Gethsemane
it's been a while since i've had one of those really spiritual God experiences in church. i went for this lenten vigil not knowing what to expect. sure, bro. mike was speaking, and he was the main reason that had me sign myself up for this, but obviously he wouldn't have been speaking from 9.30pm till 5am the next morning, so there was a real element of the unknown when i started rallying troops for this vigil. but God speaks to us all in mysterious ways... and i guess i heard a thing or two...
well, the night kicked off with praise and worship... which basically set the tone for the evening. a pinch too energetic and charismatic for me to like to the fullest, but it definitely set the energy level for the night. even when everything ended after palm sunday mass, the lead worship leader was still prancing in front of the altar with so much energy and zest. if only i could study overnight like that and prance to the exam hall... anyway, after that came brother's first talk about the importance of love in our lives. it was fantastic, and brother basically left the whole congregation in stitches. jokes aside, brother's content has seldom changed, and whenever he speaks about going out to love others as well as ourselves, it never fails to leave that warm fuzzy feeling of reassurance in my heart. in the end, the most basic common denominator in life is love. we were made to love and be loved, and that is our calling in life.
brother's 2nd talk was just as great as the 1st, which asked each and every one of us, what are your distractions? distractions referring to those that distract us from the love of God. even the gifts He sent us can become distractions, and we've gotta do our best to always live up to that call. "the love in your heart wasn't put there to stay; love isn't love until you give it away" was another of his memorable lines (which he recalls seeing from the love of his life at the time as a "15 year-old retard". yeah his exact words. ;) . honestly, you can never find these kinda lessons outside of the Roman Catholic church. not with the same degree of humour, not the same degree of depth.
of course, not everything was about brother michael broughton. while he was a major plus point, there were other significant parts of the program. there was stations of the cross, of which the impact was magnified intensely with each station showing the corresponding scene from The Passion of Christ. it's so easy to read the bible and gloss over the suffering that Jesus underwent. Jesus was scourged, crowned with thorns, condemned to death. Jesus fell once. twice. thrice. met Mary on the way. nailed to the cross. died. buried. The Passion does away with all this sanitisation and shows how Jesus really suffered with every step he took on the way to Calvary. and everyone cringed at sight of the nails piercing his wrists. i was jarred by this as well, but it was heartbreaking to watch Mary look her son in the face as he stumbled on, bleeding and exhausted. it reminded me that there's no love on this earth like a mother's for her child, and it really really struck me. hard. every loving mother will always hurt at the sight of her child in agony, and the pain flows both ways. yet both knew what had to be done, and went with it.
i suppose these 3 bits stood out the most for me, for i find it hard to recall much else.
but make no mistake, i thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout this whole experience. and by God's grace, i managed to stay up throughout the evening and surivive till i reached home at 9am on palm sunday morning. and i don't think i could've made it without the fantastic company i had. it was an amazing vigil, and the company was an absolute Godsend to complement and make it so much more fulfilling. thank you fiana, peter, marian, goose, audren, james, bobby, joc and david. =)
and i couldn't have had the day end with an even better note with wayne rooney tearing arsenal apart with a match-winning performance, scoring one and creating one to leave me going to sleep with a huge grin on my face. two-nil to united, and the title race, even if unlikely, still very, very much alive.
thanks God, for another wonderful day in this thing that i call my life. love ya always. =)
well, the night kicked off with praise and worship... which basically set the tone for the evening. a pinch too energetic and charismatic for me to like to the fullest, but it definitely set the energy level for the night. even when everything ended after palm sunday mass, the lead worship leader was still prancing in front of the altar with so much energy and zest. if only i could study overnight like that and prance to the exam hall... anyway, after that came brother's first talk about the importance of love in our lives. it was fantastic, and brother basically left the whole congregation in stitches. jokes aside, brother's content has seldom changed, and whenever he speaks about going out to love others as well as ourselves, it never fails to leave that warm fuzzy feeling of reassurance in my heart. in the end, the most basic common denominator in life is love. we were made to love and be loved, and that is our calling in life.
brother's 2nd talk was just as great as the 1st, which asked each and every one of us, what are your distractions? distractions referring to those that distract us from the love of God. even the gifts He sent us can become distractions, and we've gotta do our best to always live up to that call. "the love in your heart wasn't put there to stay; love isn't love until you give it away" was another of his memorable lines (which he recalls seeing from the love of his life at the time as a "15 year-old retard". yeah his exact words. ;) . honestly, you can never find these kinda lessons outside of the Roman Catholic church. not with the same degree of humour, not the same degree of depth.
of course, not everything was about brother michael broughton. while he was a major plus point, there were other significant parts of the program. there was stations of the cross, of which the impact was magnified intensely with each station showing the corresponding scene from The Passion of Christ. it's so easy to read the bible and gloss over the suffering that Jesus underwent. Jesus was scourged, crowned with thorns, condemned to death. Jesus fell once. twice. thrice. met Mary on the way. nailed to the cross. died. buried. The Passion does away with all this sanitisation and shows how Jesus really suffered with every step he took on the way to Calvary. and everyone cringed at sight of the nails piercing his wrists. i was jarred by this as well, but it was heartbreaking to watch Mary look her son in the face as he stumbled on, bleeding and exhausted. it reminded me that there's no love on this earth like a mother's for her child, and it really really struck me. hard. every loving mother will always hurt at the sight of her child in agony, and the pain flows both ways. yet both knew what had to be done, and went with it.
i suppose these 3 bits stood out the most for me, for i find it hard to recall much else.
but make no mistake, i thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout this whole experience. and by God's grace, i managed to stay up throughout the evening and surivive till i reached home at 9am on palm sunday morning. and i don't think i could've made it without the fantastic company i had. it was an amazing vigil, and the company was an absolute Godsend to complement and make it so much more fulfilling. thank you fiana, peter, marian, goose, audren, james, bobby, joc and david. =)
and i couldn't have had the day end with an even better note with wayne rooney tearing arsenal apart with a match-winning performance, scoring one and creating one to leave me going to sleep with a huge grin on my face. two-nil to united, and the title race, even if unlikely, still very, very much alive.
thanks God, for another wonderful day in this thing that i call my life. love ya always. =)
greg last trudged in on 4/10/2006 03:40:00 am
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