Psalm 23 - beautifully translated in Bahasa Indonesia

With our choral group Grace Notes not meeting up for practice since the month of March, I am still trying to connect each other by encouraging all of us to do a daily devotion together. 

So some of us are doing this devotion from YouVersion: Journal - Psalms courtesy of International English Service Jakarta.

It is a very good reading plan. 

In the devotion on Psalm 23, we were recommended to read the psalm in Bahasa Indonesia with it being a beautiful translation of the Hebrew. 

I can't find an online Malay Bible, and so looking at the Bahasa Indonesia version, it is indeed very beautiful written:

 

Mazmur 23

TUHAN adalah gembalaku, takkan kekurangan aku.

Ia membaringkan aku di padang yang berumput hijau, 

Ia membimbing aku ke air yang tenang;

Ia menyegarkan jiwaku. 

Ia menuntun aku di jalan yang benar oleh karena nama-Nya.

Sekalipun aku berjalan dalam lembah kekelaman, aku tidak takut bahaya, 

sebab Engkau besertaku; 

gada-Mu dan tongkat-Mu, 

itulah yang menghibur aku.

Engkau menyediakan hidangan bagiku, 

di hadapan lawanku; 

Engkau mengurapi kepalaku dengan minyak; 

pialaku penuh melimpah.

Kebajikan dan kemurahan belaka akan mengikuti aku, seumur hidupku; 

dan aku akan diam dalam rumah TUHAN sepanjang masa.

I'm so thankful to the LORD, kerana saya dapat berdiam diri bukan sahaja di rumah saya sendiri, tetapi lebih pentingnya seumur hidupku boleh saya berdiam diri dalam rumah Tuhan sepanjang masa. 

pearlie

Goodbye...farewell and thank you

We started Grace Notes since year 2006 and we have been assembling to rehearse and gathering to minister to others in music and songs for 14 years. 

And we are so extremely grateful and thankful to Chinese Methodist (Cantonese) Church Kuala Lumpur for their generosity and grace in providing a place for us to practice and rehearse all these years. 

But it is time to say goodbye...

...the church will be undergoing renovation work and so we looked for a new place for our rehearsals and again by God's providence, we have been offered a place. 

With that, we will be moving and today is our final rehearsal in this location. 

I must say, some of us are indeed very sad to go.

Goodbye...and thank you.

pearlie

Grace Notes in Kota Kemuning

We sang in Living Stone Methodist Church Kota Kemuning today. We did ok but not good enough to be posted here. LOL

pearlie

From music to mercies

We have completed the book that we were using for our short devotion time during our Grace Notes weekly practice and after hunting quite a long while for a new book, we finally settled on this one.

New Morning Mercies, A Daily Gospel Devotional

by Paul David Tripp

It wasn't easy to find a good book. I had wanted to get one that is music related or one written with musicians in mind like this one were were using.

Crescendos and Diminuendos, Meditations for Musicians and Music Lovers

by Jack Coleman

Every chapter of this book is a short devotion based on an Italian musical term, e.g. Legato, Da Capo, Rallentando, etc. It was very well done and we enjoyed every reading in every practice. 

And so I had quite a high expectation for our next book but I couldn't find one that is both excellent and music related. 

I had to finally settle for one that is not based on music but on the grace and mercy of God. I

hope it will serve to help us focus on God every week when we come to practice and to sing. That would be what's most important, music related or not.

pearlie

3 Amazing Stories about Faithfulness

I was at Faith Methodist Church Cheras today as Grace Notes presented an anniversary anthem for their 30th anniversary celebration. 

I was glad to be there and I realize how much I miss attending a liturgical Methodist Sunday service!

Rev Dr T Jeyakumar was the speaker and his sermon based on Revelation 14:1-5 was a very good lesson and reminder for me to remain faithful to the Lord. 

Revelation 14:1-5 NLT

Then I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of mighty ocean waves or the rolling of loud thunder. It was like the sound of many harpists playing together. This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. They have kept themselves as pure as virgins, following the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been purchased from among the people on the earth as a special offering to God and to the Lamb. They have told no lies; they are without blame.

The author of Revelation uses a lot of imagery language and the 144,000 people is used to represent all the people that belongs to God. 

But why the number 144,000?

12 times 12 times 1000? If it is really 12 times 12 times 1000, then it clearly depicts all of the redeemed people of the Lord - 12 tribes multiplied by 12 tribes and on top of it multiplied by a thousand.  

I like Rev Jeya's focus on verse 4: It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb. (ESV)

When I first read v.4, I felt rather discouraged. I know I am not pure nor have I been really following and obeying all the time. Does that mean I am not part of the 144,000?

But again Rev Jeya reminded us that it's imagery language that was used and that v.4 takes on the marriage covenant imagery where the groom remained undefiled. 

