War Cry 7 October

WAR CRY

Incredible journeys

Nature documentary follows the perilous experiences of young creatures

What is The Salvation Army?

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.

What is the War Cry?

The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

WAR CRY

Issue No 7648

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major

Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow

Production Editor: Ivan Radford

Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku

Staff Writer: Emily Bright

Staff Writer: Claire Brine

Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk

Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston

Graphic Designer: Mark Knight

Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 101 Newington Causeway

London

SE1 6BN

Tel: 0845 634 0101

Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org

Founder: William Booth

General: Lyndon Buckingham

Territorial Commander:

Commissioner Anthony Cotterill

Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn

THERE are new journeys being made on BBC2. The nature documentary Big Little Journeys trails six tiny young creatures as they make their way in what is sometimes a scary and hazardous world.

As we report in this week’s War Cry, the first episode, which will air on Sunday (8 October), covers the experiences of a bushbaby and a turtle who are leaving the comfort and safety of their parents’ protection to start their lives in the world.

Meanwhile, this is the time of year when many teenage humans are experiencing a new life as they leave home to become university students. It is a time of change.

Thankfully there are groups and organisations in place to offer them guidance and support. One such group is Fusion, a Christian organisation that supports those at university and brings hope to campuses.

This week we speak with one of its leaders, Rich Wilson, who believes that the best way to bring hope is through introducing the students to the Christian faith – something he has found they are open to hearing about. ‘Fusion has carried out a survey that showed 74 per cent of students would come to church if invited by a friend,’ he says. ‘There’s a hunger and openness out there.’

He also notes: ‘The challenge for the churches is to give students spiritual bread, because we have got something we know is good and is healthy and will bring life.’

The good news of the positive difference that following Jesus can have on a person’s life is not only for younger people or academics. Jesus’ offer of a better and everlasting life is available to everyone, regardless of their age or ability.

Deciding to follow Jesus can be the beginning of a new journey that will change our lives for ever.

INFO INFO

Small talk

ATURTLE the size of a walnut is ready for its close-up in Big Little Journeys, which begins on BBC2 on Sunday (8 October). The nature documentary follows the journeys of six tiny animals as they travel across massive terrains in their part of the world.

In episode one, a turtle hatchling in Algonquin Park, Canada, must make her way from the safe place where her mother hid her as an egg to the wetlands if she is to have any hope of survival.

Getting there, however, is no small task. It’s a long way and she only has eight

hours. Narrowly avoiding predators, she uses her tiny body to her advantage by blending in with the rocks and dodging foxes and ravens.

There will be a collective holding of breath as viewers watch the baby turtle brave the big highway that she must cross to reach the wetlands. With a speed of only a third of a mile per hour, she is crossing the road on which 18-wheeler trucks travel 150 times faster. When the narrator says that hatchlings have a 1 per cent chance of survival, it’s no surprise.

Meanwhile night has fallen in South Africa, and a bushbaby has just been kicked out of his home in the hollow of a tree. There isn’t enough space for the 10-month-old nocturnal primate, so he is forced to fend for himself and make the giant journey across the forest to find a new home.

He is adapted to navigating the dark, with eyes that reflect moonlight, a heightened sense of hearing and super-powered hind legs that propel him across branches at six feet per second.

Nature documentary tells the tales of tiny animals

TV preview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

and young, he is still at risk from predators. In a big, dark forest, threats lurk round every corner.

Life seems daunting for the two little animals, who are all alone in the big, wide world. With only themselves to look out for their wellbeing, they are susceptible to all sorts of dangers and difficulties.

place

Perhaps at times, viewers will feel that the challenges they face are equally daunting. The world can be a scary place.

Many of us are living with worries about the future because of economic and climate uncertainties, or there may be personal difficulties that seem to plague our lives. Although we may have people around, it can feel as though we are all alone with nobody looking out for us.

