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Lost in Translation

We often say and sing in churches ‘Jesus is Lord’ but what do we actually mean by that phrase? What do other people think we mean when they hear us saying ‘Jesus is Lord’?

A lot has been said and written about the content of the songs we use in times of sung-worship, and I think the content is hugely important – we are, after all, called to worship in Spirit and in truth, and to love God with all our heart and mind – but it seems to me just as important to consider how we say what we say.

There are many Christian phrases and jargon that just seem absurd to anyone outside the church or people new to the church. These phrases may well be biblically based, but to someone with minimal bible knowledge or experience singing ‘worthy’ to a baby sheep sitting on a throne just seems plain weird!

But it’s not just the more obscure Jewish imagery that can hinder people expressing their love of God, to God with their fellow worshippers. What about ‘Lord, I’m lifting your name high’? What do we mean by ‘shouting out his praise’?

The book of Revelation is loaded with vivid montages of weird creatures and glorious throne rooms full of words and actions and rituals that express honour and passion for God. The Psalms are full of ancient everyday-Hebrew imagery we’ve stolen and put into modern songs. But I feel there is a ‘lost in translation’ aspect occurring.

The culture in which David wrote the Psalms is very different to the culture we write songs in today. The vision John had of heaven and the end times in Revelation was full of cultural references and symbolism for first century Palestine. The language they used was effective then for that audience, but may not be as effective for our contexts. I’m not for one minute suggesting that the Bible is irrelevant today. But I am proposing we delve a little deeper into the underlying meaning of what David and the other songwriters were trying to express rather than just nicking their lyrics.

Let’s not just consider what we’re saying. Let’s be creative in how we are saying it. Let’s be like the inventive God we love and worship and come up with more imaginative ways of saying ‘God, you’re brilliant. We love you’. Be poetic, be relevant, be fresh, be different, and be original. Avoid those warn-out clichés and predictable rhymes. Find the gaps in our repertoires and fill them with songs that express something in a new way.

That of course is harder work than pinching lines straight from the Bible and playing a chord progression behind them. Song writing is about craftsmanship. Song writing isn’t lazy or just doing enough to churn out another album. Song writing is about art and finesse and skill. But ultimately I believe our churches will benefit from the investment and effort in writing and singing songs that express today’s worship experience, in contemporary language and that make sense.

Love Gives.

How can we ‘Love without limits’?

How do we follow Jesus’ example in the way he loved his neighbours, his friends, his enemies? It’s such an attractive part of Jesus’ life that no matter what faith standpoint you’re coming from, the way Jesus related to people with compassion and respect and love is something to be admired.

And I want to pay particular attention to the theme and aspect of giving in the love-life of Jesus. What role does giving play in loving without limits, without conditions, without prejudice.

A Prayer.

In light of the earthquake and tsunami that have affected many people in Japan and other pacific regions countries, let us pray.

If you want to use this prayer, either personally, in churches or other groups, I hope you find it useful and helpful.

Jimmy

Lord Jesus, Prince of peace, we draw near to you and pray.
As you intercede for us before the throne, so we come on behalf of those in need.
You calmed the raging storm, and so we ask you to still the restless hearts of those in pain.
Bring your peace to troubled places.
Jesus Christ, who calmed the wind and storm,
Hear our prayer and bring your calm amidst chaos.

Holy Spirit, our helper and our comforter, we draw near to you and pray.
As you intercede for us with groans that words cannot explain, so we pray on behalf of those in need.
You are our support and comfort, bringing peace beyond our understanding and so we ask you to be the steadfast truth in the minds of those in shock
Bring your comfort in confusion and commotion.
Holy Spirit, our comforter and helper,
Hear our prayer and bring your calm amidst chaos.

