En Yen Justin Chu

Jesus in the Carols

  I have had Christmas caroling experiences since elementary school while I lived in Taipei. Every year, my mother would bring her English class students to parks and public places to do caroling as a Western culture experience. I did not start doing it myself until I moved to the United States, and the songs and music we use was also different. I went from just listening to basic Christmas songs, to performing the Messiah with my orchestra and other choirs together every Christmas (only 3 actually). 

                                I am the one in red

Messiah - HWV 56 is an English oratorio composed in 1741 by Handel, with text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer.

Messiah is a very long piece of music, so usually we only perform the most famous part, which is the "Hallelujah" from Part 2 scene 7, God's ultimate victory.

While practicing and performing the Hallelujah, I learned a very special custom, which is the custom of standing for the Hallelujah. 

The custom of standing for the "Hallelujah" chorus originates from a belief that, at the London premiere, King George II did so, which would have obliged all to stand. However, there is no convincing evidence that the king was present, or that he attended any subsequent performance of Messiah; the first reference to the practice of standing appears in a letter dated 1756.

This is what the lyrics are, quite simple for a 4 minute piece of music:

Revelation 19:6
Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Revelation 11:15
The Kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.
Revelation 19:16
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Shema

God saves us. God is not in any shape, but we observe, through his actions. We will always follow God's direction, because he is saving us.

P.S: I know I truned this in late, but please give me the extension since I was in Beijing when this was assigned and due. Thank you Ms. James!

I went to Cambodia for my DW trip. Cambodia is a very religious nation. It is mainly a Buddhist country, but this is where Hinduism met Buddhism in the ancient days. The Angkor Wat was built for both Buddhism and Hinduism, and it is also the largest Hinduism complex in the world. 

On this sacred island we live, people are falling.

What is this force that kills them?

Here, us the living ones, come together to this place.

Where do these passed people go?

We come here to pray, for the fallen ones.

Will this force also kill us?

We need to pray.

Will praying keep us alive?

In the centre of the stones built by our people, we pray.

The Sun, blessing all of us here, may kill us too?

The fallen is laid here, and we need to pray.

But do we know if praying can keep us alive?

Picture By: En Yen Justin Chu



Reflection 2

   "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." Ghandi does not want any revenge by violence, or else it would eventually lead to all people suffering. He kept stressing that no one should have any violence against the British police, and it will also show how cruel those Brithish people are.

  " I am a Muslim, and a Hindu, and a Christian and a Jew; and so are you." Ghandi believes that all people who believes in God should all be equal. He was really frustrated when Muslims and Hindus were trying to divide India, also when they were fighting in Pakistan. Throughout the movie, Ghandi always tries to be the mediator of religions.

   This was my first time doing yoga. I do understand how yoga is a ritual for Hinduism. It is a very good way to calm people down, and make people to reflect about themselves. It is especially good for people in modern days since we all live in a very busy life. People get to understand themselves better through yoga.

Reflection 3

   My father's family are all Buddhists, so I have a major influence in regards of Buddhism traditions. Since my father's family is from Malaysia, traditions and rituals are actually different from what we are learning in the class. The meditations that we did does not exist in Malaysia, but is popular in Korea, Japan, Northern China and Taiwan.
   I thought the meditation was meaningful. All eight mediations had a topic, and we can follow the topic to reflect on ourselves. During the meditation, I was very relaxed, and I keep hearing music in my head. In fact, each of the eight topics can be represented by one or just a couple Chinese characters, and it means a lot to me. For example, right act, was what my teacher in Taiwan mentions every single day. We think about what can benefit others all the time. It reminds me of my elementary school days in Taiwan.