28 Sep 2024
“He kept pet snakes, rode motorcycles, and liked taking care of fish. All the things that I was most definitely NOT interested in,” responded Huei Yi when asked for her first impressions of her groom.
The guests of Barnabas Liew and Huei Yi’s wedding had a good laugh when they saw Huei Yi’s response to the question, “What was your first impression of each other?” on their wedding day.
Guests from across Malaysia and overseas gathered to celebrate and witness the wedding.
On September 28th, the couple decided to get married a year after they first met at a White Water Summer Camp (WWSC), an organisation that runs Christian holiday camps which they were both passionate about.
Through the camp, Huei Yi got closer to Barney, but she saw Barney’s love for the church and his servant-hearted attitude when he moved to her school as a PE instructor.
After the guest’s laughter had faded, Huei Yi’s deeper response appeared on-screen. “I like his servant-heartedness. He uses his time, money, and energy to serve the church. He is not just a really loud or fun guy. He actually really knows how to take care of others.”’
Servanthood was also carefully chosen as the theme of the wedding. The couple had gone over the sermon materials with Elder Mark Leong, their Growth Group leader in a process that had taken a few weeks.
“I wanted my family and his to understand Christianity not just as something to do as a ‘Sunday Christian’… It’s part of worship to God that involves your whole life, and that includes marriage too,” said Huei Yi when asked about her hopes for the wedding guests.
Among some of the key texts that inspired the wedding included excerpts from Genesis 1-2 as well as Philippians 2:5 on Christ’s servanthood that saved His people.
“God could have started over with a new species, but in his wisdom and mercy, He chose to redeem and restore mankind and the amazing thing is, that he did this by SERVING us,” said Mark Leong addressing the hall of wedding guests.
Philippians 2:5-8
“Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
“God does not exist to serve man, but he chose to serve us so that we might be brought back to live for Him,” said Mark towards the conclusion of His sermon.
Elder Mark Leong preached from the book of Genesis and Philippians on mankind’s goal which was to serve God in marriage.
He also urged the couple to serve God faithfully, despite the busyness of married life. “The challenge for you this morning as you are about to begin this new chapter of life together is to continue living for God. Each stage of life brings…temptations to go back to your old way of living for yourself, with God added on the side to call on for help when you need it.”
After the sermon, Barnabas and Huei Yi took the stage to say a few heartfelt words to their audience. Barney took a moment to appreciate the sacrificial love that had enabled his marriage, especially to his mother who had taken on two jobs to sustain her family and gotten through post-pregnancy complications after giving birth to him.
“You have shown me love day after day, for the family, you have shown me that enduring hardship and perseverance is love, I don’t know how you did it. It’s so hard for me to imitate.” He said as he shed a few tears as he continued to appreciate his mother’s love for him.
Barney was known for being hard-working and disciplined, with high standards that he held himself and his peers to. At that moment, however, Barney showed that his attitude was a struggle as much as it was an aspiration for him.
Similarly, Huei Yi thanked her parents for embodying servanthood as they raised her and her siblings, as her father carried out missionary work and her mother taught them the Bible.
The couple’s final concern was for the Gospel. They refocused their speech and encouraged their friends and family to see what it really meant to be a true servant – to be servants of God for his Kingdom.
Barnabas and Huei Yi thanking Christ Evangelical Reformed Church (CERC) and their respective families for their hospitality and service in making their wedding possible (photo on the left). Barnabas reflects on the sacrificial love from his father (photo on the right).
As the wedding drew to a close, Huei Yi took a brief moment to encourage the guests to reflect on how the Gospel had shaped their wedding. “I used to think that people got married to feel less lonely or because it was their ‘next step in life’, but this wedding is really about how two sinful people are united by God for service.”
The church also prayed for the marriage of Barney and Huei Yi to serve even more faithfully after getting married. God willing, they would raise a godly household for the Lord.
