Coming Soon...

Worship Event - 3:30pm
Crossroads Church, Ferney Voltaire

This Sunday afternoon I'll be leading worship at Crossroads and also teaching and exploring what worship is.

Why do we do what we do?
What is worship?
What's with all the singing?

If you're in the greater Geneva area on Sunday it'd be awesome to see you.
If you can't make it, i'm sure i'll post notes and news from the day on here so check back.

Jimmy

Lights, Camera, Action...

Every now and then in life amazing, once in a lifetime opportunities pop up out of the ordinary that are just too good to pass up. And when they do it's often a good idea to grab them with boths hands a run with them, to ride the wave and see where it takes you.

I had one such opportunity arise earlier this week. And I'm pleased to say I took it.

I had the chance to go to Ravensbourne College in London for the day to be filmed in a studio singing a couple of my songs. Anyone who knows me knows this was an offer I simply couldn't turn down. And so on early Monday morning I grabbed my guitar and a few shirts and caught the train to London (I'm often on trains to and from London so if you ever see me, come and say hi). When I arrived I signed in and was taken by my mate, who had organised the whole thing for me, straight to the studio to meet the crew, the director, the floor manager (The lovely Sophie, who looked after me and brought me water at every opportunity.) and the sound and light guys. It was exactly how I had pictured it and more; Lights, Cameras, more lights, monitors and displays all pointed at the stool where I would be soon be sitting and playing and singing. It looked very impressive.

Behind the scenes in the control room were more TV displays all looking at my stool (it didn't take me long to adopt that zone as my own!). I was taken to my very own green room to get ready, changed into my first outfit, warmed up my voice, tuned my guitar, milking every second of the experience before returning to 'Studio A'.

I took up my place in front of the cameras, surrounded by lights in front of me, and behind and above and below, and waited to begin.

And waited some more.

And then did some more waiting, for lighting to fix shadows and sound to set levels.

Then some more waiting.

Then I was asked to play for the rehearsal run-through and then more waiting and tweaking of lights and lenses.

There was a lot of waiting around that day. A lot of getting everything just right; the right look, the right sound, the right angles, the right colours. Everything was done to the highest level, the best standard. During this time I was given some advice. It was to do with where to look. I had little or no experience working with television cameras and so the best thing was to imagine an audience, or to look for Sophie, the floor manager, and sing to her.

And then it hit me. Surrounded by cameras and crew, lit up light something on MTV and the advice was to play 'to an audience of one.' I had heard that phrase so many times regarding worship leading. I'd used that phrase so many times teaching about worship, that God is the 'audience of one' that you play to, and yet in that new place there was a freshness about it.

Worship isn't limited to a church building on Sunday morning. You can sing to God in the middle of a take in a Studio. You can sing to Him walking down the street. You can sing to Him in the shower. You can sing pretty much anywhere and it all counts as performing to 'an audience of one'.

So I did just that. I sang my songs to an audience of one, and it was Sophie. I was worshipping just as much in Studio A as I have done in Church.

So back to the opportunities thing. It's not just once in a lifetime opportunities we should grab hold of, its the worship chances too. Don't just wait til Sunday, grab every chance you can. Perform as much as you can to 'an audience of one'.

And cut...

Imagine...

I was on the train home from London last night after visiting a very good friend of mine and having coffee with her in a pretty swanky little cafe just off Baker Street. It was getting late and I was in one of the pondersome moods you tend to drift into when gazing out of the window of a train at night and all you can see is black and occasionally the reflection of a old, bald man trying to stay awake on the seat opposite you.

Anyway...

I was thinking about the fact that I could get from my house to London in just over an hour. Sounds quite simple and almost not worth the hassle of thinking about it. But then I wandered on along that thought line and realised that in this day in age, you can get pretty much anywhere in the world within 24hours. This would not have been possible in years gone past.

