they did to me a year ago.
And thanks for the few emails i've received regarding my previous cryptic post.. I'm still feeling pretty much in the pits , for a few reasons although the primary cause is still the same. Yeah , i'm sad.
I hope to find answers to two burning questions
1) What is "tongue" ? What does speaking in tongue signify , and how does one go about finding his own "tongue" language ? Do all tongues sound the same ??
Taken off from an american forum
"Speaking in tongues is nothing more than giberish!!. a person performing this act is either "faking it" or is undergoing such stress that he's becoming schizophrenic. The psychiatric word for speaing in tongues is "glossolalia".
http://skepdic.com/glossol.html
Godless. "
How very blasphemous .
2) What actually is going on when pastors press their hands into the heads of some people and after lifting their hands , the person actually 'faints' ?! Someone told me that its called the slaying of the dragon or demon or smth.
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listening to : last days of april - aspirin and alcohol
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update at 5.22 pm : I have just mastered the art of forgiveness .
