On Sept. 27, Yeh joined with 50 other Chinese youth and a Catholic Christian praise and worship band called ScattErED at St. Agnes Kouying Tsao Catholic Church for Singspiration. Yeh had attended praise and worship events at school and on retreats, but only learned about Singspiration while on a retreat over the Labour Day weekend.
“I am able to channel all my thoughts through music and this always helps calm me down and think things through in a positive way,” she said.
Singspiration is a term coined by Chinese Catholic youth in Markham for praising the Lord through contemporary Christian music. Alvin Cheung, 25, the pianist for ScattErED, explained the meaning behind the word: “It comes from singing and inspiration. We try through our music, through our songs to inspire others to worship and praise.”
The event was started initially for the high school youth group at St. Agnes several years ago. Later, the band adopted the event for its older, university-aged audience.
“When we started reaching out to the university students, we started hosting separate monthly events and we just kept at it,” Cheung said.
Singspiration happens the final Friday night of each month at St. Agnes. To prepare, the band practises every Monday evening for two to three hours. A theme, songs, prayers and sharing times are planned for the event, said Michael Wu, 27, ScattErED’s worship leader.
Past themes included discipleship and following Jesus in July, growing in humility in June and devotion to Mary in May.
“After choosing the theme, we gather songs for our set list with different energies. We might start with something more upbeat, then prayerful and end with something upbeat. The dynamics of the song can change and project a different mood,” Wu said.
“We had times when it was during Lent and we would have reflective songs that were soft and low-key,” Cheung added.
For Yeh, Singspiration allows her to enjoy reflection with God.
“You get that feeling when you just know that He is with you. I am able to channel all my thoughts through music and this always helps calm me down and think things through in a positive way,” she said.
To keep with the theme of a post-retreat Singspiration, pictures from the retreat were added alongside the song lyrics on a picture slideshow. The set list included a few more praise songs in Chinese or Chinese translations mixed with the English version.
“We tried to play songs in Mandarin, just to keep that presence and spirit of the camp for the participants,” Cheung said.
For example, Hillsong’s “One Way” was sung with half the song in Mandarin. “Seed,” or “Jung Tzee” in Mandarin, was also added.
“God’s given us many languages, like the Holy Spirit coming down to allow us to preach in our own tongues. It doesn’t matter if it’s English or French or Latin, it’s the same meaning,” Cheung said.
While Wu led opening prayers, Fr. Thomas Loh led prayer intentions during the reflective part of the Singspiration. After the upbeat part, Loh said closing prayers and blessed the youth.
Wu said that it was a rare opportunity to have a priest take part in the event.
“There are religious people around (at St. Agnes) but they are usually busy. We were fortunate that Fr. Loh was able to be with us and pray with us. That was awesome,” he said.
Afterwards, the youth were invited to pray before the tabernacle with quiet reflective music.
“I really enjoyed seeing familiar faces again, and the atmosphere of youths gathering together to worship God, since I don’t get to experience that much in my life,” said Yeh.
Wu stresses that Singspiration isn’t just a “once-in-a-month” type of event.
“So when people gather to sing and praise, they learn new songs and they can continue to look them up and enjoy the song after,” said Wu, which is exactly what Yeh did after the event to expand her library of worship songs.
Wu also emphasized that ScattErED provides the music for Singspiration for a greater cause.
“In a sense, we’re just musicians. They (participants) sing as an audience. We’re in the audience of God too.”
(Chen, 20, is a journalism student at Ryerson University in Toronto.)