As such the three lessons of v.4 is that of (1) being faithful, (2) following Christ and (3) belonging to God as his redeemed. 

With that I am most encouraged. 

Rev Jeya also gave us some examples in being faithful to God. It is easy when things are well and good but when things get tough, will we still be faithful?

The stories he told were harrowing true events. 

First, he referred to what happened recently when three bus loads of Christians were stopped by a group of ISIS men in Egypt. They were ordered to alight the bus one by one and each of them were asked two questions: "Are you Muslim?" and "Will you be a Muslim?" As they firmly stood by their faith, they were either shot or had their throats slit. Imagine you were in the line to get off the bus to answer the two questions and as you watch what is happening, will you remain faithful?

The second story about Nabeel Qureshi. He was a Muslim who became a Christian after he studied the Bible and as much as he tried to refute it, in the end he found there is no way he could deny the logical truth and the love of Christ. He then put his life into studying theology and spent his days being a testimony for Christ but he faced a lot of cruel criticisms from a lot of people. He soon found himself in stage 4 stomach cancer and the verbal abuse became even more relentless. He held on firmly to his faith in Christ till his death on 16 September 2017. If we were in such a situation, will we still hold on to our faith?

His third story was one that made me tear up. I don't cry easily but this one made me. I did a search and found it in a book entitled Heroes of Our Faith by Patrick Sookhdeo (2012).

I really can't imagine how it will be like when one is being buried alive, and what more with kids!

Will you remain faithful? 

Tonight we will have supper with the King of kings, the Lord of lords.

pearlie

Trip to Kampar

Grace Notes will soon be putting up a concert to raise funds to help the Sengoi orang asli kids in Kampar, and we went there to visit them today. 

We wanted to find out what their needs are. And according to their sharing, we found that other than physical needs like shoes and eye glasses, revision books and a computer, what they also need are opportunities. 

Opportunities to learn and to be exposed, to find out what they can do as they grow up and when they move into the working world. 

And on the whole, there is a need to support them when they grow from the current 16 kids to 37 next year. 

They are a bright and smart group of kids. In just 9 months, a few of them have progressed from being the poorest in class performance to being the top best performers. Amazingly, they picked up English very well too, and as we spoke to them in Malay, they were even helping us to translate English words into Malay. 

We really hope we will be able to make a difference for them. 

Would you? Let me know if you would like to help too. 

pearlie

We Will Keep Our Faith Alive

We at Grace Notes are preparing for a presentation two weeks from now and one of the songs which we will be doing is We Will Keep Our Faith Alive. 

We did it once before 8 years ago and as I listened to it here, we were fine until the last note! Oh dear, I really hope we will have improved over these many years to at least nail the last note. LOL

pearlie 

Being rubato in life

Crescendos and Diminuendos, Meditations for Musicians and Music Lovers

by Jack Coleman

During our choral practice every week, we have a short devotion before we begin based chapters from a book by Jack Coleman on Meditations for Musicians and Music Lovers. 

The topic picked for today was on the musical term Rubato. It means, “Robbing” or taking from the notes their strict time value by alternately hurrying, then retarding, for the purpose of expression. It should not depart so far from the tempo as to destroy the sense of rhythm.

I did not know that the rubato means to rob. And apparently it is not an easy thing to do musically and if we are not able to do it properly, its best to stick to the original tempo. 

But when applied to our lives, sometimes we may want to rob our timing and sequence of life a bit but we need to do so carefully so as not to depart so far from our tempo of life as to destroy our set sense of rhythm. And when we rob it we also need to return it like when we perform a musical part in rubato, we also need to pay it back in timing, and in the same way we need to compensate for it in life. 

I know...all very conceptual but if you think about it, may ring true in certain times of our lives. 

pearlie

Why didn't Jesus calm the waves first before walking on it?

I was reading Matthew 14 and something struck me when I read this popular passage about Jesus walking on water. 

Matthew 14:24-33 (NLT)

Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o'clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. 

In their fear, they cried out, "It's a ghost!" 

But Jesus spoke to them at once. "Don't be afraid," he said. "Take courage. I am here!" 

Then Peter called to him, "Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water." 

"Yes, come," Jesus said. 

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink.

"Save me, Lord!" he shouted. 

Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. 

"You have so little faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" 

When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. 

"You really are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.

I never thought of it before but it suddenly dawned on me why didn't Jesus still the waves first before walking on water towards to disciples on the tossing boat? It may not be a full storm yet since Jesus and the disciples were having a conversion, albeit a frantic one on the disciples's side. 

An obvious answer will be to say that he wanted to teach the disciples a lesson and show them he is the Son of God. He has already calmed a storm before (Matt 8:23-27), and now on top of that walking on water would show more how the world is really in his hands.

But I thought maybe Jesus also has a fun streak in him. Hey, a storm? Wouldn't walking through it be fun too? 