Father God, creator of heaven and earth, we draw near to you and pray.
We intercede in Christ Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit and pray on behalf of those in need.
Your ways are higher than ours and your wisdom infinitely greater. And so we ask you to give wisdom to those in difficulty and mercy to those who hurt.
Let your hope emerge from the debris of tragedy.
Father God, maker of heaven and earth,
Hear our prayer and bring your calm amidst chaos.
Lord, have mercy.
Amen

Three

"You're a worship leader?" he said in a broad Northern Irish accent.
"Yeah, yeah, I have been for a while. Haven't led for a bit though." I replied, slightly hesistantly.
"That's fantastic, mate. Well, would you'ze fancy leading here one Sunday?"
"Yeah, that'd be great."
I swapped contact details with the Irishman, with his fair hair and funny little 'soul-patch' beard perched just below his bottom lip, and thought nothing more of it as he walked away. Within minutes he was back.
"Jimmy, mate, I've managed to double-book myself for next weekend. I don't suppose there's the slighest chance you might be free to lead the worship here would you?"

I was a vistor. My friend was drumming in the band. Now, I was being asked to lead worship at a church I barely knew but for some unkown reason I agreed to cover.
The following week, with a makeshift band I led the songs. After the service I was asked if I was going to the meeting on Tuesday. It turned out that the worship leaders were meeting the following Tuesday and, seeing as I was now one of the worship leaders, it made sense that I was there.

And I've been here ever since.

Previously, I'd been beaten up and cut deep by the last church I was involved in; a church where I didn't fit. It was arguably the most painful experience of my life. I was totally disillusioned with church. How could Christian's claim to follow Jesus and yet be so narrow minded, so cruel, so heartless? I was never angry at God because he hadn't done anything wrong. But I was pretty much done with Church... until that conversation with Andy Flan on the stage at Church.co.uk three years ago; triggering a chain of events that saw me go from visitor to part of the family within the space of a week . Old wounds were gradually healed here. Forgiveness was allowed to brew here. People here quickly became my friends and helped to pick me up, dust me down and help me get going again.

I've been part of CCU for three years now and as my role here has developed, from visitor, to worship leader, to student on placement, speaker, running a small group, helping co-ordinate the worship team, being invited onto the Church Leadership team, being employed to develop the music and arts work... all the way along I've never stopped being grateful for the way this church played such a part in my recovery. Being part of the leadership of this church is a real privilege for me and every day I try and give something back to the community that gave so much to me.

Thank you Church.co.uk. And here's to the next chapter...

New Songs

At the end of last year I posted lyrics to two new songs I had written. I now post what those lyrics should sound like. Enjoy.

 

 'You Say' - Jimmy Orr © 2010

'This is the Church' - Jimmy Orr © 2010

Worship Together?

We seem to be living in a church culture where most people's definition and understanding of what worship is all about would probably involve something to do with singing and music. Often in church settings when we use the word 'worship' we actually mean 'music'. The worship leader is actually the music leader. "Let's move into a time of worship" acutally means "let's start singing".

Now, I'm not for one second suggesting that music and singing has no place in worship. Firstly, I'm a musician; I love music and I love God and I love the church so the more I can combine the three the better. But we need to remember that worship is so much more than only singing or music. And I'm not talking about the whole "Worship-is-a-lifestyle" thing either. I mean within our corporate gatherings, when a bunch of Christians get together to worship God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for who he is and what he's done for us, worship means more than music. Worship and Singing are not words that are interchangeable.

"When you Pray..."

Prayer. We've all done it at one time or another. Often it's at a point of crisis or desperation when all else has failed or when a situation is totally out of our control. At other times it's in moments of extreme emotion - an outburst of joy or excitement or a cry of grief or heartbreak or confusion. Sometimes it's routine, sometimes it's spontaneous. Sometimes it's read from a set book, sometimes it's made up on the spot, off the cuff, out of the moment.

The one common thread through it all is that prayer is communication with God. In fact, that's the dictionary definition of Prayer: the act of communication with a deity.

