 |
lucas with the lid off |
|
Friday, October 28, 2005 |
|
||
|
||
|
Just got the Music Inspired by Narnia. I had to, after checking out the lineup of artists. I've been eagerly anticipating the movie since June after seeing the trailer. And to hear SCC, Jars of Clay, and Rebecca St. James distilling their take on the epic tale doesnt dilute the beauty of the story, but leads me back to the wonder that stepping through the wardrobe beholds. TobyMac delivers a surprisingly enjoyable number about Lucy's first steps in Narnia. Also, Kutless does their "gothrock-pop with orchestra strings" thing to harmonic precision again, as they did on Strong Tower. Mellower (but no less heavier) cuts by Delirious?, Jeremy Camp and Nichole Nordeman round up the record nicely. Plus, David Crowder*Band does a smooth silppery take on Edmund's temptation by the Ice Queen that captures the playful abandon with which he might have devoured the Turkish Delight. And it makes me want to listen to A Beautiful Collision, which i want to get but can't cos Joses has it already (with the pre-order DVD exclusive) and will only bring it back with him at Christmas. Which by then, of course, i would have watched Narnia and fallen in love with it all over again. Anyways, this is the second CD i got in two days, the first being The Observatory's sophomore release, Blank Walls. A little painful on the wallet, i must say. Was at their free concert at UCC, and after hearing their 50-minute set i had to get it. Their sonic assault of dissonant but not dischordant tunes weaves a soundscape so rich in emotion and possibility that it leaves you breathlessly suspended on an aural astral plane. Guys, thanks for tonight. A month since we've met but i see Him slowly but surely bringing us all back. Keep your hearts open, and let's continue to share and pray together. Aslan is on the move! Posted by lucasho @ 10/28/2005 12:15:00 am
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
Friday, October 21, 2005 |
|
||
|
||
|
This post has had a long gestation period. It's been a month since the whole debacle concerning proselytizing appeared in the newspapers. Personally, I think it's inevitable. There is this inexplicable tension that surfaces in a state that encourages religious plurality. It believes in freedom in practising faiths, as long as they are in line with the rationalisation principles that the government has so successfully modelled itself upon. For all to coexist, none of the faiths must seem to be able to transcend the boundaries afforded to them. The state must say, "Sure, you're free to practise your faith, but interests of nation-building and a creating secular community cannot come into conflict with these." This ironic conflagration of two seemingly noncontradictory ideals is the source of our dispairity. But if you think about it carefully, almost all the major religions incited major wars and were at loggerheads with the state and civil society at one point in their history. It's what gives them the quality of being believeable. They offer the promise of transcending the state powers that be, to put it in a most simplistic sense. Yet on the papers why was Christianity indicted as a religion that seemed almost desperate to gain new converts? The insinuation was that Christian doctors and nurses and teachers, civil servants who should embody the state initatives of a buliding secular nation, were forcing the gospel onto others and sidestepping the ideals of a multireligious state. I wondered if it was the fact that Christianity can be practised anywhere, not just within the walls of the church. This is true but only to a certain extent. I think in Singapore today we have found ways to reconcile religion with rational science. Rituals and sacraments are now demystified, and find their way and place among our cluttered hectic way of life. We somehow recognise a need to square the ineffable with the intelligence. And that's why more Singaporeans are flocking to religion now, as seen in the recent census. I remember when I was warded last year at CGH, the nice elderly senior nurse told me in mandarin not to worry, and to chant to Buddha. I politely replied that I didn't chant to Buddha, but prayed to Jesus. "Is Jesus a kind of Buddha?" "No, He's not. He's our Lord, and we don't need to chant to Him." (This was all i could muster up in chinese, my physical discomfort nonwithstanding.) "Well that's good. As long as you're peaceful, that's ok." It's not just a question of coexistence. But one of submitting without subverting. "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Jesus Posted by lucasho @ 10/21/2005 08:59:00 pm
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
Sunday, October 16, 2005 |
|
||
|
||
|
In lieu of rising oil prices ... Posted by lucasho @ 10/16/2005 08:23:00 pm
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
Wednesday, October 12, 2005 |
|
||
|
||
|
If I Stand ---------- There's more that rises in the morning than the sun And more that shines in the night than just the moon It's more than just this fire here that keeps me warm In a shelter that is larger than this room There's more that dances on the prairies than the wind And more that pulses in the ocean than the tide There's a love that is fiercer than the love between friends More gentle than a mother's when her baby's at her side And there's a loyalty that's deeper than mere sentiment And a music higher than the songs that I can sing The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the Giver of all good things So if I stand, let me stand on the promise That You will pull me through And if I can't, let me fall on the grace That first brought me to You And if I sing, let me sing for the joy That has born in me these songs And if I weep, let it be as a man Who is longing for his home Posted by lucasho @ 10/12/2005 10:02:00 pm
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
|
||
|
It isn't just the colour of this blog that's changed.
Posted by lucasho @ 10/12/2005 09:09:00 pm
|
|
|
||
|
||
| Powered by TagBoard Message Board |
TM & © 2004 Lucas Ho. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks registered internationally.
© 2004 Lucas Ho Wei-Jie. All rights reserved.