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Concert tickets
Event: Michael Card in Mount Carmel—Concert
Date: Sunday, 11 July 2010
Time: 2.30pm
Venue: Hope Sanctuary, Mount Carmel Bible-Presbyterian Church
*****
The afternoon opened with two song items, El Shaddai and My Tribute, by event organiser Chew Leong Ho and an accompanying pianist. Following a short introduction, Michael Card took the stage at about 2.45pm with I Left Everything To Follow You, a musical reflection on the all-or-nothing decision to follow Christ—possible only because of the revelation that “What You called me to offer/Has really set me free/Cause You left everything to be with me”.
Card followed that inspiring piece with three others, all with very different lyrical angles but delightfully linked by theme—the call to worship: Love Crucified Arose, Come Worship The Lord, and Sweet Adoration (a Brown Bannister and Dawn Rogers cover). To my husband’s and my surprise, he then left the piano for the lectern and proceeded to talk about what he called his project for the rest of his life—the Biblical Imagination Series. We had not been previously informed that this “concert” was actually a concert-workshop, and in fact was the second/concluding session (the first session happened the day before).
Although unprepared for a seminar/workshop, we benefited greatly from Card’s sharing, especially since his take on “Biblical Imagination” is somewhat similar to our personal ideas on how best to study the Scriptures. Card spoke earnestly and enthusiastically about the importance of engaging with the Word of God at every level of the “informed imagination”, especially since Jesus’ technique of speaking in parables worked by capturing His listeners’ imaginations.
To Card, the imagination is “the bridge between the heart and the mind”, and we need to learn to use it because mankind became fragmented after the Fall—resulting in what he calls “heart people” and “mind people”. Neither of these is able to fully engage with the richness that is in the Word of God because human hearts and minds are finite and feeble, unable to comprehend the immensity of the spirit realm.
To demonstrate his Biblical imagination method, Card first showed a series of maps and photographs of Israel, relating them to incidents detailed in the Scriptures. He then brought us on a walkthrough of the gospel of Luke, using details like Luke’s personal background and unique use of medical terms to highlight and explain aspects of this book in comparison to the other gospels. Judging from the murmured responses across the auditorium, he did manage to help the audience begin to appreciate the Bible differently.
A short break ensued, after which Card seemed to take a more relaxed approach. Although he did continue to share insights and revelations from several passages of Scripture, he interjected these with musical interludes.
Immanuel, All That Was Lost, and Only His Wounds were followed by what I personally felt the most powerful portion of Card’s sharing that day—a discussion on lament and how “realness” is essential in the Christian walk, and how our confusion, pain and laments are actually “an appropriate offering to God”. Truly, I do not think the Church today realises just how important it is to truly understand and properly support those who are suffering! I am inspired to explore this topic more, with or without the help of Card’s book, A Sacred Sorrow. Come Lift Up Your Sorrows, which Card declared his “favourite” song, preceded a longer, heart-warming extrapolation on seeing people as Jesus saw them, and “looking for the miracle behind the miracle”.
To end off, Card reflected on Christ’s human life, challenging the audience to consider the differences between the Bible’s and our modern understandings of “foolishness versus wisdom” and “sanity versus madness”. His closing items, Joy In The Journey, God’s Own Fool and Grace Be With You All sent us off to our (hopefully!) contemplative dinner discussions at 5pm, full of renewed wonder at the beauty of our God and His Word.
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