To some, that definition doesn't come as much of a surprise, and maybe you were hoping for a more detailed and in depth exposition of what prayer is, but I think that there is a beauty in that simplicity...Prayer is communicating with God.

Christmas Invitation. (A Liturgy)

O come all you faithful, all you sceptics, all you who believe and you who doubt.
Come and see the baby in a manger who is born a King.
We are here to see the Christ Child.

Come like the shepherds; just as we are. Invited by the heavens to share in the mystery -
The mystery of the Word become flesh and pleased to dwell among us.
We are here just as we are.
We are here to see the Christ Child

Come like the wise men; driven by intrigued and wonder.
Determined to find what they are looking for and awestruck when then do
We are here to find what we are looking for.
We are here to see the Christ Child

O Come all you faithful. Come in wonder and intrigue; in humility and awe
We are here to see the Child; Christ the Lord.

Joy to the World: Mary's Song.

The Magnifcat (Luke 1:46-55); It’s sung across the globe around this time of year in thousands of churches. It’s called the Magnificat because that’s the first word in the Latin version. My soul magnifies the Lord – we’re talking magnifying in the telescope sense rather than microscope. We’re not taking something small and making it bigger, we’re looking at something huge and getting a detailed glimpse of a fraction of it.

It’s exciting. My Soul Glorifies the Lord and my Spirit rejoices in God my saviour!

We’ve lost the music and the tune she sang it to but you can almost hear the passion and excitement and wonder and amazement in Mary’s voice as this incredible experience begins to sink in. It’s like when an athlete becomes world champion all the interviews afterwards are loaded with phrases like ‘I can’t believe what has happened, it hasn’t sunk in yet’. People trying to put into words the extreme emotion they’re bursting with. And that’s what Mary is doing... but why?

She’s maybe 13/14/15 years old. She’s just been told she’s pregnant. She’s signed up to nine months of scandal because Nazareth, where she’s grown up and where she lives and where she’s engaged to the local tradesman, is a small town where everyone knows everybody else’s business. And a pregnancy outside of marriage will not go untalked about – oh no! Conversations over garden fences, outside Sainsbury’s, on buses, in the street – they’ll all be about Mary. Poor little knocked-up Mary.

But still she sings.
And what she sings gives us a hint of the kind of girl she is.

New Lyrics: You Say

You say 'love the poor', and 'seek the lost', and 'help the weak'
You say 'shout for those who have no voice; who cannot speak'
Putting others first, living life with joyful mercy
The purpose of the Church is to live in humble service
Here I am use me

You call us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves
You call us to give selflessly, to share the wealth
Loving those hurt, binding up the brokenhearted
the purpose of the Church: to carry on what Jesus started
Loving those in need

You will not forget or leave us, God, you're always here
You give us a hope that never fails, that perseveres
Not left in the lurch, your Spirit is our help and comfort
The purpose of the Church, empowered by our loving Father

Christ my Lord
O I adore you
Here I am use me

Jimmy Orr ©2010

Don't just talk, Tell the Story

We are officially in a very magical time of year. It's December. There is snow all across the UK at present. But more importantly, we are in the season of Advent.

Traditionally advent is the period before Christmas when the Church awaits the coming of Baby Jesus, the King, the Christ. It's a time punctuated with carol services and nativity plays and various other Christmassy events. Candles are lit and advent calenders help countdown the days until 25th December. It's all very, very exciting and can often see the most reserved of grown-ups transform with the giddiest, childlike anticipation of Christmas Day and all that brings.

In the church environment preparations increase for the expected rush of people craving carols and free mince pies and mulled wine. It's a time of year when people, who would not usually set foot inside a church without good reason, may decide to venture inside the door to experience the religious side of this holiday.

