Turbulence

Short notes from Asst Editor, Melissa Ong B-Kim

Hi all,

As you can see from Adena's note below, i'm now roped in to assist in updating the blog. I promised to help out till her wedding preps, and she says it's pretty easy, just need to regurgitate whatever she emails.

Hope that you peeps can help out here with your voices..... Even if just dropping by to say Hi now & then. So that we know you're alive not only on Sundays, yah? Heh.

Adena asked a question, which for me, is timely, what you find your security in? Last week, I was thrown into emotional turmoil when i was faced with avalanche of emails from heaven-knows which dept with deadlines from yesterday, then i realised that was because my boss wasn't clearing her emails, hence the loansharks have come knocking on the next door.

This week, i have stopped receiving such emails, in fact, i was so free that i was feeling stressed from not doing anything, that was the opposite spectrum. Some people are good at this, they say, it's just work, do not put your emotions in it, but to me, it's like 70% of my waking day, and without emotions in it, i would be 70% walking corpse? I'm not sure if what i said make sense.

Ok, so with these emotions among other things, i was riding in a turbulent sea, and still am. But when i ask this question that Adena asked, what do i find my security in? My mind is centred on what really matters at the end of the day. Truth, and not emotions. Love that was freely given, not sought for. Victory that is already mine, no matter how lousy i may feel that day. Praise God!

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From the Editor Adena

Hellow worshipteamies,

This morning I asked the Lord what He would like me to share with everyone, where I should look for that inspiration. ..

When I stepped into the office and turned on my computer, all my files on the desktop were gone! My email settings had also disappeared and needed to be re-configured! !! I was in despair for a moment. At least for a while I panicked and felt anxiety, then this verse came to me:
"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." -Psalm 20:7

I wondered, why was I so upset over those few files I have put on my desktop? I must admit that for a moment, the incident did threaten my security... But what was in it that was so important? What was in those files that cannot be replaced or re-done? So what if they were lost?

Today, I'd like to encourage everyone to consider what you find your security in. Is it your job? is it financial independence? Is it in your close group of friends? in your warm and loving family? is it in doing what you are good at in the workplace, in school or in ministry? is it in staying in a protected place like Singapore?

More importantly, ask yourself if this security is taken away by God...say if the job, the friends, the ministry, the cushy environment. ..is taken away, what would your response be? Are you still able to give praise to God and give thanks for His blessings to you?

Remember Job who after self-examining and found that what God had brought upon him was due to no fault of his own. Instead of cursing God for being unfair and harsh, he lifted his heart to Him again in praise and worship. He thoroughly understood God's sovereignty and showed true humility even through his sufferings.

I pray that you'll list down the things in your life that make you feel secure and surrender these to God, and ask Him to re-assure you that your one and only real security lies in God Himself for (as I have put in my signature below) "...neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation,will be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus
our Lord." -Romans 8:39

This week's roster:

7.30am
WL: Li Choo
Pianist: Ann
Drums: Roger

WKFC
WL: Arthur (The Dinosaur Man)
Keys: Germaine
Guitar: Jack
Drums: Nicholas
Bass: Yeunling

Junior/JC2
WL: Debbie & Siping
Keys: Chloe (9.30am)/ Adena (11.30am)
Drums: Roger (9.30am & 11.30am)
Guitar: Wayne

FELLOWSHIP this week

This week we will have a combined fellowship with the CM prayer group. The focus will be on prayer for the children's ministry. I pray that you will come and support in providing music ministry. Pls let me know if you can make it so that I can organise the musicians.

Date: 2nd Feb (Friday)
Time: 7.30pm
venue: BR 1&2

WORSHIPTEAM web-blog

I'd like to apologise for the lack of updates of the worshipteam web-blog due to time-constraints. Kim has come on board to help me with the updates. Pls feel free to be co-editors of the web-blog too.

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PRAYER CORNER

1. Continue to pray for healing for Jeremiah's finger & Samantha's knees.
2. Pray for children to be able to worship God freely in their own way during CM service.

Blessings,
Adena

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Romans 8:39
...neither height nor depth, nor anything
else in
all creation,will be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus
our Lord."
*-*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-* -*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-* -*-*-

CM Worshipteam blog:
http://wmc-cm- worshipteam. blogspot. com

The other day, at a bible study, a friend posed an interesting question. "If we are called to love, how do we know how much is too much? Because of our finite amount of resources, how do we know if we should be doing action A or B?" It was interesting to me because I had never thought of it that way before. How does one know if there should be something else that one needs to be doing, instead of whatever they are doing there?

I think that it is dangerous to dwell on these things. It is dangerous because we try to rationalize why God would want us to do something. Like, "why would God want me to go to a city full of evil people? I might get killed there. Hmmm... Let me go in the opposite direction... Oh no! I'm swallowed by a whale! Dang it! Okay, okay, let's just do this God's way.... Oh look! The evil people are turning back to God! Who knew!"

Pascal (remember him? They named the units of pressure after him, I think) wrote it best for me:

"Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the present; and if we ever think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange the future . . . So we never live, but we hope we live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so."
- Blaise Pascal, Pensees

We use crazy words in our lives like "ministry" and "calling" and "annointment", when I think that really, being in constant worship of God cuts through all of that, and brings us to the place where we have nothing else to do but let God do his thing. Our constant iterative struggle with him draws us closer to him, and gives us more assurance that it is not mad to be actually worshipping God through peeling potatoes. Romans 12 tells us that offering our lives as a living sacrifice is "our spiritual act of worship."

But you know, the problem with a living sacrifice is that it always wants to crawl off the altar.

Instead, we are called to be. Human "beings", not human "doings" (somehow that just makes me think of droppings. I don't know why. Anyone else feel that way?), not human "knowings", just human beings. That in itself is one of the most truly liberating things in our worship to God. Being who He called us to be. I am not advocating that we use it as a shield to allow ourselves to continue doing things that are wrong, because I think that our spirit could never agree with it. And the last I checked, truth and spirit were still part of worship.

Rather, we should not be stifling ourselves with the "model Christian" as a sceptre that binds us. It is foolish and we suddenly find ourselves unwittingly making an idol of of that image. There's probably a reason why God used weird people like a shepard (David), foreign talent (Joseph) and a slew of other folks like fishermen and tax collectors to dispel our fixed notions on a model believer.

How then shall we worship? What are the steps to worship God? Is it with the guitar? The piano? The voice? The clapping? Who know. But with confidence, we can approach life and know that at the end of the day, we are just called to be.

And that, I think, is the essence of worship.