And then my mind skipped on a few beats [in true Old Man style] to all the 'progress' that has happened over my lifetime so far. Granted, i'm only 24, but already I imagine the conversations between me and my grandchildren...

"I remember the days when we only had 1 tv in each room. and even that only had 4 channels."

"I remember the days when you had to buy your train tickets from machines."

"I remember when planes had loud jet engines and a long runway to take off on."

"I remember when you actually had to steer a car."

"I remember the days when an iPod was a little coloured box you put in your pocket that had headphones to put in your ears, not like the microchips you kids have impanted into your heads"

Ok, so maybe my on train boredom had kicked in by that point.

But it's phenomenal how much technology and society have changed over human history and it's frightening to think how fast things will develop into the future. How things will change and what things will remain and what new things will be introduced.

Imagine then, if you will*, what it must be like for God. He was never created, and He will never die, and so He has been involved in every single second of history. He has inspired new discoveries, he had encouraged inventions and schemes. He has been hurt at cruelty and opression. He has laughed at the greatest comic heroes and cried at the most tragic losses. He has uplifted those who have been beaten down and toppled those who have raised themselves up by evil means.

He is interested in you. He wants a relationship with you. He wants to love you, to help you out, to hang out with you, to know what you like and don't like, to be there where you're hurting, to laugh at your jokes that aren't all that funny, to share what's on His mind with you.

All you have to do is say 'Hi'.

I arrived at my stop, and left the train.

(*Imagine. If you consider yourself an atheist then I encourage you, just for a few moments, to 'imagine', not believe or even accept necessarily, that there is an eternal supreme spiritual being who is in charge of everything.)

Amazing Grace (Remix?)*

"Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that forgave a [man] bitch like me.
You see I kinda freaked her out
She's safe and sound really."

This is an adaptation of a classic hymn to mark a low point in great friendship tonight. I did something really quite mean to a good friend who was sat in her house alone. The lights dimmed to give the impression that no one was in. She was understandably a little concerned of being on her own and I offered some advice;

To watch a scary movie, but not to get caught up in the storyline or it'll just freak her out. but take notes on what each college girl victim does and in the event of some terrible danger, do the complete opposite!

This advice, i realise in retrospect, was thoughtless and mean and caused her to panic and worry. I am truly and deeply sorry for being so unhelpful. I deserved the insulting term she described me as [which cannot be repeated - this is a family blog.].

So guys, I urge you, in view of my tragic mistake, to never take a girls imagination and ability to conjure all manner of impossible and unlikely scenarios lightly. Be careful when offering humorous advice and beware offending their fragile, pretty little minds.

I hope this is a valuable lesson to us all.

[* Please note, this article is drenched in sarcasm and humour and is in no way created to be taken seriously (other than the fact that upsetting girls is hazardous to your health.)]

Church - How hard can it be?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the church [I’m studying theology so I kinda have to!]. I know there are various strong and often conflicting views on church and so I figured I'd add mine to the melting pot.
Now, I am generalising like there's no tomorrow and I know there are churches that do not fit this broadest of brushstrokes.

What is it about the church that people either feel strongly about joining and belong to or just as strongly against it? And my ponderings have led me to a place where I am wondering if it's because the church, to skew a common tagline, 'doesn't do exactly what it says on the tin'.

It seems to me as though the church has somewhat fallen behind the ever moving culture. In a world where everything is available 24 hours a day, 7 days week, the church is still seen as a Sunday morning slot. In an environment where tolerance has taken a firm grip on common sense and political correctness seems to strangle and hinder our every move. In a society that allows you to travel, to shop, to work, to study and get qualifications, to sort your finances without physically talking to another human being, the church still functions on a very face-to-face mode. In a world where internet social networking sites have changed the way we communicate, the church again seems lacking. And even when it does get involved there is a distinct element of cheese. As if public opinion says ‘the church doesn’t belong here’.

Which led me on in my ponderings, and forgive the cliché but, I thought ‘what would Jesus actually do to change this?’. I mean that’s why the church exists right?