It is for this reason that I offer this advice, which I saw on a whiskey advert recently and that struck me as the Lord working in mysterious ways: 'Don't just talk; tell the story'

To those who lead churches or have the opportunity to speak this Christmastim - Don't just talk, Tell the story. Don't just churn out another sermon, tell the story of the Word of God becoming human. Tell the story of Mary and Joseph - God using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Tell the story of sheperds - the socially despised work force being the first to be invited into the adventure. Tell the story of a child born a king, who inspired wise men to travel huge distances just to pay respect. Tell the story of a child who set a whole city on edge, how he would grow up to be the most famous person in history.

And to those who may not be speaking to the masses but will have conversations this festive season, Don't just talk, Tell the story. Follow the shepherds' example. They told everyone they met about what they had seen and heard and 'all who heard were astounded'.

Don't just talk - don't waste words on complaining about the inconvience of the snow and how stressful the journey to work is and how we're never prepared for snow yada yada yada -

Tell the Story

New Lyrics: 'This is the Church'

The broken, the beaten, the 'outcasts', the 'heathens' arrive
The rich and the poor enter through the same door; side by side
Those who rejoice stand with those with no voice; hand in hand
Cultures together with pleasure. United we stand.

We can all find a home here
A place to belong
Where brothers and sisters
Can sing out one song
And the love that we find here
Quenches our thirst
It’s the body of Jesus
This is the Church.

A family of strangers arranged through the dangers of life
To talk to, support you and walk you through hardship and strife
Let’s celebrate great things. Relationships growing so strong
Standing on touchlines at all times, cheering us on!

Jimmy Orr © 2010

Manly Worship?

It has been argued time and time again that contemporary worship songs are 'too feminine'. Love songs to Jesus are labelled 'Jesus is my Boyfriend' songs and regarded as stumbling blocks for the 'man's man' in the church. There are too many phrases like 'pouring out my heart', 'you're beautiful', 'I love you'; songs are filled with lyrics loaded with girly words such as precious, lovely and 'darling of heaven'.

I have three initial thoughts on the subject.

Firstly, a lot of the 'Jesus is my boyfriend' style songs are in fact written by men. Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and a whole host of other male contemporary song-writers. How does singing these songs written by these men of God make worship 'too feminine'?

Secondly, How is it that men are happy to use 'feminine' language to say that a curry was 'beautiful' or that their team's goal was a 'lovely' strike, or that their car drives 'like a dream' but as soon as they're in church trying to engage in worshipping God - who is far more beautiful and lovely than any dish or sporting achievement or vehicle - feminine language is a stumbling block?

Finally, I do agree that variety of language, themes and styles can only be a good thing in the Church's worship repertoire. The psalms are full of a blend of masculine and feminine poetry. We do need to widen our scope for describing our emotions and thoughts and theology and expressing our worship. But refusing to worship using songs because they're 'too girly' is not the answer.

Blokes of the church, Man Up!

The Big Story: Part 1

The Bible. It’s true the 'good book' is actually a collection of 66 books and that those sixty-six books are divided into two testaments, the old made up of 39 books and the new with the remaining 27.
It’s true that some of those books are historical books, same are poetry books some are visionary books some are letters and prayers and songs.
It’s true that many different authors from different eras in history contributed to the books that have been canonised (that is they’ve been especially and prayerfully selected and compiled and set apart as being holy)...
But while all this is true, there is One Big Story that threads its way through each and every page. Whether it’s blatantly obvious and explicit or shrouded in mystery and hidden away in some kind of cryptic prophesy... the Big Story is there. All the books are interconnected and entwined and meshed together. All part of The Big Story.

** This picture illustrates all the cross references between every chapter of every book of the Bible**

And so it begins, Genesis chapter 1, beginning at verse one...

“In the beginning... God”

The Big Story began long before the first words of Bible were even scrawled on the first piece of parchment. And like all good stories, we’re introduced to the leading Character - God.

Throughout this story we discover all about his character and personality as he gradually reveals more and more about himself. This story is all about him, and he was there at the beginning, in fact, he was there before it began. He has always been there. He is truly eternal, which doesn’t just mean that he will never die but it means he has always been. He is God.

