By Asst Ps Elaine Ng
At one church camp, the year before our church celebrated its 50th Anniversary, I recall being struck by the words of Psalm 71 as I prepared to lead in one of the worship sessions. I commend you to read the whole Psalm in your own time. Verses 15-18 say
15 My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
of your saving acts all day long—
though I know not how to relate them all.
16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
17 Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
18 Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your mighty acts to all who are to come.
At that time, I was 38 years old and was asked to chair the planning of the 50th Anniversary service*. It was something of a scale not undertaken by our church before, requiring us to book an external auditorium (at St Andrew’s Junior College) and another team organised a dinner that followed the service (at Raffles Town Club). To say the least, it was a daunting task with lots of planning, coordination and preparation beforehand. In that service, besides “standard” service elements, we had a skit, choir presentation, and perhaps our first bilingual service. Our PA/AV team had to rent equipment and work it in an unfamiliar venue. Psalm 71 became my inspiration, the needed word in that season as I embarked on that task. For God’s story, His-tory, should be told “all day long”, “to the next generation” and “all who are to come”. And in that same Psalm, were reminders and assurances that I need to trust the Lord to be my Rock and Refuge, to deliver and help me complete the tasks – “For You have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth” (verse 5).
And oh, how He did! He brought along so many different ones, both experienced and inexperienced ones, to serve alongside. At the closing of that service when we were led to sing “My Tribute” (Andrae Crouch), my tears rolled freely as I joined the congregation to heartily sing
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
For the things He has done
With His blood He has saved me
With His power He has raised me
To God be the glory
For the things He has done
It was a very humbling yet beautiful experience for me as it taught me to trust Him and to appreciate how good it is when the church community comes together to serve together and celebrate together. Truly, it was by His grace and all glory to Him!
Seventeen years have passed since including the 60th anniversary. Our church with its humble beginnings is now 67 years old and moving towards its 70th. In current times, society assumes that any person at that age of 67 would be retired from full-time paid employment. That may be so for many people. Psalm 71 though paints a different picture when it comes to worshipping God, having a vibrant relationship with Him, trusting Him and telling of His greatness day after day, even when old and our strength is gone. Recently, I had tea with 3 of our church founders, Dr Peter Lim, Mrs Loo Pui Ying and Ms Dorothy Ho. All of them were in their teens when the church was founded and all 3 are now octogenarians who are still active serving the Lord! They are willing to continue to pass on stories of God’s mighty acts in their lives, not just of the past or about church history, but also of recent days.
Starting this 67th year, the church staff would like to encourage more people to share their testimonies of God at work in their lives. Honestly, we don’t hear enough of them being widely shared within our community. Some may feel shy or think that their story is perhaps not worth sharing. Every story is His-tory, for God is working all the time though we may not know it and though we “know not who to relate (recount) them”. Hearing them encourages all of us in our pilgrimage towards our destiny in Christ. It would be wonderful if people could start telling their stories of God’s marvellous deeds. It could be a written testimony for the bulletin, a “live” testimony at a service or prayer meeting or someone could help read out your testimony. At our recent Thanksgiving service, we were very blessed and encouraged by a written testimony read out and a “live” testimony. It is my prayer and hope that our community will become one where everyone will be willing to share their God stories with one another and to keep telling it to those who come after. If you have a God story to share, I would like to encourage you to drop me an email or text.
“I love to tell the story
Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and His love”
- “I Love to Tell the Story” by Kate Handkey and William G Fischer
* Note: We do not have a video capturing that service. For those who wish to learn more, some photos of that service are found in our 50th anniversary coffee table book, entitled “Declaring His glory” and a browsing copy is found on the shelf at the entrance of The Well.
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