Sunday, July 20, 2025
6th Sunday after Pentecost
Scriptures: Luke 10:38-42
Message: “Opened her home”
Preacher: Rev. Lian Chin-Siong
*** Announcements for the Week of July 13th ***
***Special Notice***
Hello brothers and sisters in Christ! May the peace of Christ be with you!
The Taiwan CDC has loosened its policies on the COVID-19 restrictions. However, it’s an enclosed space inside the church. As a result, please observe the following guidelines when inside the church premises:
1. Please make sure you have your masks properly worn when entering and inside the church. Disinfect your hands with alcohol if necessary. Maintain social distancing whenever possible.
2. If you don’t feel well, exhibit symptoms of cold, or have been in close contact with people who are contracting COVID-19, please consider to stay at home and participate the online service instead.
3. Food and drinks are conditionally allowed inside the church compound.
Thank you and let’s worship God together on Sundays!
Electronic Sunday Bulletin
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SERVE IN EM
Come and serve in EM! You can join the Liturgy, the Audio/Video team, the Praise team, the EM Choir, the Homeless Ministry team, or the Kids Club. Email: emcaresforyou@gmail.com for more info.
A SONG NOT OF SELF, BUT OF GOD
(1 SAMUEL 2:1-10; LUKE 1:46-55)
Rev. Lian Chin-Siong
When Hannah gave her long-awaited son Samuel to the Lord’s service, she didn’t weep in reluctance, but broke into a powerful prayer—a song, really. This “Song of Hannah” is one of Scripture’s most moving expressions of trust and surrender. Her prayer overflows not with focus on her own fulfillment, but on God’s justice, sovereignty, and grace.
Hannah had suffered years of barrenness, mockery, and sorrow. Yet in her deep anguish, she cried to God—and He answered. But here’s the miracle beyond the miracle: Hannah did not cling to the gift. She gave Samuel away, not because she had to, but because she wanted her answered prayer to glorify God, not herself.
Hannah’s prayer foreshadows another woman’s song centuries later—Mary’s Magnificat. Mary, too, bore a son through a miraculous circumstance. She, too, sang of a God who scatters the proud, lifts the lowly, fills the hungry, and brings down rulers. Both women bore life through God’s intervention, and both offered their children back to God’s purposes.
What stands out is not just the miracle of birth, but the posture of worship. Neither Hannah nor Mary uses the word “praise” in a formulaic way, but every word they speak is praise. Their songs are not self-congratulatory testimonies but proclamations of God’s strange and wonderful ways.
This challenges us to reconsider our own prayers. Do we come to God only to ask, or do we come to align? Do our prayers seek only solutions, or surrender? Like Hannah, are we willing to let our weakness become a vessel for God’s glory, even when the answer means letting go?
True prayer is not about securing outcomes; it’s about transforming hearts. It makes our souls magnify the Lord, even in scarcity or pain. It reorients us to see that the heart of God is not limited by human status, plans, or expectations. The stone the builders rejected can become the cornerstone.
So may your life, like Hannah’s and Mary’s, become a song—not one that highlights your strength or achievement, but one that quietly, powerfully tells of God’s marvelous work. Even if no one hears your melody but God, may your life echo His justice, His grace, and His glory. Amen.