When he calls himself ‘I AM’ in the Second Book, called Exodus, he isn’t lying. He just IS. He always has been, he is right now and he always will be. And he is Perfect and Unique, and he’s unique in his perfection. He is unlike anything or anyone else ever. The One and the Only. Supreme and Sovereign... He is God.
Thankfully for us he knows that he is God – because if he didn’t know he was God it would prove that he wasn’t God but he does know that he is God and he loves the fact he’s God and so all is right with Everything.

So, we have our lead character. We are introduced to God. A God who is and always has been one and three - a mysterious trilogy of deity within one perfect and unique God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in an eternally perfect and loving relationship – “God in three persons, Blessed Trinity”. The Hero of our Story, God, is different. He is perfect community and yet he is one. He is love, and also lover and beloved. He is God. He is Holy, set apart, distinct. And before time began, before anything was ever created, before even the slightest hint of a big bang, God was – Father, Son and Spirit – in perfect loving community within Himself. Worthy of all glory, all honour, all praise…

Hello?! he hasn’t done anything yet! Often in our songs and in our prayers we praise God for what he’s done, which is a good thing, but He hasn’t done anything at this point and yet that doesn’t have any effect whatsoever on how worthy he is, on how amazing he is, on how holy he is, on how great he is. He is God which means that by his very nature, the very essence of who is he, the very core of his being, by the innate, natural, inherent basis of who he is… he is entirely and exclusively worthy to be worshipped! We worship him primarily and wholly for Who He Is because He. Is. God!

It’s a good start to a story isn’t it?

Don't React. Respond.

In our relationships, whether at home, work, out and about wherever we may be and whatever we may be doing we can either react or respond. At first glance the two are not all that different but there is one distinct difference between the two that makes one for better for us to use than the other. The main difference between the two is control.

Reactions are automatic. Isaac Newton said "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." You can’t help it. It just happens. It's like watching someone belly flop from a high diving board – the moment you hear that slap of flesh on water you can’t help but ‘oooooohhh’ That’s a reaction.

Responses are controlled. They involve time to reflect, consider one’s actions and make your move. Responses are far more helpful in relationships than reactions. But they take a lot more work to master.

If there was one person who lived a lifestyle of reactions and learned this lesson the hard way it was a guy called Peter. Peter was one of Jesus’ closest friends. He was one of his apprentices, his followers. Peter had a habit of reacting rather than responding to various situations... and we’re going to look at a couple examples of his rashness and see how we can learn from his mistakes.

Everything changes

Change is everywhere.

As mentioned in my previous blog, a lot has changed for me personally lately; new job, new flat, new wife! But the changes go further than that. There is change as the leaves on the trees turn from green to gold. Change in the route of the bus as it goes on diversion due to roadworks totally avoiding my intended destination and leaving me with a walk to work in the rain, which was the very reason I took the bus in the first place.

From the roof of our block of flats there is a fantastic view of the London Skyline. From Canary Wharf to the east, across to Bank, St Paul's, London Bridge and over to the west towards the London Eye and into the distance. Classic buildings and cathedrals are merged with flats and warehouses and punctuated by high rise office blocks, towers and skyscrapers.

Dotted in amongst the established landmarks are new developments. Cranes feature prominently in the London cityscape. Virtually every view of London now has a crane in it somewhere.

The city is changing, developing, upgrading, expanding, enhancing, adapting, evolving, growing...

The city is only a reflection of the people who live within it. We are infatuated with change, upgrading to get the latest apps and gadgets, relaunching and recreating our wardrobes and image. We want bigger and better and faster and we mould the city accordingly.

The main question is...

Are we changing for the better?

Will a multi-billion dollar skyscraper provide inspiration for a more sensible pace of life?
Will the latest this-or-that create a more tangible sense of community and belonging or just add to the ever-increasing loneliness epidemic that floods our cities?

