I've never been much of a reflective person. I'm not a pensive creature, though I'd like to consider myself one. Well, I do over-think sometimes. Mostly about life-giving stuff like where to get my next cuppa... and how long it'll take to travel from point A to B etc. You know, the important things in life.
When Yinky casually hinted that I should contribute to the blog (okay, she basically told me to "write a blog post!") I felt that it was time to get my brains working, fulfill my duty as the other half of Cove Red and get down to sharing my thoughts, as Yinky has faithfully done so for the past few weeks. (sheepish)
Yes. I'm deeply ashamed.
Without further ado (read: procrastination), here's the Cove Red story through my eyes.
Since the start of Cove Red about 1.5 months ago, life has been unpredictable, crazily interesting and terribly exciting - and busy too! As mentioned in previous posts, we've played at some really interesting/weird events and places. Some of the most memorable ones are the interfaith dialogue at a Sikh Temple where we attempted to sing a prophetic song to a group of puzzled and mixed group of listeners (we literally had to remove our footwear before entering the hall and nearly donned a head scarf!) the monthly humanist gatherings where we're fast gaining popularity (for the music, not our faith) and interest (for our faith, not just the music) It's just been so much fun talking to new people who are super enthusiastic about slamming our Christian faith and shooting hard questions that we find impossible to answer because with every attempt to rebut comes ten more questions. =) That's how passionate they are. And we love it, though we feel sad that they've yet to fathom the fact that the simple truth of God is the answer to ALL the humanly hard questions, and that is not sufficient to satisfy their palate for sophisticated scientific hunger for proof. (as if Darwin's claim for Evolution being the reason behind all developed creation has already been proven to be true) =P
Anyway, that said, I'm even more ashamed when they revisit church history with us. The bloodshed, the ugly side of the bride. =( We hate it. But that is why we're there. To show them there are people, Christian people, who don't mind being ridiculed for our faith, if only to show that we are not hard, religious nuts who love to impose our rules on unbelievers and slam them for not believing in our God (yes, the same God who endorses FREE WILL and practices LOVE) A guy we met last night, Dan, said something like this, "at least I feel comfortable having a conversation with you two Christians". That just hit home for me.
I think at the end of the day, Cove Red exists not just to churn out bloody good music. I feel that because we're so weird/random/nonchalant about how others think of us/ unafraid of hearing not-so-nice/vicious things about our faith etc, we're the perfect candidates to infiltrate the enemy's camp filled with the confused/bitter/hard-hearted/strange/proud/hurting, camouflage with our "secular" music and unchristian and unconventional ways of befriending the POWs, and attempt to rescue some! "One more for Jesus!" LOL.
I'm not sure what the future holds for us really. We've encountered much more and done way beyond what I thought we would do within the short span of 1.5 months. And we're ready for more. International ministry to the crushed n oppressed etc (like orphans, human trafficking victims etc, hungry etc) and local ministry to the materially comfortable but poor in spirit alike. We just want more. I believe He will honour this as we desire more of His presence and sink our teeth into His meaty word of truth and life. The glory dust incident was already such an assurance to us that He's with us on this. It's not merely our good ideas, but His! What an assurance indeed!
Anyway, tomorrow spells the start of our retreat. Yay!
By the way, if you're free next Wed (1st April) from 8pm to 10pm, do come down to the Wild Oats Cafe at Mt Emily to catch us live! =) We're the featured artists of the month, so we'll be sharing some originals.
Here's the link to location map: http://www.wildrocket.com.sg/WO-contact%20us.htm
Have an awesome weekend, dear readers!
Cove!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Welcome Note & Some Prayer Requests!
WELCOME to COVE RED's SECRET BLOG!
I'm pretty sure you're here because of our (Yinky and mine) Facebook msgs. =) AH... the wonders of technology. Anyway, we'll be updating more stuff here as often as we can! For now, you can pray for:
- Upcoming gig @ Humanist gathering this THURSDAY. Pray for smooth setup (sound was terrible), open hearts as we sing and share some stuff about the songs and what we think about Compassion.
- OOOM5 Performance (Originals Only Open Mike) Next Wednesday! We're featured artists of the month, so we'll be performing some originals and sharing our stories behind the songs. Pray for connection, open hearts again, distinct difference between us and other performers because of His Presence.
