Friday, November 21, 2008

Christmas isn't Christmas till it's Christmas....

yes yes. We are supposed to celebrate Christmas only during Christmas. Advent is Advent; Christmas is Christmas...

ok. So what is this that I'm talking about?

We had the privilege of being educated with some theological nuggets by Fr. T at our last meeting. Apparently we are not supposed to have any celebrations or singing of Christmas carols during the period of Advent. Advent is a time of preparation and anticipation for the coming of the Lord, not a time for celebrating His coming. It is a season of spiritual preparation, focusing on His coming. It is also the time for us to ponder the great mystery of the incarnation when our Lord humbled Himself, taking on our humanity, and entered our time and space to free us from sin. The four weeks also represents the 4,000 years from the time of Adam and Eve to the birth of our Saviour.

...well, this is just a little piece of information I have found. Fr. T had also rightly pointed out the meaning of Advent in his little anecdote about why we should only be celebrating Christmas during the season of Christmas.

Indeed, this is enlightening and somewhat akin to a paradigm shift. Because for many, the practice of having celebrations and singing carols before Christmas day has more or less become a tradition of sorts. To change this 'tradition', one would really need a mindset change.

So, as I have put it Christmas isn't Christmas till it's Christmas...

...for now, let us all focus on what we are called to do as a faithful during this season of Advent.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Itchy fingers

My fingers got a little itchy so decided to change the look and feel of the site.
Looks brighter and more vibrant. Don't you think?

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Buzzy wuzzy in anticipation

As we all are familiar that Advent is a period of preparation and hopeful anticipation, I could not help but feel how timely all this was. In some ways, we stepped out of the room yesterday all a-buzzed with some kind of excitement and in hopeful anticipation. The clarity that came after we bounced our ideas all around the room was amazingly clear. The energy I felt among us was something quite unlike what I have experienced before.

Incidentally, Advent is so close too! Isn't this quite a reminder of how we all should feel about the coming of Jesus as an infant; the hope for mankind, the sweet salvation that is to come to cleanse us of our sins, take away our sufferings and at the end of it all, bring us home to our Father....?

I am very sure that there is a sense of renewed hope in each one of us.

Let this Advent be a special one for each and every one of us and for H!MM as well. May it signify a great time of preparation for the wonderful future to come.

Awesome

I was really excited coming out of yesterday's discernment meeting. Also learnt from Fr T. that we shouldn't really be carolling before Christmas and parties should really be during those 12 days of Christmas. New perspective...

For once we saw beyond the confines of what H!MM used to do i.e concerts...to looking way beyond like workshops, conferences and seminars. Areas that are really very new but very exciting. I am excited to see if we can run seminars for parents and share with them the positive impact of what music can do for the little ones to youth. Wow!

The way forward

The meeting today was very fruitful, I thought. Not only did we get small bites of theology from Fr T, we finally have a clear direction about the way forward. I am excited by the possibilities of organising a conference/seminar programme that expands our current conception of music ministry. I am excited about being part of a regular faith formation & spiritual formation programme again. There is a great desire in my heart to grow in a deep way, moving forward once more in my spiritual life. :)

btw, who is nelly welly? i am assuming munchkin & pumpkin is Mark?

Friday, November 14, 2008

Excitement...

For as long as I can remember about my time in H!MM, I have not felt as excited as I feel now...Well, perhaps being involved in the concerts as a singer and sharing some personal stories on stage was exciting but not as much as this..

So what am I excited about?

Firstly, the discernment journey that we embarked on recently has sparked renewed interest in me. For a few years now, I have felt rather lost, disappointed and frustrated at how H!MM has become, how some projects were started and not come into fruition, how lacklustre sometimes people are towards certain things...When I knew of the plans to start the discernment, I jumped at it. This time round, I want to be a little more involved and stop being the follower.

Secondly, I took a huge step out of my own comfort zone: I joined the spiritual team to help plan a spiritual programme for the entire group. I have never ever thought of myself as being particularly spiritual or very in-tuned with God. I dare say that my spiritual life is at its pits for the longest time. I hardly say my prayers. I relied too much on myself and sometimes totally forget the existence of My Creator (and that all things come from Him!). Yet this time round, I took a huge, huge leap of faith and committed myself to it. I did not have to find any reason for my action at all. I just, as Nike's famous slogan would put it, do it! I am not looking for anything grand, glamourous or even glorious out of this. I just felt that I needed to do this for myself at the very least.

I am not even sure I know what the future holds for H!MM or even for myself. I just know that these are the things that I feel strongly about and I wish to be a part of this wonderful evolution.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Start of new journey

So a couple of us old H!MM members are back together again after going our own ways after having kids etc.. So we are now on a discernment journey guided by our spiritual director elect.. Fr T to plan the future of H!MM. Stay tuned as we update this website on our journey.

Birth of H!MM Blog

This is the official blog site of Hosanna! Music Ministry.

We intend to use this humble site to reach out to all and spread the word of God through music.