At Church.co.uk and Oasis, there are exciting plans to developing the site. It's our 2020 vision. By which time London will have anything up to 14 new high-rise buildings either completed or under construction. But the development of the Oasis Centre and the Church.co.uk premises is not the goal. Our vision is to transform the community.

We want to provide for those who need help.
We want to be a place where people feel welcome and safe and accepted.
We want to work with people to develop the area into a place where families want to live rather than feeling trapped by circumstances.

A building can never in itself achieve that. But a Church with a passion for Jesus and what he has asked us to do can!

Change is here to stay.

All change please. All change.

Wow. The past three months have been jam-packed and lived at a furious pace.

Not a lot has remained the same. I no longer live in the little box room at college on the top of the Hill, I'm in our perfect new flat on the Monopoly board. It was pretty empty for a while; just an air-bed and a couple of bookshelves for company. We were then joined by a table and chairs, a TV stand (but no TV, that's a rant I shall save for another time!), a proper bed and lots, and lots of other little bits.

I spent the summer growing into my new job as Head of Music and Arts at Church.co.uk, spending a lot of time working with Southside Radio and building relationships with the Old Vic Tunnels. The Tunnels team gave us plenty of opportunites to let our budding radio reporters review shows, interview artists, directors, producers, and generally experience the fantastic atmosphere in the Tunnels. If you get a chance to go, you will not be disappointed.

And last, but certainly not least, on 18 September I got married to my beautiful Kathryn. It was a perfect day surrounded by friends and family and with God at the centre where He should be. We then spent the rest of the weekend in Oxford, a week in Venice and a week settling into our home together.

Now we're pretty much back down to earth and ready to begin 'real-life' together.
That hopefully explains the rather large period of silence since the last blog and this one. Regular service will resume shortly. Thank you for your patience.

A Lesson from Tiepolo

I had the opportunity to visit Dulwich Picture Gallery recently. It’s a fantastic place with a great collection of artwork and a real sense of history. Within the collection was a particular painting that caught my eye.

A painting by Giambattista Tiepolo called ‘Joseph receiving Pharaoh's Ring’. It was painted around 1733-35 and is a beautiful, fine piece of work and well worthy of a place in the gallery. But it wasn’t so much the artist’s skill that caught my attention, or the style or the colours he used.

It was something far subtler.

Something I read in the little description hanging next to the piece.

It informed me that one of the characters in the background, the more distant of the two trumpeters, is actually reckoned to be a self-portrait. Tiepolo painted himself in the story. And it was this idea that sparked my thoughts. This was a fantastic concept

– putting yourself in the story.

It’s a technique that could revolutionise reading the Bible. Stories could come to life by imagining yourself in the story. Where would you be? Would you be front row or somewhere in the background? What are the sights, the sounds, the smells?

Imagine the scenes around Jesus while he toured the countryside teaching, performing miracles, meeting people, having a laugh with everyone around him. Where would you be? Trying to sneak closer to hear him more clearly? Hoping to catch his eye and ask for a miracle? Trying to avoid him because he was teaching things a bit too risky and too close for comfort?

What about our worship songs? How different would they be if we wrote songs with ourselves in the stories? Would they be simple little ditties about how much we love God, or would they be drenched in real emotion rooted in a more intense understand of the story of God? What themes would emerge from inside the narrative rather than a safer location on the sidelines?

Paint yourself in the story. Let me know what you see.

Adventurous (Different Eyes: The art of living beautifully)

The pop-culture way of doing Christian ethics is to constantly ask ‘What Would Jesus Do?’. And whilst this is quite a handy little catchphrase and reminder, and wristband, and pencil, and t-shirt, and CD holder, and egg cup... it’s harder than it seems because we don’t have a guidebook of what Jesus would do, we’ve only got a few random accounts of thing Jesus DID do.