- Upcoming Red Lanterns Selections (an acoustic showcase). It's kinda like an audition. If we do get in, we'll get a chance to perform at their showcase sometime later.
- VERY IMPORTANTLY, Yinky and I will be retreating into our coves (or rather, YMCA...If we get a space) this SATURDAY and SUNDAY just to take time to pray/worship/think and figure out what to do and what not to undertake. We need clarity, discernment, wisdom, revelation, sensitive hearts/ears/spirits, empowerment, and of course energy as we filter and figure
out what our direction should be as a band and even as individuals.
Thanks dear friends for taking time to check out this space and for praying and journeying with us! =) We're immensely thankful for your love. Please drop us a comment to let us know your thoughts. If you have a prayer request, do feel free to drop us an email @ cove2red@gmail.com so that we can uphold you in prayer as well!
Love lots!
Rach
----------------------
For Yinky's friends who haven't read my mail, *hi, i'm rachael!* here it is!
"Dear friends!
My friend, Yinky (Su Yin)and I recently formed a band called "Cove Red" Well, basically, our aim is to infiltrate the music scene and "invade the darkness with bloody good songs!".
Our heart's cry is to reach those beyond the church's radar. The poor in spirit, the atheist, the oppressed, the burdened, the hardened, the captive. We hope to do that by combining music and missions (local and overseas), and sharing our original songs and stories at various gigs etc.
It's been a good 1,5 months since we started Cove Red, and God has been ridiculously blessing us with amazing favor with the most unlikely ones (christian-bashing humanists/atheists/agnostics) and crazy opportunities (performed on local TV, at local arts hub (Esplanade) hip youth centre in town (*scape) etc) It's been a wild ride! We figured that we needed some serious prayer covering and support from you guys..
..We're thrilled to be a part of God's revolution to redeem His people through first reclaiming the Arts! Are you?
Love,
Rach aka Cove"
I'm pretty sure you're here because of our (Yinky and mine) Facebook msgs. =) AH... the wonders of technology. Anyway, we'll be updating more stuff here as often as we can! For now, you can pray for:
- Upcoming gig @ Humanist gathering this THURSDAY. Pray for smooth setup (sound was terrible), open hearts as we sing and share some stuff about the songs and what we think about Compassion.
- OOOM5 Performance (Originals Only Open Mike) Next Wednesday! We're featured artists of the month, so we'll be performing some originals and sharing our stories behind the songs. Pray for connection, open hearts again, distinct difference between us and other performers because of His Presence.
- Upcoming Red Lanterns Selections (an acoustic showcase). It's kinda like an audition. If we do get in, we'll get a chance to perform at their showcase sometime later.
- VERY IMPORTANTLY, Yinky and I will be retreating into our coves (or rather, YMCA...If we get a space) this SATURDAY and SUNDAY just to take time to pray/worship/think and figure out what to do and what not to undertake. We need clarity, discernment, wisdom, revelation, sensitive hearts/ears/spirits, empowerment, and of course energy as we filter and figure
out what our direction should be as a band and even as individuals.
Thanks dear friends for taking time to check out this space and for praying and journeying with us! =) We're immensely thankful for your love. Please drop us a comment to let us know your thoughts. If you have a prayer request, do feel free to drop us an email @ cove2red@gmail.com so that we can uphold you in prayer as well!
Love lots!
Rach
----------------------
For Yinky's friends who haven't read my mail, *hi, i'm rachael!* here it is!
"Dear friends!
My friend, Yinky (Su Yin)and I recently formed a band called "Cove Red" Well, basically, our aim is to infiltrate the music scene and "invade the darkness with bloody good songs!".
Our heart's cry is to reach those beyond the church's radar. The poor in spirit, the atheist, the oppressed, the burdened, the hardened, the captive. We hope to do that by combining music and missions (local and overseas), and sharing our original songs and stories at various gigs etc.
It's been a good 1,5 months since we started Cove Red, and God has been ridiculously blessing us with amazing favor with the most unlikely ones (christian-bashing humanists/atheists/agnostics) and crazy opportunities (performed on local TV, at local arts hub (Esplanade) hip youth centre in town (*scape) etc) It's been a wild ride! We figured that we needed some serious prayer covering and support from you guys..