Wouldn't it be like our version of a roller coaster, whizzing up and down, twirling and curling in loops in the safety of the carriage and laws of physics? 

Later in the evening, I led a short devotion at the beginning of our Grace Notes practice from Jack Coleman's Crescendos and Diminuendos, Meditations for Musicians and Music Lovers. I have chosen the chapter on legato for the devotion. 

Legato is to play music or sing a song in a smooth, sustained, and connected manner without any perceptible interruption between the notes. And if applied to life, we all want a smooth sailing life with minimum problems or issues, basically no storms in our lives. 

But wouldn't you think that would be a very boring life to live, as much as a full length of music in legato would be a boring piece to listen to, and actually quite difficult to play or sing and still make it interesting. 

We need to have some storms in our lives, some ups and downs. Sure, it will be difficult but don't forget, Jesus walks with us in it and we will in the safety of the carriage and the laws of physics. 

pearlie

Find Us Faithful

We at Grace Notes are required to pen down our testimony based on the songs we will be singing in our upcoming thanksgiving event at the end of this year. 

I have been procrastinating it and not being too sure what to write about. I am thinking that my life at this point of time is rather mundane, and I am actually feeling guilty, rightfully or not, about it. 

And so when I looked at the list, this song stood out: Find Us Faithful by Steve Green. 

I found this video by this young lady, which I find is quite a good interpretation of the song. 

I will need to take the next few days to listen and delve in the song in order to be able to write about the ordinariness of life. 

I hope my so-called writer's block will be unblocked soon. 

pearlie

Grace Notes, daily readings with Philip Yancey

Grace Notes: Daily Readings with a Fellow Pilgrim

by Philip Yancey

I saw this book today and couldn't help but buy it since it has the same name as our choral group. I have not read Philip Yancey before and I've always wanted to, so I think this will be a good start. 

I'll naturally use for our devotion time during our weekly Grace Notes practice. 

pearlie 

Living a life in adagio

Crescendoes and Diminuendos, Meditations for Musicians and Music Lovers
by Jack Coleman

I have been using a book by NT Wright for our devotion time in Grace Notes, but I have received feedback that it is too long and deep for our purpose. And so I thought I should go get something better and more suitable for our team, and found this book by Jack Coleman.

What the writer did was to choose fifty two most used musical terms and write about them. They are short and very poignant for us to contemplated as choralists and musicians.

For example, the first devotion I shared with the group from the book today was on the musical term "adagio". It means to be "at east", at a slow tempo. It does not only imply a tempo but also a quality of movement. So if a musician can think of working the movement of their music, it is one without stress or tension, attaining a quality of ease.

Coleman goes on to share that we need to be at ease as well with our fellow partners in service, to be filled with the love of God in our behaviour with one another.

We took the lesson in the sense that we need to also be at ease in our living our everyday life, which is a challenge with life stresses and difficulties. But it is a very good quality of life to have, that is to life our lives in Christ in adagio, trusting in him fully that we are in his hands, whatever the weather, whatever the circumstances.

pearlie

Yung Kee: the best beef brisket noodles in KL

 

We had an early Grace Notes practice today being a public holiday and after practice, someone suggested we go try out this beef brisket noodles for lunch.

It was really good. 

Here's an article about it which tells almost the whole story and it's a nice story too though I'm not sure what's the story behind the cook being labeled as lazy. I don't quite follow. The writer just mentioned it out of the blue. 

But like the article said, it is most probably the best beef brisket noodles in KL. You must try it.

I am surely going there again but in the weekend to try the wagyu beef noodles and the strip loin one as well. 

Yung Kee Beef Noodles

Restaurant Kwai Hup

24, Jalan Kancil

Off Jalan Landak

Pudu

Kuala Lumpur 

Tel: 012-2158009

Open: 8am to 3.30pm

(On Saturdays and Sundays, they usually finish by 2pm)

pearlie

Is it for me or for God?

The topic of motives came up in yesterday's sermon which my friend Ee-Tan and I discussed a little in relation to our service to God in our singing and worship leading. 

I always see it as a very, very fine line - do I sing to serve God or do I sing to perform? Am I doing it all with the right motive? 

I am often in that dilemma - is it for me or for God? Or can it be both? Maybe having that very dilemma is a good beginning. 

I don't know. I am still struggling with that question every time I go up onto the chancel to lead in worship, to sing the anthem either by myself, with others or with my choral group. 

Of course I want to make sure that I sing well so that the songs will be well-ministered to the people. I will be doing a disservice if I sing in an awful way without proper techniques, same as no one plays the piano in church if they can't play it at all. 

I like what my choral director Joanna said to us once: we should train ourselves to the point that when we sing, the people do not "hear us" at all but only hear the song and be ministered by it. It means that we should sing so well that people will not get distracted by our singing but are focused on God through the music. The focus is of course God, not us. 

