There were no fancy flowers or showy gifts at City Harvest’s Father’s Day service last weekend, but a drama and a sermon that touched every father’s heart.
Contributed By Amanda Jayne Lee
CHC’s Father’s Day drama, Project Fatherhood, reiterated the importance of family ties.
This year’s Father’s Day weekend service at City Harvest Church was celebrated in a heartfelt way with a special drama production dedicated to fathers.
Project Fatherhood depicted the lives of two fathers and their less-than-perfect relationships with their children. Mike, played by Bernard Loh, is a documentary director working against the clock on a film on fatherhood. When his interviewee plays him out, he is forced to rope in his own father (Jace Lee) for the documentary. Though his father exhibits strange behaviors, such as wandering off in the middle of a shoot, or forgetting what he said two minutes ago, Mike is too caught up in his work to notice that anything is wrong. It is only when Mike’s pregnant wife (Low Shun Ai) brings his father to the doctor that they discover the old man has dementia. The stress of the situation causes Mike’s wife to go into labor, and it is only at the waiting room of the hospital that Mike and his father reconcile and reminisce about the close-knit relationship they had when Mike was a little boy.
The play was not without laughs: the auditorium rocked with laughter at foiled romantic attempts of Mike’s two interns in love, Sam (Lucas Chia) and Chloe (Maxcelin Tan), which included a sexy MSN webchat gone severely awry when Chloe’s over-protective father (Nelson Tong) chances upon his daughter’s laptop.
Mike’s story struck a deep chord in the hearts of many who were in church that day, particularly fathers who often find themselves so busy at work, they cannot find the time to spend with their children.
Prayer and blessings for the fathers during the Father’s Day weekend. CN PHOTOS: Cristopher Teh & Ryan Ng
Lawrence Yeo, 45, a business consultant said he could really relate to Project Fatherhood. “The drama was very touching; it showed the pain of parenting and raising children, and how sometimes when your child doesn’t understand, their negative words can hurt and wound. But we try to be unconditional fathers and keep on loving. The drama really triggered that painful process.” Yeo, who attended service with his wife, has a 17-year-old son.
CHC’s senior pastor Kong Hee preached a short but power-packed message on the five Cs that great men (and women) possess: Compassion, Consistency, Cooperation, Commitment and Courage. These five Cs are what God is looking for, said Kong, quoting from 2 Chronicles 16:9, “’For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.’ The greatest challenge is how to live for God 100 percent in front of everyone.”
His fortifying Father’s Day message boiled down to this question: “How can I live in a way that I am a man of God to my family and my children?”
It was certainly a thinking point for the men in the church. Keith Lee, 32, said, “It taught me to be a stronger man for my family, and also a stronger man in relation to the church and to my wife as well.” Lee is a father of an 11-month-old daughter.
Kong ended the service with a prayer of blessing for all fathers and every man in the service.