..We're thrilled to be a part of God's revolution to redeem His people through first reclaiming the Arts! Are you?
Love,
Rach aka Cove"
yay orchard!
it's awesome. i spent the last 2 years praying around orchard (to me orchard = the full length of orchard rd).. did a couple of meeting-strangers-type of things within the last 3 months and getting to know abit about ppl who hung out there.. and tada! finally get to play at Youth Park (building...), the randomest thing. this wasn't part of my 'agenda'..
more! we want more!
think ultimately i still want to see orchard rock with hard-core worship (involving the explicit use of Gawd's name and Jesus freaks running around town).
---
next up (with no rest for my angry finger):
3rd humanism meetup! it's interesting this time (well, actually every time it's 'interesting') cuz the topic is compassion...
was listening to Psalm145 by shane&shane and was reminded of how compassion is God's very nature.. how do you discuss compassion with a group of anti-god/Christian/church pple? when the body of Christ is the very community meant to embody compassion.. and you know as well as anyone that we don't. how can i claim to know the God of compassion, having so little of it myself?
thinking of doing elegy (mine) and a couple of those 'streets of london/philadelphia' - kind songs. and hopefully eeleen can do open up which will be incredibly perfect..
once again, i'll be content just having the opportunity to get to know more of them.. but it wld also be good to have an informed opinion/conviction on the topic..
limited prac time cuz of schedule clashes (anyway my finger hates me).. hope we can pull it off. it's in 3 days' time!!
that's it for now.
pls pray for us! thanks!
love,
red
more! we want more!
think ultimately i still want to see orchard rock with hard-core worship (involving the explicit use of Gawd's name and Jesus freaks running around town).
---
next up (with no rest for my angry finger):
3rd humanism meetup! it's interesting this time (well, actually every time it's 'interesting') cuz the topic is compassion...
was listening to Psalm145 by shane&shane and was reminded of how compassion is God's very nature.. how do you discuss compassion with a group of anti-god/Christian/church pple? when the body of Christ is the very community meant to embody compassion.. and you know as well as anyone that we don't. how can i claim to know the God of compassion, having so little of it myself?
thinking of doing elegy (mine) and a couple of those 'streets of london/philadelphia' - kind songs. and hopefully eeleen can do open up which will be incredibly perfect..
once again, i'll be content just having the opportunity to get to know more of them.. but it wld also be good to have an informed opinion/conviction on the topic..
limited prac time cuz of schedule clashes (anyway my finger hates me).. hope we can pull it off. it's in 3 days' time!!
that's it for now.
pls pray for us! thanks!
love,
red
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
amazed + confused
the following is partly imported from my xanga..
---
check out Cove Red on facebook:
7 past events since Jan 28, 3 upcoming events for the month of mar and apr.
is that ridiculous or what?
this is the kind of thing i asked God for in 2006.. when i just came back from the States..
and it slowly just came to pass. almost nothing for 2.5 years, then BOOM..
and the humanists, orphans, religious leaders, half a million singaporeans who watch ch5, potential future leaders in social justice.. are more than i could've ever imagined reaching since dec '08 (bt timah cc kids' library thingy)...
it's so huge, it's just going way over my head..
i am.. amazed + confused. looking back at my list of goals for 2009.. not one of these things were on my list. not even remotely close to being on it.
and while all this stuff is going on and more performance opps come along.. i remember that bringing freedom thru music to the (physically) oppressed was a big motivation for both of us (separately, before we knew each other) on this mus missions journey.. inspired by musicians who work with IJM and the like. keep pressing in and looking out..
for our current perfs, we like pray for spiritual impact thru our music as we intercede, treat it like worshipping outside of the church.
i mean, how apt do you think "look at the stars, see how they shine for you... your skin + bones.. turn(ed) into something beautiful.. and you know, for you i'd bleed my self dry" (yellow, coldplay) is for a humanist meeting on evolution? or "if you're lost you can look and you will find me, time after time", to a group of malay orphans?
