CHRISM Concert

After an opening welcome speech by Deacon Adrian and Fr Moses Lui in a pre-recorded telecast, the crowd warmly welcomed the first performance from a local band, as it belted out three contemporary Christmas songs. But there was no doubt that it was Bro Brendan and CHRISM that they were waiting for. After playing an icebreaker to start the night, Bro Brendan kicked off the music event with the song, ‘Awesome God’ and ‘Jump Around’.The young people responded enthusiastically to the songs, especially to the songs of Catholic worship leader, Matt Maher, to which they had been introduced at the L2M Youth Conference. Some great new material from Hillsongs was also introduced.

As the night mellowed, we welcomed CHRISM’s bass guitarist Paul Theseira who shared his personal testimony of how the Lord touched his life. Next, Fr Eddy invited the youths to respond in coming forward if they wanted to serve the Lord. Francisco Overee then led the crowd to be prayed over. Some young people from the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Johor Bahru came forward to help with prayer.

But the night was not over yet. In the spirit of Advent and Christmas, CHRISM led some simple carols and the crowd sang along to the familiar tunes. By this time, the crowd was very warmed up as they jumped and danced to the closing songs.

One participant posted on facebook ‘At some point, I just let go and worshipped to my heart’s content… that moment that so rarely happens, came rushing in, all the memories, good and bad came flooding in and I could sense the awesome grace of God and so how? I lifted my arms, my voice, my heart and said, “God, I want to… start again and began to weep”’

For CHRISM, this concert welcomed back many of its members who had left Melaka for study and work. In addition, it was a debut for a few new singers and musicians. CHRISM is seeking to build its team with young, passionate and talented young people especially from the Melaka District and is constantly looking for new members. It plans to provide workshops on worship and music early next year, and looks forward to future opportunities to bring Catholic Praise & Worship to the Melaka-Johor youth groups. Search for CHRISM on youtube next year!