Jul 2008 – Los Angeles Tour 美國洛杉磯「我們就是見證」祈禱音樂會

Prism再接再勵,在七月五日(星期六)晚上七時半在洛杉磯St. Bridget Church舉行「我們就是見證祈禱音樂會」。這是Prism第一次到灣區以外的地方舉行音樂會,絕對是一個愉快、難忘、意義重大的旅程。感謝支持Prism的朋友,特別是邀請及招待我們的林健漢神父和St. Bridget的教友們,還有和我們這群嘩鬼相處了多天的韓大輝神父(現任總主教)。我們只是一群微不足道的青年,整個旅程卻有幸獲得多位神師和教友鼎力相助,讓我們深深感受到天主的眷顧。非常感激天主一直照顧着我們,在Prism身上成就各種奇蹟。

Prism一直都活躍於三藩市灣區,為何會衝出灣區到訪洛杉磯呢?事緣要追溯到三月的音樂會翌晚的檢討分享。對於一個籌備多時,還有很多空間做得更好的福傳節目就此完結,大家都感到可惜,便商議有沒有再次演出的可能性。經過一番商議,夢想果然成真!有着洛杉磯堂區的支持和韓神父再次到訪加州,我們得以順利籌備,向第一次衝出灣區的福傳旅程進發!

七月四日(星期五)
雖然我們其實居住在灣區不同的城市(有成員更住在Sacramento!),但因為大家都十分興奮,一行十六人一早便駕車到集合處等候。由隨團出發的韓神父帶領早禱,然後一同吃早餐。原本是計劃九時出發,可是我們卻為着我們「久別重逢」而興奮聊天。幸好還有神父是清醒的,在他三催四請之下,這群「頑皮的羊」還是遲了四十五分鐘才出發。

我們總共有四架車一起出發,互相照應。原本美國國慶的長週末的交通是十分繁忙的(加上遲了出發),幸有天主的眷顧,經過所有道路都奇蹟地暢通無阻。沿途風和日麗,心情也非常輕鬆愉快,轉眼便到達羅省華人天主堂(St. Bridget’s Catholic Church)了。我們感到很榮幸受到本堂林健漢神父和多為教友的熱心招待。安頓了一切之後,我們便到聖堂,由韓神父帶領祈禱,感謝天主賜給我們一個異常順利的旅程,也祈求上主保守翌日的音樂會。然後,我們到鄰近的地方走走,喝杯下午茶,輕鬆一下。休息過後,便參與St. Bridget國慶彌撒,我們懷着喜樂和感恩的心,來參加主的筵席。接着我們與St. Bridget團體一同用膳。在此感激St. Bridget宴請這個既豐富,又好吃的晚餐呢!晚餐過後其實經已十時了,但這時才是Prism開始工作的時候。因為我們的低音吉他手不能隨團,唯有找當地的朋友幫忙。為了讓他熟習歌曲和增加默契,我們便增取時間在深夜練習,幸好沒有搔擾到鄰居,大約凌晨二時許,終於可以洗澡休息了!

七月五日(星期六)
在韓神父的「嚴重警告」之下,我們不敢遲到了。大夥兒準時九時出發,與林神父和韓神父一起吃早餐。跟着便回到St. Bridget為音樂會準備。雖然時間充裕,但陌生的地方,繁複的音響設置,加上疲勞的身軀令我們的綵排效果堪虞。原本熟練的歌曲卻連連甩拍走音,精心編排的對白也忘記了一大半。綵排的效果的確嚇壞了不少St. Bridget的教友,在此僅致歉意。正當距離音樂會只剩下一小時,Prism還竟決定用這些時間休息小睡遍刻,令大家加倍擔心。幸好平安,緊靠天主的心果然湊效。短短的休息便讓我們感到精力充沛,和神父一起祈禱後更充滿了聖神,Prism終於可以精神奕奕地開始福傳音樂會「我們就是見證」。

音樂會的流程基本上與三月的大同小異。我們刪減了一首歌曲讓氣氛更緊湊,對白也作出了適量的修改,為的是讓這個音樂會更進步,更加有效地福傳。雖然綵排時一塌糊塗,幸好到正式時大家都沒有浪費之前的努力和心意,表現奇蹟地成功。不但沒有甩拍走音,所有信息和對白都順利地帶出來。觀眾也非常投入,令整個音樂會的氣氛十分熾熱,在一片笑聲和歡呼聲中結束。然後,St. Bridget的教友和Prism成員一起清理聖堂,接着便去到鄰近餐廳宵夜慶祝。大概凌晨時,盡慶而返。梳洗完畢的時候已經接近三時,大家應該都感到十分疲累。可是很多成員因心情仍然十分興奮而睡不著,在半夢半醒中度過餘下的夜晚。

