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Getting high with Hillsong Young & Free
I remember the first time I got high with Hillsong Young & Free.
It was late 2013. The Australian worship group just released their first album, “We are Young & Free”. I just started working at GMA News as a social media producer. I was assigned to cover the 5 a.m.-2 p.m. shift when I first heard the band, which is an offshoot of Hillsong United.
To get to work at 5 a.m., I had to wake up at 3 a.m. and leave the house at 4 a.m. It was not easy. But waking up was not the hardest part. From my house, I had to walk for 10 to 15 minutes to get to the nearest bus stop and travel around 30 minutes to get to Quezon City.
Hillsong Young and Free’s “Wake” not only helped me keep up with my odd working schedule then. It helped me calm my nerves as I prayed to get from my house to my work unscathed every day.
As a newbie in a Catholic charismatic community at that time (until now), I am familiar with some contemporary worship music. But Hillsong Young & Free, which is targeted to millennials, was the first of its kind.
Some three years after, I found myself at their Youth Revival concert tour at Smart-Araneta Coliseum one Saturday night (June 4).
The contemporary worship group kicked off loud with “This is Living”, followed by my all-time favorite “Wake.”
A few more upbeat, EDM-infused songs played before Laura Toganivalu (Laura Toggs for short), daughter of Hillsong Church founder and senior pastor Brian Houston, led the crowd in a short prayer.
It was a beautiful moment, I must say, when the crowd allowed her voice to reverberate inside the coliseum. You don’t get to have quiet moments like that in a concert, let alone rave parties.
A few moments after, the rest of the band then came back and sang some of their worship ballads both from their two albums.
Hillsong Church Youth Pastor Peter Toganivalu, Laura’s husband, then came out on stage to give a short talk on what youth revival really means. Of course, he talked about breakups, which is youth’s biggest heartache, he said.
Peter said that while some of us are suffering from “broken situations,” God never condemns or looks at His children with contempt. Rather, He always stands by them. Peter then cited from the Bible the many times Jesus chose “broken” people to lead His church. He can also choose any of us, no matter how “broken” we are.
He ended his short preaching with a song called, “Never Alone”. Peter said it was a song written by one of the members of their youth ministry who grew up an orphan, and was passed on from one relative to another.
I have to admit I cried just a bit. For someone who feels lonely at times, “Never Alone” was a straightforward reminder that someone, some Being rather, always got your back. You are never really alone.
I can tell you more highlights of the show: when they sang “Face to Face” and “To My Knees” and “Where You Are”. But I will never forget how the attendees sang to every word of their songs. Yeah sure, the lyrics were also flashed on two gigantic screens, but these kids know the tune and the exact time the drop comes in a.k.a. their cue to start all the wild jumping. Even the performers stopped singing at some points and let the crowd do the work.
After almost two hours of raising our hands to God, Hillsong Young and Free’s Youth Revival in Manila closed with “Real Love” and “Alive” to a crowd still wanting for more.
MANILA in 1 minute. #YOUTHREVIVAL #YouthRevivalNights
A video posted by Hillsong Young & Free (@hillsongyoungandfree) on
I left the coliseum elated and more hopeful than I was two hours ago. I could tell others were too. I saw kids and adults, still sober mind you, smiling ear to ear and even humming to Hillsong Young & Free’s songs.
If this is the only definition of "getting high," by all means, let us be young and free then. —KG, GMA News
