music is nice

A couple of weekends ago, I went to Montreal with a group of friends to attend a concert from "Distant Worlds" which plays orchestra music from a famous RPG game series called "Final Fantasy" (FF).

I have only played FF7, FF10, FF12, and currently playing FF6, but I am growing familiar with the soundtrack of the other FFs. The first time I attended the Distant Worlds concert was about 2 years ago in Waterloo, and I really liked it since this is a game that I really enjoyed and music is great, and in the projector screen they show videos of the actual game.

On this second concert in Montreal, I was very excited because this time a choir was present (there was no choir in Waterloo) which makes a significant difference. While sitting down, we noticed some people cosplaying as FF characters (black mage, white mage, Fang, Aerith) which was kinda neat.

The concert started with the FF Prelude and I was ecstatic, and really realize how beautiful music (in general) can be, and what great music accompanies each version of this famous game. Other great songs that were played: Don't be Afraid (battle theme FF8),  Zanarkand (FF10), One-Winged Angel (FF7). One of the most memorable one was the arrangement of "Battle Medley" which include 2 of my favorites (Clash on the Big Bridge and Those Who Fight).

Then I started wondering how much does the music influence the game. Like there are times that I play the game in mute (so that I don't wake up my housemates when I played late at night), and it is still ok. But having this great music accompanying the game during the battle scenes, going in-and-out of towns, cut scenes, boss fights, etc... really make the game so much more enjoyable. Like the music is not the main component of the game, but it does make the experience much more better.

When I think about musical worship, I understand that it is very essential to focus on the lyrics of the songs that tells us truths about the greatness of God, because these truths touch our lives and made us want to sing more about how great our God is.

Though it is not the main aspect, the music that accompanies the lyrics can help make the worship experience better for the congregation. I was involved mainly with AV (Audio Visual), and it is easy to look down on AV because nobody really knows who is doing it, and the task seems that it does not require a lot of skill. Though those statements are true, I think that when an AV person does his/her job well (worship slides are readable, change of slides are correct, the vocals are clear, the volume of the instruments are not loud or soft) it makes a huge difference compared to when the job is not done correctly. So as a fellow AV, I encourage each of us to continue refining your skill to serve the church congregation to facilitate a better worship experience with God.

God is good

December is already here, and there are many great things to speak about this special month where we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we read the bible and learn more about our great God, and we always emphasize these attributes: God is love, God is gracious, God is merciful, because we often fall in sin, and experience at first hand that God is loving and gracious.

Sometimes we emphasize on the Holiness of God, on how we ought to be holy as we are set apart to live for Him. On occasions, we also speak about the wrath of God, as the great lyrics of "In Christ Alone" speaks about it:

"Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied "

Because we understand that our sin has offended the just God, and in order to satisfy His wrath, the death of His only Son was necessarily.

It's extraordinary how our worship to God is more refined when we know Him more and more.

A particular aspect of God that we should also speak is the "goodness" of God. I guess we often associate God with being good, and don't really ponder about it too much.

Recently I have been reading a Chinese manga series called "Feng Shen Ji" that takes place in the days of the last emperor of the Shang Dynasty (Chinese history oh yeah). In the story there are many gods that govern everything and puts mankind into slavery, so the emperor starts a rebellion against the gods to give dignity to the humans. It is a very cool fantasy with manly fight and honorable fight scenes. But it made me think about what would happen if our God is not good, and does not always intend to do good to us. The reason the emperor is starting this rebellion is because the gods of the story are only looking after their own interests, and treat humans as toys.

The classic passage of Romans 8:28 assures us that God works for our good no matter what the circumstances are. There is really no reason for All-powerful Almighty God to be good to us, but this is our God, and His goodness compels us to worship Him more.