Today is 22nd of August, the Second Birthday of Little Crosses.
Happy Birthday LC!
Unfortunately, LC has ceased to be in Saint Stephen since Sunday. A very painful and regretted decision to make, but a necessary one.
Come to think of it, it has been doomed to fail right from the beginning. Perhaps of my bad PR or my disposition to the people of authority, I never seem to be accepted in this church. Or perhaps the priest had never told us what is the objective of a youth group. And hence we never got to do anything of purpose in this church.
Sure we have been busy, but busy with a christmas party and a few fellowships on saturday. Other than that, I simply cannot remember anything else we do as a youth group.
And more importantly, this group has become a choir. All the activities that LC does are choir based. Which were useful and good in the beginning as they were the source of bonding for the youths, but in the long run they will run out of steam to concentrate on so many things. In the long run, it is simply not practical to expect them to give their all for all the activities expected of them. And since the youth group aspect has become pointless, and yet choir is getting raved support then choir must continue and youth group must close down. It is madness that the same people having to do the same events twice because we are viewed as separate group but essentially consisting of the same people.
To me, youth group of a church is very important. It is the pulse of the church, and this group must be able to reach out to all the youths in the church by providing all kinds of youth activities. Youths do not want to join the lectors or the wardens, they do not want to join St Vincent De Paul or Legion of Mary. The youths want to feel that they belong to the parish, respected and appreciated. They want an identity and want to feel that they have a sense of purpose. Initially, I wanted to build LC into a group that provides camps for all the different age groups. Camps are important for bonding and they are even more important in giving them a wholesome initial experience. But I guess it is not to be, and will not be.
But I think the last straw for leaving is that we read from the church bulletin that there seems to be some movement for a youth ministry and Verena is not notified. Thus obviously LC is being by-passed for these events and the leaders were all the more ignored. So before we are asked to leave, better to leave now by ourselves.
But what is to happen to the youths?Many ask if LC can go independent and just stay together. And at present, the answer is no.
Why?
1. As it is with the political bitching around, I cannot be seen as drawing people away from this parish. And I cannot be seen as trying to build my own army, which is ridiculous because it was never intended.
2. I have yet to find a purpose for the group. Now we are a group of friends who hang out and enjoy a laugh, but if we want to be a group who wants to enjoy a laugh, we need not be part of a group. This is because when you are in a group, there is an expectation. People will expect activities and people will expect a certain number of people. So until the day the situation presents itself, LC will not be an official group.
Presently, I do not think any of you would want prayer meet and honestly, to have those usual gatherings will not bond us more and instead would make people feel bored. And I cannot guarantee that I can lead all of you without resources given to me. I can be your friend, but I cannot give any of you anything more as a spiritual leader, hence that is another reason why I choose to step down as a spiritual group leader. For it is written in the bible, if any were to mislead the little ones, then it is better for him to have a big stone hung on his neck and be drowned.
It was a very sad goodbye and a terribly emotional farewell for me. I teared several times and I’ve been mourning for the last few weeks. It was difficult for me to announce such a horrible news to all of you and I wish none of you need to go through all the tears. But I guess with the tears we know truly how each and everyone of you means so much to one another.
Whatever the case, LC may no longer be officially around, but LCians all of you will always be. And I hope all the experiences you shared will forever be in your heart, and once in a while…take out the videos and photos and have a peek… at the love you left behind.
Pope marks beginning of Easter festivities, first of his pontificatePope Benedict XVI began Easter celebrations, the first of his pontificate, commemorating the Last Supper and the traditional washing of the feet at a mass in Rome's St John in Lateran basilica.
"What makes man ignoble is the rejection of love, the refusal to be loved and to love," he said in his homily at the Holy Thursday mass attended by thousands of pilgrims. "Only love has the purifying power that removes our filth and raises us to the level of God."
The pope's reenactment of Jesus Christ's washing of the feet of his 12 disciples according to the Gospels broke from tradition. Benedict chose to perform the ceremony on 12 laymen instead of priests to underscore the importance he places on the role of the laity in the Roman Catholic Church.
The pope, whose pontificate began on April 19 last year, will mark the 12 Stations of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum on Good Friday -- a procession his predecessor John Paul II had been unable to perform in his declining years -- and deliver the traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Easter message from the balcony of Saint Peter's basilica at the Vatican.
Christians around the world mark Easter, the most important event in their religious calendar, as the day of Jesus Christ's resurrection.
Last year, celebrations were overshadowed by John Paul II's rapidly deteriorating condition. He could barely speak when he greeted pilgrims massed in Saint Peter's square on Easter Sunday, and the Easter message was delivered by a cardinal.
John Paul II died six days later, on April 2.
Pope Benedict had earlier Thursday celebrated mass at the Vatican with priests from the Rome diocese, of which he is bishop, when he commemorated slain missionary Andrea Santoro, who was murdered in a Catholic church in Turkey in February.