To provide a presence in society on Jesus’ behalf.

To carry out the things that He wants carried out.

Would Jesus favour Facebook or Myspace or stand sternly on the cathedral steps rebuking all those who engage in such impersonal networking?
How would Jesus interact with people who believe there is no absolute truth?
What would Jesus think of political correctness?
Where would Jesus hang out? What would He do with His time? Would He drink Starbucks?

All these questions are fine for me to ask. But we, as the Church, need to continually asked ourselves these and then ask ourselves if we’re doing likewise. You see, I think the reason the church isn’t ‘doing what it says on the tin’ is because somehow we’ve lost sight of Jesus and lost ground on being like Him.

This great quote from Karen Ward, of Church of the Apostles in Seattle, USA, kinda sums it up. She says “The cultural view ‘gets’ Jesus was for the marginalized and the oppressed. It is only the church that need to be trained to look at Jesus again. They took a poll in my area of Seattle and found that 95 percent of the nonchurched have a favourable view of Jesus, so Jesus is not the problem. It is the church they dislike, because they do no readily see the church living out His teachings”

And Ghandi put it even clearer when he said “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians because your Christians are not like your Christ.”

So maybe that’s the answer. We just need to be like Jesus. Think like Jesus. Act Like Jesus. Be compassionate like Jesus. Be Selfless like Jesus. Relate to people like Jesus did.

It can’t be that difficult…

can it?

Before the Crowds of Heaven - the story behind the song

'Before the Crowds...' was written a few years ago now but started as a response to a revelation. It's an attempt to capture the heart of a vision I had whilst sat in church. And although i'm not entirely sure of the theological accuracy of my description, and my imagination for that matter, allow me to try to describe that vision;

I saw heaven's throne room in all it's splendour, God, shining a brilliant, dazzling white in all His glory, seated on His throne being worshipped by thousands of angels, some flying around the throne, their wings fully extended as they sang, some stood like a crowd on the floor and others knelt facedown before the King. The atmosphere was intensely worshipful and the sound of the angel's song echoed throughout the heavens. Until one angel arrived at the gate. It was Gabriel, returning from a conversation with a young girl in Nazareth, Mary.

As his angelic colleagues continued their unceasing praise, Gabriel made his way through the crowds towards the throne. He reached the feet of God and knelt as if to report back from his succesful mission and as He did so, heaven fell silent.

At that moment, God the Father turned to His right to look at His Son and simply said "It's time". A loving glance between the Father and His Son implied "You know what to do".The angelic crowd, still silent looked on with a bewildered and 'what's happening?' type concern as Jesus, still in His holy and radient appearance, whiter than white, dressed like the Prince of Peace He is, stood up in full view 'Before the Crowds of Heaven', Removed His Crown and left it on His throne, and began to walk towards the gate.

As He stepped down from the throne, the crowds parted gradually to create a path for the Son to walk through. Although slient, a murmer of disbelief and confusion began to carry across those gathered. And as Jesus walked through, I saw a change. Gradually the Majesty of His glorious appearance faded to the nature of an ordinary, humble man. His face which shone like the sun 'shining in all it's brilliance' became olive skinned and darker, His hair changed from being 'as white as wool, as white as the snow' to a darkened brown and His robe and Golden Sash faded away to nakedness as the Son of God changed from Prince of Heaven to a helpless child before my own eyes;

Infinite and Powerful, Infant now and Beautiful;Almighty God becomes so meek and Mild.
That is where the Vision for me ended. But it's only half the song. I wanted to capture the whole story. To tell of His mission on earth, and of His glorious return to the throne He had left to redeem us.The chorus simply echoes the Word of Jesus Himself, that "Greater love has no man... than to lay down His life for His friends" and ends with my response:

I promise You [Jesus] that I'll never forget the sacrifice of God that paid my debt.

(hear the song at www.myspace.com/jimmyorr)