An impression of Moody's Night

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day by day.” (Psalm 96:1-3)

Seven nights ago (3rd of June), I attended a musical performance (choir) at Crowne Plaza Riverside (In conjunction with The 19th World Chinese Church Music Conference). The performance is named Moody’s Night and was performed by the Women’s Concert Choir and Handbell Ensemble from The Moody Bible Institute at USA. For a little history, this institute was founded in 1886 by evangelist D.L. Moody, and it teaches the Word of God.

There were many people when I reached the hotel lobby. A look on their faces can tell you that they were really looking forward to this event. A lot of them were pretty excited. No doubt, this was a rare opportunity to attend such function and watch a choir that came from a country so far.

Skip...skip...skip (the process of entering the performance hall)......

And so, I chose a place to seat and waited for the time. Meanwhile, Billy and I took some pictures around us.

The night began with the MC making some announcement and introduction. Whoa, his English and Chinese were both equally good (really good!)! He was like speaking in English first and translated to Chinese all by himself.

The president of the Church Music Conference. The woman with spectacles behind her is the Moody's women choir conductor.

Moody's Handbell Ensemble

Moody's Women's Choir

The man wearing spectacles is Christopher. He told a real-life testimonial about how he had been so indulged in the sinful nature of the world but was saved by God's grace and the prayers of the people around him. Praise God, He accepted Jesus as His personal Savior and have repented. In his Mom's point of view, it was purely a miracle from God.

This girl suffers from a dreadful disease since she was one year old. Since she has Jesus in her heart, nothing else matters except Jesus and spreading the Good News to the people around her.

A student of Moody's Bible Institute telling her experience of being a student there.

She is a gifted conductor

And soon, the main event began. The moment I heard the bells ringing, I was taken aback, amazed, by the beautiful sounds of the handbells ringing. My mind wandered off to the 15th century churches, where and when the people rang the bells of the church on Sunday mornings, I could imagined quite a number of church bells ringing in accord and producing sounds so heavenly. This was my first time hearing to these sounds(I didn’t expect the music to be so light and musical, I thought it was going to be heavy and mono.). How wonderful are those musical instrument to praise and bring glory to God!

Altogether, the choir performed 15 songs (there were some more after the concert). Basically, each of the performance sounded great. The choir has a powerful and a melodious voice. Once, they sang a very high pitch without a sweat (at that moment, I looked at the chandelier and thought that it’ll shatter into pieces). In between the songs, there were also real-life testimonials by some of the institute’s students and staff. Their testimonials revealed how God has done wonders in their life and became their place of refuge. Through their testimonials too could we also learnt how wonderful is to know Jesus and invite Him into our hearts to be our personal Savior.

After the performance, I had the chance to inspect the handbells upclose and took a few pictures with the performers. In all, it was a wonderful performance.

The chandelier that I thought was going to shatter into pieces.

Small handbells - produce a higher pitch

Bigger handbells - produce a lower pitch

Brothers and sisters in Christ

To this, I want to share a few Bible verses with you. These Bible verses were some that were quoted and spoken during that night’s performance (try to read word by word and understand its meaning, it’s very precious, its the Word of God).

(1 Corinthians 1:27-29) “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast in him.”

(Psalm 62:5-8) “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God, he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”

(2 Corinthians 5:17-21) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

(Colossians 3:5-10) “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on a new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

(Deuteronomy 31:8) The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

(Psalm 139:7-10) Lord, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make beds in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

(1 John 4:7-11) “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not love God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

So till then, God bless. Jesus loves you.