ON HOLY SATURDAY, April
7, 2007, about 4,500 students from the 15 Methodist schools and
some 1,000 members from the Methodist churches came together as
a Christian family to "Walk for Love and Walk for the School".
MethodistWalk 2007 was organised by the Methodist Schools' Foundation
(MSF) for the students to raise funds for equipment and the building
development of their Methodist schools.
The Guest-of-Honour, Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Manpower, flagged
off the walk at 8.05 am. Together with his wife, he took part
in the walk.
Among others who took part were Bishop Dr Robert Solomon, Chinese
Annual Conference President Rev Khoo Cheng Hoot, Emmanuel Tamil
Annual
Conference President Rev
James Nagulan, Trinity Annual Conference President Rev Wee Boon
Hup, General Conference Women's Society of Christian Service President
Mrs LaureenOng, MSF Chairman Mrs Joni Ong, MSF committee members,
school board members and school principals.
Themed "Walk for Love. Walk for School", the students
did more than just raised funds. They had the opportunity to reflect
on the "great last walk" that Jesus took on the way
to Calvary. And today we can continue to walk with Jesus who offers
us joy, victory and everlasting life.
The programme for the morning started as early as 6.30 am with
all participants assembling at ACS (Independent). After a welcome
address by the MSF Chairman, Mrs Ong, the Rev Paul Nga called
the assembly to worship, and a song item and a mime were presented
by ACS (I) and Living Waters Methodist Church respectively.
The event saw a great bonding
and love between the schools, churches and the MSF in serving
our Lord for His Kingdom's glory.
The weather was fine, and it was a wonderful sight seeing the
children and church members walk and reflect while some pastors
jogged.
The primary school children walked 2.2 km while the secondary
school children, joined by the church members, walked the 4.3-km
route.
The schools raised a total of $1,357,092 (unaudited). Church and
corporate donations amounted to about $150,000, making a total
of $1.5 million raised.
The morning's sermon, aptly entitled "Focus on Holy Saturday",
was given by Bishop Dr Solomon.
Referring to Holy Saturday, also called Low Saturday, he said
it was a terrible Saturday, an absolutely low day for the disciples.
Everything seemed to have been lost. Jesus had died on the cross
and His body was laid in a tomb. It was all over. That was what
they thought, and that was how they felt.
"Today, 2,000 years later, we have the benefit of hindsight,
and the knowledge of history. We know that Jesus rose from the
dead on the following day, on Sunday. But one day can make such
a lot of difference.
Walk with God - and we walk into the dawn
"On Saturday, the disciples felt awful. Why did
Jesus not do anything to prevent His own death? Not that He had
no power to do anything. When the heartless people taunted Him
asking Him to come down from the cross, why did He remain on the
cross and suffer so much? Later, it would all become clear to
them.
"Jesus died on the cross offering Himself as a sacrifice,
paying the penalty for all the sins we have all committed. The
human race suffered from a curse - the curse of sinful hearts,
and certain death.
"Jesus died our death so that we can live a new life. If
we believe in Him, we can come to know God personally as our Heavenly
Father who loves us so deeply that He sent Jesus to save us."
When Jesus was crucified on the cross, He entered into a cosmic
duel with the three enemies of the human race - the devil, sin
and death. These bullies had tormented human beings since the
beginning. But nobody had succeeded in getting rid of them or
defeating them. When the disciples saw Jesus at work, they knew
that at last here was someone who could save His people.
The Bishop continued: "Today is Holy Saturday. The disciples
felt that all was lost. God seemed to be absent from their lives.
His presence and power seemed to have been removed. They felt
lonely and confused. Hope was lost.
"We may feel like what it felt that Saturday as we live in
between the tragedy of Good Friday and the hope of Easter. Our
minds may conceive of great and noble things but our real lives
may be somewhere else. We are neither here nor there.
"If you feel like that, take courage. God is present. He
comes to be with us. The Risen Lord, the Saviour, is here to walk
with us.
"We are walking today to
raise funds for our schools. But at the same time, this walk is
a reflective walk, to help us think about our lives and the meaning
of life, about what is important in life, how to live in a way
that brings deep satisfaction."
The Bishop urged those present to walk with God, who alone could
satisfy them deeply.
"You are never alone. If we walk with God, we walk into the
dawn. We wait for Him, for His new Kingdom to come, when all things
will be set right, when there will be perfect justice, and every
tear will be wiped from our faces."
The MSF would like to thank Wesley Methodist Church for sponsoring
the event and all those who served quietly in the background in
making the fund-raising event for the future of Christian education
a success.