miles and miles
an orchestral arrangement by Aseda Safoa
2021
the story
“miles and miles” was commissioned in March 2021 as an orchestral reworking of the single “Miles and Miles” by UK Christian artist Jonathan Ogden. The piece was to be performed and recorded by the Seattle Pacific University Symphonic Orchestra. While the project was halted and ultimately dropped due to delays and complications from the Covid-19 pandemic, it was a beautiful experience getting to write for an artist and create a robust and expanded arrangement of a simple acoustic song.
click below to hear a snippet of the piece!
click below to listen to the original arrangement!
photo by Samara Sorce (2021)
Photo of UK artist Jonathan Ogden; Source- jonathanogden.co.uk
“God’s love, grace, and mercy are so difficult to come to terms with sometimes.
It makes no sense that a God so holy and perfect would love people so broken, and yet he does… You can try to justify it, to work hard and earn His love, just to come face-to-face with your brokenness and unworthiness time and time again. But He still loves you. So much so that even if you turned around and ran away, He’d still love you. There is no escape, no distance too far. As hard as it may seem, we have to rest in the knowledge that we are loved, valued and accepted, despite our failures and regardless of our own strivings and efforts. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have been welcomed in to the presence of God. And the moment we let ourselves be loved, and step into that place, we realise there’s no where else we’d rather be.”