First Chinese Baptist Church (FCBC) Youth Choir recently put on another fundraiser for My Refuge House. In addition to an afternoon of showcased talent, some great Filipino food and people gathered together to support a common goal– FCBC raised over $4000 to support the girls at My Refuge House!
Enjoy this lovely narrative from one of our board members, Carrie, and if you’d like to see the concert for yourself Click HERE.
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Youth Choir Performance at FCBC
I’ll be honest. I can’t sing so I love to hear a good choir. There’s something moving about the strength of voices banned together and united in song. Can I get an “Amen” Sister Act fans?
I’ve heard it said that the heartbeats of choir members align while singing, beating in the same rhythmic patterns. I love that!
I recently attended a youth choir benefit concert at First Chinese Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The teens were extremely talented, incredibly beautiful and they sing their hearts out. They were amazing!
When the youth at First Chinese Baptist Church heard about the injustice of slavery today and the efforts of My Refuge House to provide a safe home and restoration for girls who once were victims of sexual abuse, they looked at what they had to offer by way of help.
As singers, they realized they could use their gift of singing to spread awareness, raise money to help support the care of the girls and invite others to respond with whatever they had to offer. They sang as a response to the injustice of slavery and in doing so, invited others to also respond using their own gifts.
The Bible tells us that God created his children with talents, gifts, resources and passions. It also teaches us that God invites his people into his great restoration plan to bring hope, justice and healing to those in need so that all people will know he is a good and loving God and to help make things right again, the way he originally intended before the world got so messed up with sin and brokenness. We partner with God to carry out his plan by using how he’s created us to help others.
God told Moses, a shepherd, to use his shepherd’s staff to lead his people, the Israelites out from under Egypt’s oppressive hand. And God used Aaron and Miriam to help Moses. A widow in 2 Kings was told to look at what she had in her house that might be used to keep her two sons out of slavery. She had an empty jar. Yes you read that right; a simple jar – probably a mason jar with a lid and a straw if you ask me. God filled her jar, and the jars of her neighbors in a community effort, with oil that she was able to sell, earning enough money to keep her boys from a life of slavery.
The Bible has buckets full of stories such as these where God uses the very gifts and resources he’s created each one of us with as tools to fight injustice around us.
The youth choir from First Chinese Baptist Church used their gift of song, united in not only their voices, but in the rhythmic beating of their hearts, aligned with the just filled heart of God. Is there anything more beautiful?
Fighting injustices, such as slavery, is important work, and it should never be done alone. First and foremost we must look to the one who is just in the very core of his DNA, Jesus. He is our sustainer and our hope for the world. Secondly, we must look at what He’s gifted us in and with and consider how we might use them to help others. And thirdly, ban together with others exercising our gifts and aligning our hearts as we seek justice and demand it for all peoples.
What’s skills and gifts do you have? Which resources do you have in your care? How might you use your gifts and resources to support MRH?
