April 14 – Harmony in Diversity Evangelization Concert 和而不同福傳音樂會

2013年, Prism於四月十四日晚上五時在三藩市St.Mary Cathedral下層禮堂舉行了「和而不同福傳音樂會」.Prism 樂團再一次謝謝各位親愛的教友和一直支持PRISM的你們.因為有你們的支持和參與, 造就了這場精彩的演出. Prism 早於半年前便開始籌備這場音樂會.由於有新成員的加入, 大家都擔心沒有足夠的時間去練習並建立團隊成員之間的信任和默契. 感謝天主, 每隔一星期的聚會和排演以及聖神的帶領, 我們得以順利完成這場福傳音樂會.

記得在第一次聚會, Gaga為各位新加入的成員試音, 以便編排唱不同的歌曲. 因為這是新成員第一次接觸樂隊音樂, 我們遇到了挫折和困難. 但隨後在Gaga 和 Lousia 的指導和帶領之下, 我們達到了「和而不同」的境界!現在回想起, 我們表演前兩星期起加緊練習也是值得的.

表演那天, 我們在十時許到達了會場. 我們要在緊逼時間之下完成排演, 場地的佈置等. 雖然我們總是犯錯, 在艱難的時刻, 我們更能表現出「和而不同」的精神. 到了五時正, 表演團員一同走上舞台, 在射燈下表演正式開始. 我們以旋律輕快的 “You are the way” 作為我們的第一首歌曲, 帶起了全場的氣氛. 接着是我們的主題曲「和而不同」. 這首歌的創作靈感來自無論我們身處何位,身肩不同的責任,有着不同的背景,我們也因着天主的愛去學會和平相處. 正正反映着我們這群正在求學或工作的團友, 在百忙之中也能做好這份福傳工作, 實屬難得.

這次音樂會上, 我們加入了默劇的環節. 由我們中最年輕的成員Allyson 主演. 講述人們應以謙遜, 和睦的態度去與人相處以至傳播福音. 故事亦表達了我們兩首歌曲的內容 「法利塞人」及「扎根」. 優美的歌曲和富啟發性的默劇為我們贏得熱烈的掌聲. 在默劇的最後, Allyson召集各團員.他們拼合了各手持的紙板,由執事上拼最後一塊, 形成一個大的心形圖案. 再次帶出我們「和而不同」的主題.

後來, 執事為我們講道, 他帶來了一些生動有趣的故事. 他最後帶領我們進入祈禱之中. 台下觀眾亦手持着我們工作人員提供的心意卡, 寫上祈願, 與周圍的人交換.希望全能的天主會接收到我們的願望. 我們以信友禱文 和主禱文來結束我們的祈禱. 音樂會由兩首載歌載舞的歌曲 「與基督同行」及「愛的證據」來畫上完美的句號. 觀眾拍着謝幕的氣球, 餘興未了, 這使得我們不想離開舞台. 這半年的付出沒有白費. 我們最終完成這福傳工作.

On April 14th, 2013, at the performance hall of the St. Mary Cathedral in San Francisco, Prism performed their “Harmony in Diversity Evangelization Concert”. Prism’s members would like to thank all the friends and families who attended the concert for their continuous and endless support. For it was only because of their participation and support that made this concert not only possible, but also extremely successful.

In preparation for this concert, Prism had begun practicing about a year ago. Due to an influx of new members at that time, everyone had been worried that there would not be enough time to not only practice and memorize the songs, but also establish friendship between the members. Thankfully, a miracle had appeared and allowed everyone to somehow be available to meet and practice every week. Therefore, under God’s watch, we were able to smoothly pass through the hurdles and finish this preparing for this concert.

There was this one time at the first meeting, when all the new members were testing and practicing their singing voices for Agatha, that we encountered our first difficulty. It was the first time for all of the new members to actually be in contact with ensemble music, but luckily, under Agatha and Louisa’s expertise and guidance, we were able to achieve true “Harmony in Diversity”! Now that we think about it, the several tough weeks of practice prior to the concert was really worth it.

On the day of the performance, we arrived at the cathedral at ten o’clock. Under a fierce schedule, we did several run-throughs of the music and skits to ensure that we wouldn’t make any mistakes. At about 5 o’clock, each of the members started walking up onto the stage, and under the glow of the stage lights, we officially started our concert. First, we started off with a fun and rhythmic song called “You are the Way”, which really brought up the crowd’s spirits. Then, we continued with our theme song for the eponymously named concert, “Harmony in Diversity”. This song’s origin came from the fact that no matter what kind of backgrounds we came from, what burdens or responsibilities we bore, and where we were in life, we still had God’s love to teach us how to peacefully harmonize with others. This exactly pinpointed at our own circumstances, since we all differed in our occupations; some students, others already working, yet we still came together as Prism to sing in evangelization for God.

This time, the concert not only included music, but also had skits. Through our youngest member, Allyson, we showed that people should not only be humble, but also be peaceful in their associations with people, while spreading the Gospel. The two stories were an expression of our two songs, “Pharisees” and “Roots” and the beautiful songs inspired an incredible round of applause. At the end of the silent skit, Allyson gathered all the members, and together, with the deacon, they put their various handmade cardboard puzzle pieces together in order to create a large complete heart, thus once again, bringing out the “Harmony in Diversity” theme.

Later on, in the form of interesting stories, the deacon gave us an insightful preach about “Harmony in Diversity” and how to achieve it. Finally, after having the deacon lead us into a prayer, the audience were able to participate by writing prayers on little cards to exchange with the people around them. After which, we ended with the Lord’s Prayer. In terms of music, we also had two very upbeat and fun songs called “Walk with Christ” and “Evidence of Love” that the audience danced to. And bringing the joyous concert to an end was our balloon curtain. With our hearts filled with love, it was hard for any of us to want to leave the stage. But knowing that these past 6 months were not practiced in vain, we really felt that we had finally complete this work of evangelization, and we descended the stage to join our loved ones in our mission to show “Harmony in Diversity”.