Wednesday, December 14, 2011

My Malaysian Christmas - Perak Combined Church Celebration 2011


This is a brief review on the Perak "My Malaysian Christmas" celebration which took place in Perak Girl's School Hall last Sunday night. It's an event participated by different churches in Perak, comprising different ethnic groups by under one umbrella, which is the body of Christ. Credits given to CT Ang Photography for the crisp clear snapshots of the night. I was having a tough time to handpick a few photos for a writeup here. You can search him up on Facebook for the full album of this event.

Christmas is a time to promote the spirit of giving. Well, you can say that I'm a skeptic but the only time politicians go into the spirit of giving is when elections are drawing near. I was somewhere at the backstage or loitering around but I knew its some land titles for Christian cemeteries presented by some local authorities or councillors I think. Nevertheless, we thank the state government for sponsoring this event as a platform for us to evangelize and to spread the meaning of Christmas.


Event started at 8pm sharp, or maybe earlier. I was there about 8 something, as my slot was on the second half of the night. The hall is said to be able to accommodate around 1500 people. And it was quite full when I arrived.

Event kick started with some cultural dances from different ethnic group. Well, 1Malaysia ma, what do you expect?  =p

Our Indians brothers giving an energetic dance. Perak was literally shaken, SERIOUSLY!

Well, even representatives from Nepal, Vietnam and Myanmar took part. This shows that foreign workers ministry is growing since they have been a part of our community. I'm sure they found sheer joy to have a Christmas celebration away from home....

Another cultural dance.... Well, the story of Christmas revolving the birth and life of Jesus Christ was presented in BM by the Orang Asli group. The sketch was backed by powerful vocals from the children and adult choir, belting familiar tunes like You Raised Me Up, Silent Night, I Will Follow Him and You Are My Hiding Place.

The children in........ 1Malaysia costumes (again)

The choir...
A wide angle shot of the whole choir group.

Not forgetting those working behind the scenes. The orchestra. If I'm not mistaken, this is NOT the full piece orchestra which made its debut earlier in January in Stadium Indera Mulia for "last year's Christmas celebration"
The musicians which provided a more "upbeat kick"

The finale - flag bearers. The army of Christ marching on, making a stand in present society. Well, If you noticed, my writings on elaborating the photos are suddenly getting shorter. This is because I try not to "politicize" this event.

Well, I missed the sermon session shared by the President of NECF, Dr Eu if I'm not mistaken. I heard he gave a powerful message and was bold to speak his mind. Hopefully those people "up there" gets the message of integrity and see where we stand in working towards a better nation and country, in terms of governance and policy. oooppsss... politics. my lips are sealed now...

Having said that, why not go for a more independent event, a so called privately organized event by FGA Ipoh? If you missed out the Christmas Celebration on the 11th Dec, we will be having another one on Friday 16th Dec night. You will be hearing from Pastor Kenneth Chin on the meaning of Christmas. Trust me, he is an energetic and lively speaker and you will wanna hear from him more compared to a politicians speech on racial harmony and acts of fishing for votes.

Hence why not make a date this Friday. Well, good things don't come free, but at a small fee of RM10 onwards. Yup, tickets are still available in FGA Office and Perak Society Of Performing Arts. The event lineup will be fully in English. Get serenaded by the Genesis Orchestra, playing in full orchestra formation. You will be entertained with lively praise and worship, witness the powerful vocals of the choir and also live performances from top notch singers which have performed in many musicals production, namely Marianne Poh and Shirley Lee who sung in FGA's ARISE album. Juwita Suwito will be performing too and will duet with my friend, a handsome lecturer from UTAR by the name of Darren.

And, you will witness the months of preparation of the dance team. Yours truly have spent weekends and weekends of practices, sacrificing the liberty to be away from town to have a shopping and eating spree in KL. Well, for His Kingdom purpose and His glory, it's worth it! =)

Yup, this is the dance team which performed on the 11th Dec and we will be on stage again on 16th Dec to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. So mark on your calendar and get your tickets (I heard they will set up a booth on that night itself for walk-ins, but perhaps RM30 and RM50 tickets only available for walk ins). Hope to see you there! =)

This is the sneak preview of the event flow:

Evening Programme

Venue : Dewan Leong Wan Chin (Perak Girls' School)

Time : 8.00pm - 10.30pm
8.00pm - Opening Prayer (Pastor Ong)
8.10pm - Star wars theme/Joy to the World/Gloria/Hark the Herald (Instrumental)
8.20pm - Oh Holy Night (Acapella) The Picasso's

8.24pm - Breath of Heaven (Ms Shirley)

8.28pm - Away in a Manger (Instrumental Violin Solo)
8.32pm - Come all ye Faithful (Jeremy Guitar Solo) Band
8.37pm - MC introduces choir and conductor
8.38pm - Choir (Medley)
8.41pm - Choir (Silent Night)
8.45pm - Dance
9.00pm - Interval (15 mins)
9.15pm - Pie Yesu (Ms Marianne Poh)
9.19pm - Noel (Ms Juwita)

9.23pm - Believe in Him (Ms Juwita Suwito)

9.27pm - The prayer (Mr Darren Wee and Ms Juwita Suwito)

9.31pm - Sharing and altar call (Ps Kenneth Chin)

10.15pm - Closing/We wish you a Merry Christmas (Mr Kelvin Ooi)



For enquiries, please contact: 05-5472994
www.fgaipoh.weebly.com

Tickets are also available at
Perak Society of Performing Arts
No.28, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, 31400 Ipoh, Perak
Tel: 05-5487814

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Do u have the video of the dances? i m one of the dancer there but dont have the video also... help me plz

Unknown said...

hmm... can i get the video of the dances plz... i m one of the dancers there

sEnGz said...

Hi, Joel =)
I'm sorry I do not have any videos recording for that night performance. Perhaps you can search CT Ang Photography or add this person called Ang Chee Teong on Facebook. He was the official photographer for the night, perhaps he got keep in contact with the videographer. Hope this helps =)