PELITA - The Methodist Church Newsletter
Listed below are articles abstracted from past issues of PELITA
Sept/Oct 2007 - To Be A Blessing To The Nation
Prayer Convention
More than 10,000 people gathered at Stadium Malawati Shah Alam on Sunday, 2 September to celebrate together as Methodists and the nation’s 50 years of independence. Many churches from the different Conferences in the Klang Valley closed their Sunday service for that day and joined in the thanksgiving celebration. They were joined by not a few other churches from States in the north and south of the Peninsular.
The service reflected the diversity of the communities that make up the Methodist Church in Malaysia. In addition to a 500 strong choir, presentations from the CAC, SCAC, SIAC and TAC expressed the variety of hymns, songs and dances, languages and forms that made the worship a memorable one.
YB Datuk Maximus Ongkili, Minister in the Prime Minister Department, was invited to attend. He expressed thanks to God for his blessings to our nation these past fifty years and welcomed our celebration as a church together with the nation. He remarked that the Methodist Church was one of the most multi-cultural and multi-racial he has seen in the country.
However, the people called Methodists were reminded of its unity through the celebration of the Holy Communion. The whole stadium partook of the elements in remembrance and confession of our one Lord, the Head of the church.
The sermon by Bishop Hwa Yung was appropriately delivered on how the church is called to be a blessing to our nation. The call and promise to Abraham that Yahweh will bless him and make him a blessing to the nations are still applicable to the church today. As Abraham was obedient and journeyed to an unknown land and future, lived as an alien, often unwelcomed, yet his trust in God’s promise saw blessings come to him and his descendents. In turn they were a blessing to others around them.
This was the challenge Bishop Hwa Yung gave to the gathering that morning. As we looked on the scene of 10,000 people gathered, about 10 percent of the adult members of the Methodist church. What if Methodists sought to live in obedience, holiness and integrity, what might God be able to do through the Methodist Church for the blessing of our nation?