Three and a half years worth of touring and teaching condensed into 4 gospel with an average of about 20 chapters – that’s not a lot for an Ethical resource or advice guide. But Jesus never came to give as a guidebook. He didn’t come to give us a moral A-to-Z he came to show us How – to – See.

Jesus taught in a way that demonstrated character. And he gave dozens of stories and sketches of how to do it. Take the Good Samaritan for example: That is not a story to store away in your memory just in case the next time you’re travelling on the motorway you find a guy who’s been beaten up and left for dead. It’s giving a glimpse of how to imitate God. It’s not necessarily about rules and regulations and religion.

Pope John Paul said this: It’s not that the gospel has changed; it is just that our understanding of it is slowly growing. We’re all still learning about Jesus. We’re still learning about loving God with our heart and soul and mind and strength. We’re still learning who our neighbours are, let alone about loving them. And our whole lives are set towards getting to know Jesus. We have to pursue Jesus. To keep studying him. To keep figuring him out. He’s the most complex man in History – to think we’ve got him all sussed out is both arrogant and, well, just plain stupid!

I’m getting married in September and I was given this advice a while ago: Don't marry so you can stop pursuing women. Marry so you can perfect the pursuit one woman for a lifetime. We’re called as a church to perfect the pursuit of Jesus for a lifetime.

In order to know what Jesus would do, we have to know Jesus, and in order to know Jesus we have to follow Jesus. Jesus said ‘follow me’, not ‘follow a set of concepts or a code of conduct or an institution’. It’s about being his follower, his apprentice, learning from him, learning what he’s like and copying him.

The reassuring thing about following Jesus is that he knows where he’s going. There is an end to the story. We all like a happy ending. And this story has got a cracker. From the first moments of Jesus’ ministry on earth he had a goal in mind. This was more than a pipe-dream or a good idea. Jesus was working to bring about the Kingdom of God; To challenge the wayward earthly interpretations of religion and politics and social justice; He wanted to bring people’s attention to a way of living beautifully. And as well as having a goal in mind, he had a strategy. Reaching out to the poor and the sick and those on the margins. Speaking up for people who couldn’t speak. Loving the unloved. Giving people a new, fresh start. He wasn’t just waiting for the new heaven and new earth to arrive, he was ushering it in. It was starting to arrive there and then. And as a church we can join in: The Church’s cry is: if the future looks like this, let’s work to bring it here, now! We don’t have to wait to be involved in the Kingdom of God.

I used to work with Spring Harvest Holidays. Part of my job was heading up the 11-13’s team which took a lot of energy and effort. I should probably add too that my sleep patterns are fairly erratic at the best of times. I often go through spells of insomnia and one of those spells was at SHH. Sleep deprivation and youth work don’t mix. It was the end of one of the morning sessions, we finished at midday and had about two minutes left before we could let the kids go and to get their attention I said “We’ll see you tomorrow morning, and you know what tomorrow is...?!”

Thursday? Water fight day? Talent show day? Could have been any of those but me and my sleep deprived head said... IT’S CHRISTMAS! (It was August! My team glared at me. The kids got excited and ran out) The following day we did Christmas: Toilet paper snowmen, Christmas decorations, carols, party food. The Works.

Most of the kids that week were staying on the following week so we thought we’d carry the theme over... and what happens the week after Christmas?

NEW YEAR – in the middle of a baking hot day in August we had a New Years Eve party. We had party poppers and food and dancing. We sang Auld Lang Syne and we counted down to Mid-night at 12 noon. it was brilliant!

Unbeknown to me and my team, the pastoral care couple were sitting just outside our venue with a woman in floods of tears. Her marriage was breaking down, she’d been quite ill, because of all this her kids were struggling at school and her prayer was ‘God, I wish this year could just start again’. And at that moment, I sent 150 11-13year olds running past her screaming at the top of their lungs HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The New is here Now! We can choose to live beautifully now. We can follow Jesus now. We can know Jesus now. One day the kingdom of God will be established in full but we can be adventurous and be part of it NOW!