雖然大部份成員都睡眠不足,但卻奇蹟地早起,並精神奕奕地參加St. Bridget的主日彌撒。我們大聲歌頌上主,誠心感謝這次福傳機會。其中一首彌撒曲正是我們在音樂會中獻唱的,成員更按捺不住跟着歌聲做出在音樂會編排的手勢,令在祭台上的韓神父也忍俊不禁呢!彌撒結束後我們繼續與St. Bridget團體歡樂團聚,拍照留念。最後,我們共進午餐,執拾行裝踏上歸途,韓神父則多留一天為St. Bridget舉行工作坊。Prism臨行時向正在進行講座的韓神父,林神父,和教友道別。我們一起歌唱祈禱,氣氛和諧融洽,然後懷着依依不捨的心情離開洛杉磯。

後記
能夠參與這個福傳旅程,Prism一直都很感恩。首先感謝一路以來支持着我們的三藩市教區華人宗徒事務處及其負責人許純娟修女。雖然這次不是三藩市的活動,但也十分支持並鼓勵我們衝出灣區,讓更多人聆聽到福音。此外,我們非常感謝林健漢神父和St. Bridget團體的熱情招待。聽說初時因着另外一個福傳團體會在八月到訪St. Bridget,有一些教友不大支持我們在這個時候來到。幸好林神父的堅持,Prism才得以順利成行。其間,兩個團體一直相處融洽,籌備時溝通順利快捷,音樂會更合作愉快,對大家都是一個充滿着喜樂和平安的寶貴經驗。當然我們還要感謝韓大輝神父。韓神父是一個德高望重的神學專家,卻願意與我們一起用青年人的方式來福傳。Prism成員真的是很幸運,在韓神父到三藩市做研究工作時認識到他,並願意和我們一起傳福音,這個旅程也是他主動提議的。其實這次旅程十分辛苦,他卻從無怨言,跟我們一起在乘坐六小時長途車。沿途和我們一起嬉笑玩耍,同時也認真地準備其音樂會。因着韓神父的和善,我們很喜歡打擾他,無論是宗教,神學,生活,以及前途等問題都會請教他,神父亦會耐心地解答,活像慈父一樣。最後,我們非常感激天主一直在我們中間,為Prism安排各種事宜。我們只是一群「頑皮的羊」,沒有太多天賦的才華。因此卻成了活生生的證據,見證着天主派遣各神師無條件地支持我們,保守我們一路上的平安,並讓聖神來到我們中間,使Prism成為福傳工具。期望天主繼續眷顧我們,讓更多人藉着Prism認識到福音的喜訊!

Prism continue its efforts on to held an evangelization concert titled “We are the Witnesses Evangelization Concert” on July 5 (Saturday) 7:30pm at Los Angeles St. Bridget Church. This is the first time that Prism to hold a concert outside the Bay Area; this was absolutely a fun, unforgettable, and meaningful journey. We appreciate those who support Prism, especially Fr. John Lam, the parishioners at St. Bridget and Hong Kong’s Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, who invited and hosted us while we were there. We are only a group of unworthy of mentioning youths, but we were very fortunate to have support from many spiritual directors and parishioners, that made us feel God’s deep caring. We praise God for looking after us and guided us to achieve many miracles through Prism.

Prism was very active in the San Francisco Bay Area, so why do we go outside of the Bay Area to visit Los Angeles? To find out the story behind this, we will have to go back to the concert evaluation in March. Our team feel that the concert is over so soon, given that there are still potential to improve for a concert, all of the members start to discuss if there is another possibility to perform again. After a long discussion, our dreams came true! With Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai visiting California once again, and the support from Los Angeles parishioners, we were able to make quick arrangements and start our evangelization journey to Los Angeles!

July 4th (Friday)
We have many members living all over the Bay Area (for example as far as Sacramento), but we were all very excited about this trip. We had a total of 16 people, and we all drove to one designated area early in the morning to meet up. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai led us off with a morning prayer before breakfast. We originally planned to leave at 9am, but we were all very excited especially meeting up after a long separation, and we can’t help kept on chatting and chatting to update each other. Luckily, we have Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai kept track of the time, and urges us to leave soon, but we, the mischievous sheep, still ended up delaying 45 minutes before we can start our journey. We have a total of four vehicles mutually taking care of each other on the way to Los Angeles. One would think the traffic over the American National Day’s long weekend would be super busy, especially we delayed our start time, but with God’s blessing, with miracles, there were not many cars on the highway. Under the gorgeous weather, we were all very cheerful, and have arrived at the St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in no time.

