SIBU: The Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) Sibu branch will hold a Christmas procession starting at Sibu Town Square here on Dec 13. Participating churches include the Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) Church, Methodist Church, and several independent churches. The Catholic Church is the coordinator of the event with Rev Fr Vergeer as organising chairman. He told a press conference at Sacred Heart Cathedral yesterday that he hopes more participants will take part in this year’s procession. “Every year, this event draws thousands of people. I hope this year will draw a bigger crowd and I pray that God would bless us with good weather,” he said. According to him, there will be four floats, each bearing a theme. He said the Catholic Church’s float with the theme ‘Annunciation Scene Float’ would lead the procession. “Then we have the ‘Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem Scene’ float from the Methodist church, ‘Shepherds and Angels Scene’ float of the Anglican Church and ‘Three Wise Men Scene’ float of the BEM. Also in the procession are five bands. Fr Vergeer said the procession was themed ‘Jesus, The Saviour, Who is Christ The Lord’. “The event will start at 6pm with a welcoming address by chairman of ACS Rev James Chin Jun Jun, followed by opening prayer, praise and worship, scripture readings, Christmas message and lighting of Christmas candles,” he said. “The procession is expected to begin at 7pm,” he said and urged participants to assemble at the Town Square by 5.50pm at the latest. The route for the procession: Town Square – Bujang Suntong Road – Pulau Road – Channel Road – Mission Road – Lanang Road – Central Road – Wong Nai Siong Road – Kampung Nyabor Road – Ramin Road – Town Square. Praise and worship and stage performances will also be held at the main stage of the Town Square. According to Fr Vegeer, Sibu is a town with the largest number of Christians. In general, Sarawak has one million Christian with about 500,000 of them Ibans. Meanwhile, the function organising secretary Eta Ting said the Catholic Church had rolled out a lantern making competition for Catholics. Also present at the press conference was the function organising committee vice-chairman Alex Lim.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 02:22:00 +0000