Edited by Eliza Tan
"Foward march! Left, right, left......."
Ranen and I marched to the front of the old folks at the PJ Heritage Home and began our ICC Chapter's first Christmas presentation on December 15, 2014. In order to catch the attention of the elderly, the program purposely contained interwoven skit and carols. The skit was about two young boys, namely Ranen and I, who had no idea about the true meaning of Christmas until a girl, Eunice, shared it with us.
Several meaningful carols such as The First Noel, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Joy to the World, Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas were presented by our talented speakers playing different kinds of musical instrument - our Mini ICC Orchestra. Finally we walked around and shook hands with the elderly while we sang Feliz Navidad. It was a beautiful and joyous moment indeed.
Eunice explaining to Ranen and I the true meaning of Christmas
@ the Heritage Home
Oh come let us adore Him.....oh come let us adore Him....
@ the Heritage Home
We wish you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year......
@ the Heritage Home
After the presentation, Coach Joseph shared a short message about the true meaning of peace and forgiveness that can only be found in Christ Jesus. The message was interpreted into Cantonese by my dad. After the sharing, all of us spent time chit chatting with the elderly while the mothers served scrumptious home made chocolate cake, sandwiches, and some other snacks to the elderly. During a short chat with one of the old folks, I learned about his faith in God and how he keeps a joyful heart despite his old age. We hope our presentation gave the elderly a memorable Christmas and reminded them of God's love and faithfulness.
We had our second Christmas presentation two weeks later on Christmas Eve at My Father's Home near Mutiara Damansara, a large elderly community staying in different units of homes in the same neighborhood. We arrived there in the early morning and some coaches helped to push the old folks in wheel chairs to the main sanctuary where our presentation was going to be held. We could feel the elderly were really looking forward to visitors. We performed the same program as we did in the PJ Heritage Home.
Because of the large community, we had a much larger audience this time compared to in Heritage Home. About 100 elderly people showed up!
"Christmas is not about shopping, presents, and parties....It's really about the birth of Jesus Christ"
@ My Father's Home
My Father's Home consists of old folk from 60 to even 100 years old. Despite their advanced ages, most of them sang along with us and some even played the castanets and tambourines enthusiastically. As they enjoyed the Christmas carols so much, the pastor requested us to play the carols again and again! We even had a special item by the Filipino caretakers, who sang "Joy to the World" in Tagalog! The celebration ended with special made Christmas fruit cakes and shepherd pies!
All the speakers and coaches were in red to blend in the warm and joyous atmosphere!
@ My Father's Home
This auntie was so alert and played the shaker very well. Impressive huh!!
@ My Father's Home
"Joy to the world the Lord is come. Let earth receive his King...."
Truly angelic voices celebrating and remembering the birth of our Lord
@ My Father's Home
Through this Christmas presentation project, I learned that God is good and perfect, as Paul wrote in Roman 12:5, "so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." As we work together with our different giftings from God and submit to the leadership of our speakers, we glorify our Heavenly Father and bless the elderly with music and cheer them up in this Christmas season.
One of our several rehearsals at Coach Joseph's home a.k.a. ICC Chapter H.Q.
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