It's like when we listen to radio, no one, except maybe the vocal pedagogy, would think much about how the song is sung but what and why the song is being sung. 

So in relation to my motives in singing in church, I will continue to train and improve in my singing technique but I also need to daily commit what I do and what I sing to God, that when I sing, my mind should be focused on both producing a good sound--nothing wrong with that--and in centering what I am doing in God as worship. 

So can I say then that it is both for me and for God? For me in terms of the effort and for God in terms of my worship of him.

Pastor mentioned Dallas Willard yesterday as one who cleared the confusion about effort and works. Maybe I can't apply it directly here but I like what Willard said: Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.  Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone. 

So in my effort to produce a good sound when I sing, it's the action that I do that should not become an attitude of pride, of what I can do, but as an offering to God in music and worship. 

It's tough, but not impossible. 

pearlie

In the presence of the King, bow the knee

Bow the Knee
Words and music by Chris Macken and Mike Harland
Arranged by Tom Fettke

We began learning this song in our Grace Notes practice today and I found the words so beautiful and meaningful.

Bow the Knee
There are moments on our journey following the Lord
Where God illumines ev’ry step we take.
There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us,
As we try to understand each move He makes.
When the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him.

Bow the knee;
Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.
Bow the knee;
Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.
And when you don’t understand the purpose of His plan,
In the presence of the King, bow the knee.

There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall,
The cold and lonely winds won’t cease to blow.
And there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel;
We are tempted to believe God does not know.
When the storms arise, don’t forget we live by faith and not by sight.

pearlie

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I joined my family church in their combined celebration service today, which was held in a school hall. It was certainly some school hall. Amazing stage, lightings and I'm still in awe of the humongous LED screen. Just wished that the sound system was better.

Merry Christmas all! May the birth of Christ fill you with much hope and joy. May we live our lives filled with the Holy Spirit, with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Amen.







pearlie

Christmas Cantata: Come to the Manger

Grace Notes combined with the Kuala Lumpur Chinese Chinese Methodist Cantonese Church Choir presented a Christmas Cantata today: Come to the Manger, by Joe E. Parks.

The choir have been practicing for about 4 months now and I must say, it was quite well done - to the credit of the conductor and Grace Notes's director Joanna Lau.

The cantata carries a message that the angels have invited you to come to the manger and even if the inn had no room for him, do you have room for him in your life?

pearlie

Another new old

I was talking about the brand new Atria Complex a few days ago and how much it has changed from the old. Today, I experienced the same nostalgia with the Port Dickson Methodist Center.

Grace Notes was invited to sing in the Trinity Annual Conference's (TRAC) 40th annual conference. I was told that the center was renovated but I hadn't realised that it has been given such a complete makeover that I could not recognise it. Worse, I could not remember how it was before.

Anyway, I feel we did just fairly in our singing this round because the acoustics in the hall was really so bad our voice sounded dead.

Anyway, it's a good thing I found these pictures of the old center:

Entrance to the center


The Main Hall


Inside the Main Hall


Dormitories

pearlie
Photos: disciples

Good hearty singing is good for the soul

I took on the fourth and final 7 Habits Workshop session for me this month. I have done three and this is my fourth, with the hope that the other 7 Habits facilitators in my company will take on the remaining ones this year.

I was so tired and I still have Grace Notes practice after the workshop.

But nonetheless, I felt quite energized after practice. A good hearty singing does good to the soul and the body.

We did John Rutter's For the Beauty of the Earth, which is so excellently done by Saint Paul Cathedral Choir here. Their singing is so clean. Beautiful!



pearlie

Eternal Praise: will never stop singing forever and ever

I love to sing and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow in my singing through my serving in church. And when I sing, these two people will at times come to mind.

One, is our Grace Notes conductor, Joanna Lau. I've known her for about 13 years. It was she through whom I then understood what previous instructors were trying to tell me. I never understood what "singing from the diaphragm" meant until Joanna.

The other person is my late brother in the Lord, Tuck Meng. I feel sad whenever I think of him. For reasons I still do not know, he took his own life. But he is the one person with whom I learned and took up the interest in singing harmony in a group when we were in the youth group back then. After all these years, I have now learned to sing harmony by ear. (I thought again about him today and wondered if I can pray for him. Can I pray for the dead?)

Chris Abner preached in church this morning on 1 Cor 1:1-17, and he spoke about being unified as a people of God and serving in the church with the gifts God has given us as we prepare ourselves when we will meet him face to face. In light of the new heaven and new earth, I suddenly thought what a delight it will be then when I can be a part of the grand choir! And yes, like in the book of Revelation, I am sure this choir will surely never stop singing and singing and singing.

Amen, blessings and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.
~ Revelation 7:12

pearlie