It's thirty minutes into the New Year. I just returned home from a New Year's Eve Service leading an exciting and meaningful time of worship followed by a hearty dinner with a loving family willing to host the worship pastor!
I planned on going home after the service but couldn't get a cab, so I called my dad that I needed to postpone my "homecoming" to the morning. It is never safe to travel on New Year's even around the Philippines-- despite the continued drizzle, there's just too much firecrackers and fireworks blowing off at every street corner which by the way is braved by a goodly number of people. Small group mate Joel and Tagalog worship team member Erwin all didn't have a place to go for New Year's so out of the kindness of siblings Mark and Luan, we got invited to a hearty dinner. Joel opted to go home and sleep the New Year's celebrations away.
Following the sumptuous dinner and a great dessert of a tub of fresh strawberries and chocolate fondue, Mark, Luan and Erwin decided to go to Eastwood just a quarter before the clock struck 12 and since I live just five blocks away I made it to my apartment just minutes before midnight.
The fireworks were an amazing sight! With the ridiculous amount of money "burned" tonight, it's hard to believe that I am living in a third world/developing country. But tradition (to ward off bad luck) calls for it, so thank goodness for the collective effort of people who spent millions and millions of pesos on fireworks so a lonely (but not sad) pastor who's spending New Year's all by himself in his condo would have something to enjoy watching. I had trouble which one to focus on since there were just too many of them happening at the same time even as my cellphone kept vibrating for hundreds of text greetings. But because of an unusually bad weather, the smoke from fireworks now blanket the entire country adding to our already serious air pollution problem. At any rate, they were all beautiful!
Now that the fireworks shows are over, people are inside their homes, and here I am typing this blog entry, I couldn't help but remember the bleak forecasts of economists concerning 2009! They say we better be prepared because "the worst is yet to come." But then, my wise Senior Pastor in his Benediction tonight said, "They say the worst is yet to come but we say the BEST is already ours." No matter how bleak the forecasts may be, no matter how big the storms are about to hit us, no matter how deep the rut we find oursleves in, we already have the BEST with us.- God is with us, and all the purposes, promises, and privileges that come along with His presence with us! And so I say, God is in control.
Tonight's New Year's Eve Communion Service was the Bomb! To begin with, the 2100-seat auditorium was packed and had to go on standing room only mode. I keep wondering whether we have been violating the city's fire code by overstuffing our auditorium with folks. GCF special holiday services such as Easter, Good Friday, Christmas and tonight's attract hundreds of people from other churches. But more than just the sheer volume of people who stood infront of me tonight as I led worship was the attitude - the mindset and heartset - of the congregation in worship.
The songs tonight have been prepared just a couple of days ago mainly due to the fact that beginning the 24th of December 'til January 4th, were declared non-working holidays. I did much of the work at home or while our of town, or conceptualizing the worship set sequence while taking my morning jog and prayer walk the last few days. In short, the preachers, musicians, the tech folks, the worship planning team and myself did not have time to meet about tonight's service, but by God's grace, He made me see again (like He always does) that He can work through, with and in people so that His purposes will be accomplished whether these people coordinated well or not. From song number one to the final one, all were beautifully stitched to the messages, statements, stories and experiences proclaimed in the service by the hand of God! I go back to the reality I stated earlier, God is in control. They say the worst is yet to come but we say the BEST is already ours.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!
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