Sunday, January 15, 2006
Hey, I think I have already blogged for today. Right, I did. But logically, I didn't, cause the first one was for yesterday, speaking of deja vu.
Anyway, it has been such a long time since I went to church. And finally after countless of donkey years, I actually go back to one. Not Telok Ayer Methodist however. We, Linda, Garene and I, went to City Harvest. It is located at the Expo. So, naturally, we had to wake up REAL early, in order for us to meet early, so that we could be early, and not late, for service. Come to think of it, City Harvest has more than one location. The other one that I know of is in Jurong. So, regardless of which one we go to, we'd still have to wake up early, to meet early, in order to be early.
It's our first time there. It was pretty much curiosity that attracted us. Jill once mentioned that all those who attended City Harvest eventually became hardcore christians. Not that it's bad or anything. We went there mainly to take a look around, and to find out exactly what has managed to attract and hook so many people. We wanted to experience it on a first person basis.
Before I actually went there, I told my mum about me going to City Harvest, and she was quite surprised that we chose this church out of the many in Singapore. "It's very charismatic, I'm surprised you actually chose City Harvest. Apparently, a lot of people go there, at least that's what I've heard. That's the place where the Sun Ho is pastor right?" Okay, these might not be her exact words, but they went roughly along those lines.
So, even before we went, I already had some rough idea as to what it would be like.
1. It's very charismatic
2. It would be crowded. (Did I mention that I don't really like crowds?)
3. The hall would be big. Enough to accommodate LOTS of people.
4. The sermon would be boring, as usual.
So I went there, with these in mind. I thought: "It can't be too far away from what I think it would be." And I was right. It wasn't too far away. It was extremely, tremendously, exceptionally, exceedingly far away. On the contrary, it was so far away, that I was
BLOWN away. (Notice the caps) It was COMPLETELY different from what I had in mind. There was a HUGE number of people. Which was blatantly obvious, even before we reached the Expo. Imagine this. It's the peak hour, and you're squeezing with all the working class adults. The entire train is crammed with people. Every single one of the carriages are full. Then, you come to one particular stop. Almost EVERYONE alights, with the exception of about 20 to 30 people who are heading to the airport. That's how many people were on the same train with us. Assuming one train could accommodate about 500 passengers, you'd have to multiply that number by let's say, 10? Yes, there was THAT amount of people there.So, we were making our way into Hall 8, with all the other church-goers. There were so many people, that they had to deploy security persons. And when we eventually reached the entrance of the hall, we saw the magnitude of the whole thing. The part about the vast number of people, was only the tip of the ice-berg.
When you enter, the first thing you see is -
BLACK. Everywhere. It was like we were attending a rock concert instead of church. Now you begin to see, partially, why so many people get hooked. Simply because it's
BLACK. The next thing you would notice, are the blaring speakers, and the 'live' band on stage, complete with a big choir. And the gargantuan screens. Not only enormous in size, but vast in numbers. They were
everywhere.
Then the service begins. It really, really, REALLY scared me at first. 99.99% of the people jumped, sang, praised, and worshipped the Lord like there was no tomorrow. It was scary at first, but I was really in awe as well. It was like a Hillsong concert.
Then the sermon. Sun Ho's husband is one hell of a speaker. He was very VERY charismatic, and the people hung onto every single one of his words as though they were pearls. And, what he said made a lot of sense. Even I, who was there as a critic, was kept at the edge of my seat. I have a feeling, that if he called for a mass suicide session, everyone with the exception of the 0.01%, would have followed. He was such a good speaker, that it was scary. And guess what? The sermon was titled : Déjà Vu, Glimpses of the Eternity
However, one thing I didn't like about the way things worked there, was the speaking of tongues. Not that I don't believe in it, but it was utter nonsense, the way they regard the speaking of tongues. Sun Ho's husband, if I heard correctly,
asked the people to speak in tongue, and the next thing you knew, almost everyone was doing it. Hey, it could be possible, but here's the thing. Everyone who "spoke in tongue" were saying the exact same thing.
The fact is :
1. You CAN'T speak in tongue as and when you like it. You need the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
2. Every person has a unique tongue, and like fingerprints, you rarely come across 2 people speaking in the same tongue.
3. You don't repeat the same phrase over and over again.
4. You'd need a interpreter to be present, to interpret exactly what the person is actually saying.
5. It's a gift from God, to be able to speak in tongue, and it's reletively rare.
6. The 99.99% were ALL doing it.
So, you be the judge. But I would like to say, I wouldn't mind going there again. Not as a critic again, but as a christian.
I completely comprehend, why the people who start attending City Harvest, eventually transform into hardcore christians.
Simply because it's hard not to.
P.S I had my first official communion today. With the WHOLE church. Yeah, praise the Lord. Amen. Not meant to be sarcastic.
9:31 pm