by Jack Chui
Last year in 2014, Father Victor approached me near the start of Lent to ask if STAY could host a Stations of the Cross evening for the parish. With so many other things I had to do at the time, I asked for volunteers during the next cell group meeting and hand-balled the responsibility over to one of them with an opened ended guideline - Stations of the Cross. What resulted was the combining of the Firebrandz Choir, Firebrandz Dance and every other STAY member not involved to produce an amazing and reflective interpretation of the traditional Stations of the Cross.
In 2015, STAY/Firebrandz aimed not to take Stations to the next level, but to an even higher level with a production quality event of dance, drama and music. They called it 'Redeemed' and it was produced to bring the passion of Christ in a way Melbourne had not seen before. A video will hopefully be posted to help describe the Redeemed event which words won't fully capture. Hosted on the Saturday before Good Friday, I would like to share my take outs.
Nothing happens without leaders
Redeemed started as an idea by Christabel - Firebrandz Dance ministry leader at the start of 2015 and from there had just under 3 months to put on a large scale event which we had never done before. I realise that without her initiative to put forward the idea, her gathering of people and resources and driving the whole project, nothing of such an event would be possible. It made me see as a leader myself with such perspective how important leaders are in getting things done. This doesn't just apply to those 'appointed' as leaders but those who consider themselves the lowest as well in taking the imitative to pray and act.
Christabel said 'yes' to God and 'yes' to a production Stations of the Cross and with a great vision was able to share it, inspire and encourage others to say 'yes' and for the benefit of the church community and Melbourne, for one night we brought heaven to earth. The Church lacks good leaders especially for youth and Christabel has reminded me how amazing things can happen by just taking initiative. Please keep leaders in prayer as they are so important in bringing God's glory to earth.
Pushed for the best
Aside from the event night itself, the one thing I'll remember was our first full dress rehearsal just over a week before the event after which Christabel told everyone that their dance/drama/music was terrible. I thought it was good/ok with my untrained eye/listening as I was only in small parts and was able to watch most of it but I did not expect such disappointment from Christabel. Lacking life, lacking emotion, timing and synchronisation, remembering moves ... it scared her how bad we were with so little time left and with a lot at stake.
Her straightforwardness was refreshing and required though and it excelled me and the others to practice and go beyond what we thought ourselves was good enough. Too often, I don't think I need to try hard to improve or be better because I'll eventually get there and I'm not that bad at things. But with a week left, Christabel pushed everyone hard to go beyond what we thought was our potential because by doing so, we would give it all for God and His Kingdom such that nothing was held back and so that God was not held back. In doing so God helped us deliver a story that glorifies Him.
Pressure and excitement
Its not often I am challenged or operating well outside my comfort zone. I can barely remember my last acting or performance day back in high school?.. Drama was the first class I dropped for a reason. But I said yes to anything that was needed by Redeemed and so some 'relatively easy' dramas were my performance roles for the evening. Backstage in the sacristy before the event the pressure was like exam nervousness but with a church full of people making sure I wasn't cheating. I hadn't felt so much pressure for what was at stake for a while.
I don't mind pressure because I think I deal with it well, but it brought excitement in what I and the crew could do to bring His passion alive and allow God to speak and be felt to all that watched and performed. I had never done anything like this, maybe watched something similar but it was a delight to be part of something radically different, inspiring and greater than myself. I did what I could not do before and I was happy, not scared because I was doing it for God and His kingdom.
Look at what we've done
From the last words of the movie "The Theory of Everything" (Steven Hawkings autobiographical film which I watched recently). I was reflecting with others how a large scale production involving so many dancers, props, costumes, music, video, lighting, marketing, prayers, choreography, filming would have been possible years earlier when STAY was without Firebrandz. We had not even thought of such dreams or visions before and it had become a reality after a few short years.
While every moment in STAY/Firebrandz is a blessing because of the people that God has gathered in the weeks/days/months before it, the big moments like Redeemed that aren't possible without a lot of people's collaboration was such a clear reminder to me of how we came from very little to be able to do so much. Its another great blessing to be able to witness and be a part of God's work. Like in the movie, it wasn't so much the honour I've received in helping STAY/Firebrandz grow or in being part of a production but the fruit it has borne in others that have come in contact with STAY/Firebrandz.
I am in awe to look at what we've done because it had to have been God who did it through us.
In His Love,
Jack
