HOPE SINGAPORE CHRISTMAS SERVICE
Our Christmas service began with the energetic worship team leading the crowd to sing along to the popular carols "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”. Having gotten into the Christmas spirit with joyous music that lifted the atmosphere, the audience then journeyed with an ordinary family in their pursuit of happiness through the musical titled “Happy Ever After”.
The musical featured Gisele, who chose to bury herself in work after going through a relationship that did not work out; Ginny, who has found love but could only be satisfied with a grand wedding; Gordon, who left for Paris to learn the baking skills needed to succeed in the family business but longs to start his own café; the father, who wanted his son Gordon to take over and expand the family’s pastry business but is disappointed by his refusal to do so; and the mother, Auntie Jenny, who would feel contented only when her children had found happiness.
This is linked to Pastor Jeffrey Chong’s sermon. Pastor Jeff said that many years of research has repeatedly shown that people desperately want to be happy but they do not know how to. Even with one of the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the world, Singapore was voted as the least happy country in a Gallop report in 2012. All men desire happiness and with the story of a wealthy young ruler who sought eternal life as illustrated in Luke 18 (v18-25), Pastor Jeff pointed out that true happiness can only be found when one is in a relationship with Jesus and places Him as the top priority.
Pastor Jeff then showed 2 video testimonies, the first from Adria, a university student sharing about the failure she encountered in her studies and how she has come to realise that grades and external possessions do not define who she is. The other testimony is from Rayney, who used to be one of the top property agents in Singapore. He shared about how he had gone to great extremes to achieve success, the challenges he faced at work as a lawyer and his venture into real estate, and how he eventually found the true lasting joy of being able to find his rest and happiness in God. Many new friends also took the step of faith and received Jesus over the weekend in our youth, Mandarin and Dialect Christmas services!
Liew Ying Hui, Claudia
