I praise and thank God for the celebration of YCK Chapel’s 59th Anniversary last Sunday. We celebrated by not only looking at the past and giving thanks to God for His love, goodness and faithfulness, but we also took time to look forward, to be prepared and equipped to live in the challenging post-modern world of today. Rev Dr Robert Solomon’s sermon has been impactful to me and I especially like how he described the world today:
- “Forgetfulness of God in the modern age” – In the highly technological age today, where information is at the touch of the fingertip, man can become arrogant and think we can explain everything and therefore become less dependent on God. This can take away the awareness of God in our everyday life, since one may think he/she already knows it all.
- “Religion of the eye” – Everything functions by what we can see. We take in a lot from what we see on the television screen, phones, computers, tablets. If we are not careful in discerning, or are uncritical and just absorbing everything from the screen, we can open opportunity and room for the devil to tempt us with deceitful thoughts and motivations. We can begin to “hear” less of His laws and decrees.
- “Self-indulgence and instant gratification” – In today’s society, many are gripped by materialism. Many are less heavenward-thinking and more are thinking of having “heaven” here on earth; hoping to have the “best” of everything here, e.g. acquiring the best education, properties, clothing, food, etc, We desire to be “No. 1” in almost every area of our lives, so that we become more prone to grabbing the things of this world to get there. Yet, as Christians we know that this world is not our home, we are only passing through. There is still much imperfection and suffering in this world. We should have a heavenward yearning, where an inheritance that is pure and undefiled is kept in heaven for us.
In the midst of all these, it is comforting to know that in YCK Chapel, we have a community of believers, who can be authentic with one another, and encourage one another in our discipleship journey so that none may become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Similar to what Rev Dr Robert Solomon shared, I was in a class recently and we were having a discussion on the prevalence of reality television today. Examples of such reality television programmes are: Survivors, The Bachelor, Extreme Makeover and The Apprentice, just to name a few. The irony is that these programmes seem real, and yet they are all staged. Many enjoy watching reality television as they can relate to the feelings and thoughts of the characters in them.
A study to understand the ideology behind reality television reveals that people in the post-modernistic culture of today desire for authenticity as a reaction to the lack of authenticity inherent in postmodernism, where mass production and masking are normative.
As I reflected on the discussion in class, I begin to thank God for YCK Chapel, where I can see the church growing in authenticity, where people are sharing lives with one another and where a grace community is developing to care not only for its members but also for the world outside. Praise be to God, our Father, who is unchanging and everlasting!
By Sister Chen Yahui (YCKC Bulletin 12&13 October 2013)