Yulia's Christmas
"Oh You Wide Meadow", Russian folk song sung in Russian as intro to the first ever Yulia's Christmas concert at St Johns in the City church on corner of Dixon and Willis Streets, Wellington, New Zealand.
This is Yulia's "coming out" performance as a Christian.
Yulia donated 100% of the fees from this concert to Downtown Community Ministry in Wellington, New Zealand to help the poor and needy this Christmas.
Many thanks to Rob and Muriel Ewan and to Margaret and Jane Gilkison for their work with Yulia to put the concert together. Also thanks to choir members, musicians and the numerous other volunteers that contributed to raising money for charity.
ABOUT YULIA'S EXPRESSION OF FAITH
Many generations of Russians have been unable to enjoy the freedom of expression or the simple celebration of faith.
Those of us who were born into cultures that allow freedom of expression, may inadvertently take democracy and freedom of speech for granted. Many peoples and cultures operate in an environment of oppression. In some cases freedoms can be eroded even within democratic cultures and within families. The one thing that most of us agree on is the importance of positive values within our cultures and societies.
Yulia finds a simple excitement in the freedom of each individual to express their spirituality and faith. She comes from the perspective that people the world over share in common with each other that they each want a better life, the right to love their families and to express themselves positively and peacefully. Each person has the right to live and to be loved.
When Yulia married in February 2008 she decided that she would nuture her Christian faith and find a "new spiritual home" in which to grow the values of her family. Rather than to succumb to the pressures of an increasingly amoral entertainment industry, Yulia sought to ground herself in morals and values that nurture family and relationships and that benefit the whole community.
After exploring a few churches she has found such a partnership with the St Johns in the City Presbyterian Church on the corner of Dixon and Willis Streets in Wellington. Formerly a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, Yulia enjoys the balance between the sacred and the informal at St Johns in the City Church. Yulia developed a relationship with the church after "shopping her vision" to help the underprivileged. The team at St Johns in the City embraced Yulia's vision and supported Yulia to establish the new fundraising initiative.
Yulia will become a regular member and attendee of the St Johns in the City congregation. She intends to further develop her repertoire of faith based works and to contribute musically to St Johns in the City. Yulia also hopes to become part of new contemporary music ministries in the "youth church" and lend her voice to contemporary christian praise and worship material. She loves the older and more beautiful songs and lilting melodies and also songs from 70's to 90's church and the music of Parachute Music and Hillsongs.
Yulia's musical aim is to live the values that she communicates, singing songs such as "The Prayer" and Sarah McLaughlan's "Angel", really feeling and meaning them. She says "Perhaps the major difference in 2009 is that my live performances will be more spirited, have more feeling and have more meaning as I find my feet and live positive values day by day."
Yulia genuinely cares about people. She hopes to grow in her own character so that she can contribute something positive to society. She hopes to encourage, inspire and empower people to greater self love and the love of others by being the example.
She also appreciates that there are as many views on spirituality as there are people. Yulia hopes simply to grow in her love for God, her marriage, her family, herself and for others.
Yulia has participated in raising more than $700,000 in donations and bequeaths for NZ charities this year which is an outstanding amount of money in a terrible economic climate. She intends to top that figure by being proactively involved in raising more than $1,000,000 for NZ charities in 2009. Later this month Yulia will perform a free concert for Christchurch, New Zealand cancer patients and caregivers to encourage and inspire them through Christmas.
Yulia's favorite text is 1st Corinthians 13:4-8 and Yulia hopes to become a living example of those values.
Whatever our viewpoints on faith, religion and spirituality, Yulia hopes that we will look to the positive things that we have in common and celebrate these.
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