it's so cool to have a partner (rach) who is real bold and on about proclaiming Jesus and loving people as i would (love to). who spoke confidently in a group of leaders and followers of different religions, about how the Bible says that God sings over us, and how we're clean because Jesus has set us free (shane + shane, you and i)! and for her own solo debuts throughout the island (two Sats this month, we'll be supporting her at 2 of the most popular performing venues / youth hangouts in singapore), her aim is to connect with her audience thru her life stories - kinda what we do in crusade evan events.
some thoughts on the past gigs:
-evolution meeting: the whole tone of the meeting was v v disparaging towards Christians, God etc. They were obviously having fun bashing 'religious ppl' and God. rach and i sat quietly, listened and tried to pay attention to.. what was going on in their hearts. why are they saying what they're saying? what prev experiences could have led them on this journey towards hating Christians/ the Church/ God?
we could tell by their mocking tone of voice, claims of being "staunch atheists"etc. that there were many with deep-seated hurts caused by some terrible 'Christian' encounter..
we watched a dvd on richard dawkins with the mocking subtitle "God strikes back" that was vv biased.. that aside.. rach and i wanted to bash the 'Christians' who sent Dawkins really bad hate mail / talked to him without any semblance of love or respect..
i wanted to cry at times like those, and when a boy in his early 20's said 'i'm an atheist because i went to a methodist school"..
it's easy to criticise, debate, hate these pple etc. but really.. we're not there to convert pple, set them right, we just want to understand, to love, to find in each one of them the image of God which they themselves are unaware of.. i can't promise you that any of them will become Christians in their lifetime, but i can pray into their lives as i get to know them, respect them as God's perfect creation, and (as a good bro-in-Christ said to me), "i just make sure they can see Jesus (in me)".
the coolest thing is that i got to share part of my testimony on why i'm a Christian to an atheist fella in his early 20's (half the grp was pretty young)- i can't even remember the last time i shared my testimony to a non-Christian, ok? i mean, it was so natural a topic to discuss b/c pple were intrigued as to y we wld spend our time in this God-bashing meeting..
anyway.. i just pray that we can build relationships with them founded on love and respect- not with "i'm gonna convert you!" or "i'll prove that i'm right!" at the back of my mind..
-vday mobile busking at orchard: amazing, got to talk and sing songs of love to a pple group i hardly encounter/ spend time with in my daily life- malay youth. orphans. we loved it and were SO psyched by the experience..!
-interfaith meeting. yup! told you about it up there. sikhs are cool!! they carry daggers around.
-connect-corners thanksgiving photo launch by fellow burmese-outreach-person annie: first time i've ever led worship outside of a Church/Christiany place!
-yinkoh's birthday concert: crazy fulfilment of a dream that's been incubating for years since i started writing songs my first yr in college...!! too much to say.. maybe on a later date..
---
glory dust. it was so tiny and i couldn't believe it was there at first. but rach had seen it before during her times at her prev church + could recognise it. it was even under her long sleeves. light at coffee bean's outdoor tables was dim. only when i stared hard and we rotated our hands/arms slowly, were there moments when i was like "oh yah! got!"
it was dark blue and sparkly. i checked the table etc, looked up and around us but no sign of glittery stuff that could've rubbed off on us. anyway it was under her sleeves which i dare say is pretty impressive, God..
we weren't even really praying.. we had just listened to a sermon on pursuing a life of power and holiness by bill johnson.. and were discussing and sharing, pondering and wondering and dreaming.. and trying to figure out how to explaing to pple what our band name meant..
---
thanks friends, for supporting and praying with us!
God is pretty cool yah?
love, yinky
---
check out Cove Red on facebook:
7 past events since Jan 28, 3 upcoming events for the month of mar and apr.
is that ridiculous or what?
this is the kind of thing i asked God for in 2006.. when i just came back from the States..
and it slowly just came to pass. almost nothing for 2.5 years, then BOOM..
and the humanists, orphans, religious leaders, half a million singaporeans who watch ch5, potential future leaders in social justice.. are more than i could've ever imagined reaching since dec '08 (bt timah cc kids' library thingy)...
it's so huge, it's just going way over my head..
i am.. amazed + confused. looking back at my list of goals for 2009.. not one of these things were on my list. not even remotely close to being on it.
