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    Entries in Multiethnic Music (2)

    Thursday
    31Dec2009

    Urbana Day #4 - I didn't know that God spoke Mandarin

    DateThursday, December 31, 2009 at 9:33PM

    Yesterday, I heard a great story about a Chinese student that attended the worship session for the international students. 

    The young lady came to faith in Jesus here in the United States while pursing her education.  She has learned about Jesus in a North American English speaking context. 

    One of the songs in our set was in Mandarin.  While singing the song, the young lady started weeping.  When someone asked her why was she weeping, she said,

     

    “I didn’t know that God spoke Mandarin.”

     

    The young lady was overwhelmed that God loves her so much that He would speak to her in her own language.

    It’s important for us to be mindful of our Christian community's culture because our culture teaches people something about God.  It’s a good practice for us to ask ourselves questions about what are we teaching about God consciously and subconsciously.

    This young lady’s life is changed because of the questions and decisions the leaders of Urbana made about the conference.

    What is your community teaching consciously and subconsciously?  Have a conversation with someone and let me know what your thoughts are.

    Photo Credit: Inno'vision

    AuthorDavid Bailey | Comment2 Comments | Print ArticlePrint Article
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    Wednesday
    30Dec2009

    Urbana Day #3 - Playing for 79 Different Countries

    DateWednesday, December 30, 2009 at 12:13PM

    My job here in Urbana is to play on the worship team for the international students.  It’s been really cool!  The students are from 79 different countries.  As soon as we started playing they were ready to sing with all their heart.  It was awesome! 

    We’ve been singing songs in Korean, Creole, Spanish, Swahili, French, Mohawk, Hebrew, Hindi, and all kinds of other languages.  I’m not bi-lingual by any mean (as a matter of fact, I’m still working on my English), but it’s been good for me stretch my mind to learn another persons tongue, so that I can honor them while I sing to God with my heart.

    Our worship team is ethnically diverse:

    1 Korean

    1 Korean American

    1 Haitian Canadian

    1 Brazilian American

    2 European Americans

    2 African Americans

    It’s been a great experience getting to know one another personally and culturally.

    I enjoy playing at events like this, because we really get chance to get a glimpse of heaven where war will cease and divisions will no longer exist.  People of every nation, tribe, and tongue will one day be singing about God forever. 

    Going through the process of stretching in someone else’s culture puts heaven more in our hearts.  I experienced this on the first day when we went through the list of all the countries that were represented in the track.  The students would stand up and everyone would cheer when their country was called.  When Afghanistan was called one sister stood up.  I celebrated with her while my heart was filled with compassion because of the devastation that America and the Taliban are causing for the citizens of her country. 

    I think I received a piece of God’s heart in that moment.  God loves and celebrates us as His creation and part of His family, while at the same time His heart is broken by the devastation His children can cause to one another.

    When we are together singing, enjoying God and each other, this activity brings a piece of heaven on earth to that moment.   Participating in welcoming and honoring all of the people from these 79 different countries is a tremendous joy.  I want to encourage you to do the same and share about your thoughts and experiences in the comment section of this post.

    Photo credit: Blogroden

    AuthorDavid Bailey | CommentPost a Comment | Print ArticlePrint Article
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