On 9 September 2017 Saturday from 9am – 11am , we welcome you to work with your hands at the BLC garden. The pioneers of the garden and regulars would be there to guide you along, so don’t worry about not knowing what to do.
BLC Gardening Day – 4 Feb 2017
Did you know BLC has a community garden?
Well, we do (it’s been growing for more than a year now!) and it’s under the care of a regular set of volunteers who enjoy gardening… and the fellowship that comes out of gardening together.
Our next opportunity to meet and do gardening together is coming soon. You’re invited to join us – whether you think you have green fingers or not! It’s just right after Chinese New Year, so for those hoping to lose CNY calories, gardening is a little more fun than indoor gym! 🙂
- Date: Saturday, 4 Feb 2017
- Time: 8:30am to 10:30am (we’ll start gardening first, then wrap up with a time of sharing together)
If you’d like to participate, please contact Charis or email rumahpapa[dot]admin[at]gmail[dot]com. This is an open event – all are welcome!
Read more about our BLC Community Garden adventures here.
A Sunday For Children, A Farewell, And Being A Light To The Nation
It was quite a busy but blessed Sunday for us today.
For our children, Sunday School for the 2017 session kicked off today. It’s such a blessing to see our children grow up year by year. We pray that they will continue to grow in the Lord and the wonderful teacher-volunteers we have will be blessed, encouraged, and strengthened as they serve God and our BLC Family through their ministry to children.
We were also blessed to have Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, General Secretary of the Council of Churches Malaysia, who preached a wonderful sermon on “Being A Light To The Nation”, as part of our sermon series during Epiphany. It was a good reminder that, to be a light – we are called to reflect Jesus, the True Light; and not presume to be the source of light itself.
Finally, it was a bittersweet moment for us as we bade farewell to Derek and Theresa Holtby; who are returning to their home country. For the several years they have been with us, we have been blessed by their family: Derek’s talent with the trumpet as well as being a voice of conscience to us, Theresa’s wonderful kindness and graciousness, and also the wit, charm, and musical gifts of their children. We have been so blessed to have them in our midst; we are sad to see them go but are happy that this is part of God’s plan for them.
Sermon: Christ’s Presence In The Shadows – Rev. Dr. Sivin Kit
Blessed Christmas Day!
We were blessed with a wonderful, simple and meaningful service today.
Our artist friend, Komeil, did an amazing live painting during the service! Here’s the end result:
We also had BLC Family members present Christmas carols in sign language! Check out their practice session here:
We also had Pastor Sivin will also finish up his Advent and Christmas sermon series with, “Christ’s Presence In The Shadows.” Of course, there was the usual pop-culture reference to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story… with Sivin all decked out in what he calls his “Jedi Robes” (*cough* vestments *cough*).
You can check out Sivin’s snazzy sermon Prezi here.
Of course, no celebration is complete without the BLC Family enjoying a meal together. We loved the delicious food catered from our neighbors – Lubuk Bangku D’Cabin Cafe. It was delicious! They’re right opposite us – so feel free to check them out during the week.
Have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone!
Yeshua’s Prayer – Komeil
One of BLC’s blessings is having Komeil as a BLC Family member! He is a talented artist (check out his Facebook page here) and musician.
During our 16th anniversary celebrations last week, Komeil drew us a special illustration for our bulletin cover. Here he is explaining it in his own words (slightly edited for clarity and grammar):
I think the best title would be ‘Yeshua’s Prayer’.
The idea of the moon and its reflection is to express the relation between earth and heaven. The original verse reads, “…on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s when I started to think… “On earth… Why shouldn’t God’s will be done? As perfect as it is in heaven… I draw a perfect moon on earth (below) where Jesus stands, praying.
The moon above is resonating: God is listening. We know how to speak softly, but we may need to learn how to listen softly as well. God listens… God’s heart is soft… He is softer than water… He walks on water…
The moon bellow is the perfect moon… Our perfect God… He would not be our Saviour if He did not become flesh.. The moon bellow is a perfect moon… God’s will on earth shall be so perfectly done that this heaven, the one on earth will shed light on the entire universe.
These are my interpretations as one viewer. Everyone can read the painting in a different way.
Celebrating 16 Years Of God’s Grace To BLC!
Last Saturday, BLC celebrated our 16th anniversary since being “resurrected” on 1 April 2000. Yes, we were aptly founded on April Fool’s Day – Sivin even recalled the sermon during the first service asked the initial 20-or-so congregants, “Are you ready to be fools for Christ?”
To celebrate, we held our worship service on Saturday evening. During the service, we were blessed to have special presentations by the children. We also had a video presentation highlighting scenes from our early years (2000-2004).
Sivin continued the preaching series on The Kingdom Prayer – focusing on “Your Kingdom Come,” where he interweaved stories about starting BLC with the message on what it meant to pray for God’s kingdom to be embodied on earth.
We also had a special bulletin cover designed by our very own Komeil and also printed our story as a take home for everyone. Our altar decoration also featured our first ear of corn from our community garden – a first fruit offering from this cycle’s harvest!
We even wished BLC a happy birthday with a song and a home-baked cake!
Finally, we had a potluck dinner where many folks contributed a scrumptious smorgasbord of food!
Our heartfelt thanks to Michelle and Stephanie for organizing most of the anniversary celebrations today (especially the programme, coordination, and for organizing the massive potluck dinner)! Thanks also to Adeline for helping coordinate, Komeil for the special bulletin cover, Priscilla for the BLC birthday cake, the children for blessing us with musical gifts, Benjamin and the worship music team, as well as Clarice and team for the harvest from our garden. Thank also to all of YOU – for all your contributions big and small.
The church is ultimately its people – this celebration was a clear showcase of that!
More pics here, courtesy of Ben and Vanessa (www.dimanajua.com).
(Check out Alpha’s Facebook Live post on the aftermath of our celebrations!)