and while all this stuff is going on and more performance opps come along.. i remember that bringing freedom thru music to the (physically) oppressed was a big motivation for both of us (separately, before we knew each other) on this mus missions journey.. inspired by musicians who work with IJM and the like. keep pressing in and looking out..
for our current perfs, we like pray for spiritual impact thru our music as we intercede, treat it like worshipping outside of the church.
i mean, how apt do you think "look at the stars, see how they shine for you... your skin + bones.. turn(ed) into something beautiful.. and you know, for you i'd bleed my self dry" (yellow, coldplay) is for a humanist meeting on evolution? or "if you're lost you can look and you will find me, time after time", to a group of malay orphans?
it's so cool to have a partner (rach) who is real bold and on about proclaiming Jesus and loving people as i would (love to). who spoke confidently in a group of leaders and followers of different religions, about how the Bible says that God sings over us, and how we're clean because Jesus has set us free (shane + shane, you and i)! and for her own solo debuts throughout the island (two Sats this month, we'll be supporting her at 2 of the most popular performing venues / youth hangouts in singapore), her aim is to connect with her audience thru her life stories - kinda what we do in crusade evan events.
some thoughts on the past gigs:
-evolution meeting: the whole tone of the meeting was v v disparaging towards Christians, God etc. They were obviously having fun bashing 'religious ppl' and God. rach and i sat quietly, listened and tried to pay attention to.. what was going on in their hearts. why are they saying what they're saying? what prev experiences could have led them on this journey towards hating Christians/ the Church/ God?
we could tell by their mocking tone of voice, claims of being "staunch atheists"etc. that there were many with deep-seated hurts caused by some terrible 'Christian' encounter..
we watched a dvd on richard dawkins with the mocking subtitle "God strikes back" that was vv biased.. that aside.. rach and i wanted to bash the 'Christians' who sent Dawkins really bad hate mail / talked to him without any semblance of love or respect..
i wanted to cry at times like those, and when a boy in his early 20's said 'i'm an atheist because i went to a methodist school"..
it's easy to criticise, debate, hate these pple etc. but really.. we're not there to convert pple, set them right, we just want to understand, to love, to find in each one of them the image of God which they themselves are unaware of.. i can't promise you that any of them will become Christians in their lifetime, but i can pray into their lives as i get to know them, respect them as God's perfect creation, and (as a good bro-in-Christ said to me), "i just make sure they can see Jesus (in me)".
the coolest thing is that i got to share part of my testimony on why i'm a Christian to an atheist fella in his early 20's (half the grp was pretty young)- i can't even remember the last time i shared my testimony to a non-Christian, ok? i mean, it was so natural a topic to discuss b/c pple were intrigued as to y we wld spend our time in this God-bashing meeting..
anyway.. i just pray that we can build relationships with them founded on love and respect- not with "i'm gonna convert you!" or "i'll prove that i'm right!" at the back of my mind..
-vday mobile busking at orchard: amazing, got to talk and sing songs of love to a pple group i hardly encounter/ spend time with in my daily life- malay youth. orphans. we loved it and were SO psyched by the experience..!
-interfaith meeting. yup! told you about it up there. sikhs are cool!! they carry daggers around.
-connect-corners thanksgiving photo launch by fellow burmese-outreach-person annie: first time i've ever led worship outside of a Church/Christiany place!
-yinkoh's birthday concert: crazy fulfilment of a dream that's been incubating for years since i started writing songs my first yr in college...!! too much to say.. maybe on a later date..
---
glory dust. it was so tiny and i couldn't believe it was there at first. but rach had seen it before during her times at her prev church + could recognise it. it was even under her long sleeves. light at coffee bean's outdoor tables was dim. only when i stared hard and we rotated our hands/arms slowly, were there moments when i was like "oh yah! got!"
it was dark blue and sparkly. i checked the table etc, looked up and around us but no sign of glittery stuff that could've rubbed off on us. anyway it was under her sleeves which i dare say is pretty impressive, God..
we weren't even really praying.. we had just listened to a sermon on pursuing a life of power and holiness by bill johnson.. and were discussing and sharing, pondering and wondering and dreaming.. and trying to figure out how to explaing to pple what our band name meant..
---
thanks friends, for supporting and praying with us!
God is pretty cool yah?
love, yinky
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