The pope will turn 79 on Easter Sunday.
Every aspect of the mass is important. Thus no part can be removed nor is any part lesser in importance, theorectically.
If one actually take note, every part of the mass is ritualised with fixed prayers to say. Except the sermon, where there is some opportunities for individual creativity and interaction by the priest to give their 15 mins of preaching and sharing of their spiritual knowledge.
However, what I find very frustrating is that lack of good sermons. Perhaps it's the quality of oratory skills or perhaps the sermon lacks content. Whichever the reason, usually I find it boring and meaningless.
I speak for myself, but how often do we find priests struggle to find anecdotes or some far-fetched internet stories to fit into the theme of the week? Or how some priests read off word-for-word from their scripts. Or worse, some old-timers think they can just rattle off without preparing.
In this modern society, with information overload and for some intellectuals who have some bible knowledge, I believe such sketchy and surface interpretations of the readings are unacceptable and insulting to the congregation.
Faith-teacher, please speak with conviction and with depth of thought and substance, for the people are looking forward to good sermons to kick-start their week and to be motivated about life. They want to hear God speak to them through the readings and they need you to explain to them how the scripture can inspire them.
Indeed Saint Paul said that when we are young, we need baby food. But I suspect that the majority of the congregation had come of (spiritual) age and is ready for more substantial spiritual knowledge and inspiration. I would even go as far as to say the people would love to know how to interpret the bible from the priest's point of view so that in the future, they themselves can read the Sunday or Daily Missal and let the scriptures inspire them without the spoon-feeding by the priests.
Don't get me wrong, I am not looking for any pomp or fireworks, nor am I looking forward to any Anthony Robbins or Adam Khoos to give us those motivation talks.
What I am looking for is something simple and relevant. I can look into my life and ponder on how God have been relevant and present in my life if and only if I know how to interprete those Testaments of my forefathers. And I would only know how to interprete them if and only if I am guided by these teachers who stands at the rostrum.
Thus, standing at the rostrum and giving a half-hearted sermon is certainly serving injustice to the thousands who faithfully attend mass.
hey all! there'll be a practice this saturday, 21/01.
7.30pm in church.
We will go through 2 songs: "One Day At A Time", and "Irish Blessing" (from Breaking Bread)
PLS PRINT THE SCORES YOURSELF! i've uploaded them into the files part. thanks!
http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=75463Please print them yourself...
Since most of the people talk about their New Year's Resolution... This would be LC's.
1)
Improve quality of faith and leadership of individuals: By helping ad-hoc leaders to manage their members and keeping them focused. LC cannot be managed just by Verena and we need individual's help if we want LC to survive.
2)
Improve quality of activities to be less fun and more purposeful and spiritual: Since we are very close friends, there is less need for 'fellowship' but we can move on to the next level. To be a useful and responsible church group doing good and also bring fun into the boring work.
3)
Launch of Praise and Worship by year-end: All youths love music, Helter-Skelter would be aiming to have a praise and worship session. We are currently looking for a charismatic prayer leader.
4)
Open up LC to more people instead of just church people: This is the most important. We should stop thinking that LC is for St Stephen only, but rather we open it up. So that anyone can join us if they like what we are doing. LC is not an Aljunied youth group but as long as we can be relevant to any one or for any cause, we should be open to it. Eg. Conducting camps or help other church groups to conduct camps.
5)
Fund Raising program: We need money and since we can not forever depend on people's kindness for donations, we have to start having a system of get money. We need more ideas on how to make money so that we can use the money to do good.
Most importantly, we need YOU to make LC work. No ideas are gonna be good enough if there are no people to carry them out. And no point carrying them out if there are no one around to experience them.
It is a very fair exchange, if you want the group to carry on then you need to make this group works. Otherwise, if no one wants LC anymore then it would be disbanded.
So think about it, LC can be useful or it can be pointless.
Reminder for LCians.
29th DECEMBER- Christmas Season outing. Come dressed in BLACK. Meet at 600pm at Orchard Mrt station control then we go for dinner.
31st DECEMBER- Potluck dinner at Yam's house followed by Countdown. Each family bring ONE dish only. Meet at 730 with food.
And maybe this time, we can do some counting?
Any changes, please tag.
For the benefit of everyone who's coming for the countdown on 24th December, 11pm.
There would be an exchange of presents. Please prepare for it k. Cos if you don't prepare for it, and the person who is giving you had prepared for it, you're gonna be embarressed.
So here are the names...
Verena
Dawn
Colleen
Stephi
Ruth
Jess
Marion
Annie
Andrea
Ernie
Celestine
Randall
Auggy
Dicky
Nick
Aloy
Fonz
Elvin
Zac
Andrew
Irene
Eilis
Brandon
Daryl
Genestine
Mag
Paul Jon
Tessa
Jonathan Tan
Kendra
Please go through the name, and help me see if I left out anyone and let me know most immediately!