We were honored to receive warm welcome from Fr. John Lam and parishioners. After having settled down, we went to the church. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai led us with a prayer; we praise God for a safe drive to Los Angeles, and a success on the up coming performances. We then tour around and relaxed. After a short break, we then joined St. Bridget’s National Day mass, and we had a pleasant and grateful dinner in their main banquet. We would like to thank St. Bridget for the wonderful and delicious dinner! By the time we finish supper, it’s 10pm already, but that is actually when Prism start practicing. Since our original guitar player did not join us, we have to invite a local friend to help out. In order to let him be more familiar with the songs, and plays harmonize with the other players, we practice until midnight. Thank God, we didn’t disrupt the neighbors, and we practiced until 2am in the morning. Finally we can take a shower and rest!

July 5th (Saturday)
Under a “Serious warning” from Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, we did not dare to be late again. Everybody was punctual and meet up at 9am with Fr. John Lam and Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai to have breakfast together. Then, we return to St. Bridget and rehearse for the concert. Although we have enough time to prepare, but performing at an unfamiliar place, along with the complicated music instruments set up, and our tiring body, the rehearsal turned out to be very bad. The songs used to be well prepared were all messed up, and the carefully arranged music has all forgotten. The rehearsal has indeed scared many St. Bridget’s parishioners, and we apologize for the bad rehearsal. Prism have even decided to take a nap when there was only an hour away from the show, which made everybody worried even more. Luckily, with God’s blessings, the short rest actually helped us recharged and we felt energetic again after Father’s prayer. Prism was able to perform successfully once again to complete “We are the Witnesses” Evangelization Concert.

The rundown of the program was basically very similar to the March’s concert. We deleted a song to create a tighter atmosphere, the conversation dialogs have also been revised to make this evangelization more efficient. Although, our rehearsal was very unsatisfied, but we were very lucky that everybody was able to perform at his or her best during the concert, and nobody’s effort was wasted. This has once again proved miracles do happen. We did not only play all tunes correctly, all the messages were given out perfectly well. The audiences were very involved, which made the entire concert’s atmosphere very blazing. We then completed the concert with cheers and laughter. Prism and St. Bridget’s parishioners then cleaned up together after the concert, and went to a restaurant near by for celebration. We didn’t finish the celebration until midnight, and by the time we took a shower, it was almost 3am in the morning, everybody should be feeling very tired, but many of us were still very excited and can hardly fall asleep.

July 6th (Sunday)
Although most of our member weren’t able to sleep last night, but unexpectedly, we were able to get up very early in the morning still and attended St. Bridget’s Sunday mass. Everybody was praising God for this evangelization opportunity, and sing out loud from the bottom of their hearts to praise God. One of the songs used at the mass was also sung at our concert yesterday, and the members couldn’t help it to sing along with the hand signals that were arranged at the concert. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai could not help smiling at the altar server! After the mass has end, we continue to reunite with St. Bridget’s parishioners, and take picture for memory. Then, we pack shortly after lunch and started to get on the road again. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai has decided to stay for one more day to hold a workshop at St. Bridget. Before leaving, Prism said good-bye to Fr. John Lam, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai and the parishioners. We have sang and prayed together harmoniously, then had to start our road trip back to San Francisco Bay Area.

Postscript

We were very pleased and blessed to participate on this evangelization journey. We first wanted to thank our San Francisco Chinese Ministry’s for the long-term support and sponsor, Sr. Hui. They were very supportive in everyway so that more people can listen to our gospel, even though the performance was not held in San Francisco. In addition, we really appreciate for the warm welcoming from Fr. John Lam and St. Bridget’s parishioners. I heard, there were going to be another evangelization event happening in August at St. Bridget, and some parishioners weren’t very supportive on us performing at their church, but fortunately we have the support from Fr. John Lam’s, Prism was able to perform at St. Bridget after all. During this time, the two groups harmonized very well together, communication was very efficient, and the concert turned out to be a great success, which gave everybody a very happy and peaceful experience. Of course, we would also like to thank Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, an expert in theology, nobly willing to come along with a group of youth and evangelize. Prism members is very pleased to know Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai when he was doing research work in San Francisco back then, and willing to evangelization work with us. This journey was also his idea. The trip itself was actually very tiring, but he has never complained, and rides with us on a six hours road trip. We were having so much fun on the road and at the same time, we were preparing our concert seriously. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai was very kind and generous, we always like asking him all kinds of questions on religious, theology, life and our future, and he would patiently answer them all, just like our own father. At last, we really appreciate God standing between us at all times; continue helping Prism on everything. We are a group of “mischievous sheep”, and don’t have much talents. However, God has sent spiritual directors to guide us all unconditionally. God has also kept us safe all the way, and place Holy Spirit in between us, and made Prism his evangelization tool. We hope that God will continue to care for us, and let more people know about his gospel and happiness through Prism.