ABSTRACT
Standing with a copy of English-Chinese Hymns of Life in my hands during a worship session, I wished I had been somewhere else. This very much sums up my worship experience at a traditional Chinese church in my teenage years. I was physically present in the church but my heart was somewhere else.
At the age of sixteen, I had a meeting with the pastor in my church. He was a very kind gentleman but I felt a bit misunderstood as he kindly advised me not to go to any rock concert lest those drug-taking music fans would affect my spiritual life. I appreciated his good intentions but deep inside my heart, I felt disillusioned. ‘I’m going to those rock concerts just because I love the music; after all, not every rock music fan that I know is into drugs and all that,’ these words came to my mind after the meeting with my pastor.