The good news is we aren’t alone. Christians know that the world is full of danger, but they have discovered the truth that, no matter what they are up against, God is with them. He has said: ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’ (Hebrews 13:5 New International Version).

And when God promises to be with us, his presence can bring us strength and help for anything we may face.

The nocturnal bushbaby finds some nourishment as it hunts for a new home

But, being both small

When the future is uncertain, we can depend on God. He won’t leave us on our own to fend for ourselves – and that makes a world of difference.

A newly hatched turtle has a long journey ahead

The world can be a scary

nRLD WAR CRY

Sunday service important for Kate

TO mark the release of her new book, Have A Little Faith: Life Lessons on Love, Death and How Lasagne Always Helps, the Rev Kate Bottley spoke about her usual Sunday routine in an interview with The Observer.

The Radio 2 broadcaster explained that after presenting her weekly programme Good Morning Sunday in Salford, which runs for three hours from 6am, she heads home to Nottinghamshire to attend church.

‘I drive home to Retford for the last half hour of church and walk in as the sermons finish and they’re on the bread and wine,’ she said. ‘I’m a supply vicar, so duties can come into my Sundays but I don’t have any of the responsibility, I just turn up in a dress and show off.’

Kate also spoke about her love of a good Sunday lunch and how she enjoys cooking for people.

‘I feed people, literally and metaphorically,’ she said. ‘My mum died in February, so I feed my dad, and I make food when people are sad. I like to think what I do well – and not just from the pulpit – is offer people nourishment.’

Vicar’s ‘delight’ at record journey

A SALVATION Army supporter is believed to have become the oldest person to cross the length of Britain on a bicycle.

Retired vicar Peter Langford, from Beccles in Suffolk, turned 90 years old a few days before he made a trip of more than 1,000 miles from Land’s End to John o’ Groats. He was raising money for The Salvation Army and Access Community Trust, to support their work helping people experiencing homelessness.

Peter said: ‘I am aware of my good fortune in having a home to live in. It makes me very aware of people who are homeless, and I pray for them almost every day. The Salvation Army has a long record of helping people who are homeless, and I have always had admiration for them.’

On the morning of his last day of cycling, he appeared on BBC TV’s Breakfast, and after completing the last 50 miles, was greeted by friends, family and supporters.

He wrote a message on his website to those following his journey saying that he had felt immense gratitude throughout the cycle, adding, ‘All this will live with me and continue to cause me delight. May God bless you and give you joy.’

Marks point to Venerable Bede

HANDWRITING attributed to the eighth-century monk and scholar the Venerable Bede has been discovered by an academic, reported The Observer Bede is known, among other achievements, for translating John’s Gospel into old English on his deathbed in AD735, the first time that a modern western language other than Latin was used for translating the Bible.

The Observer report said that the British Library’s former curator of illuminated manuscripts, Michelle Brown, has found parallels in style between notes in a Bible preface and Bede’s other work.

In the preface to the Book of Kings in the Codex Amiatinus –a Bible taken to Rome in AD715 – she discovered annotated passages which bore a striking resemblance to Bede’s published writings.

@TheWarCryUK

salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

nTHE King stopped off at the Notre Dame Cathedral as part of a state visit to France, Associated Press reports.

With French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte by their side, King Charles and Queen Camilla heard about the latest renovations at the cathedral and met with some of the craftsmen working on the project. While safety concerns meant that the royal couple were prevented from entering the cathedral, they had an opportunity to examine the entrance of the building. From the higher floors of the monument, dozens of workers applauded them and took pictures.

The cathedral is expected to reopen by the end of next year.

Michelle said: ‘We know that Bede knew Greek. Not that many people did know Greek at that time. So we’ve got the marginalia and the way in which he marks up.

‘The little zigzag lines that look like lightning flashes he invented like a yellow magic marker to indicate when he was quoting a passage – a passage of the Old Testament period in the New Testament, for example. So it’s got these mark-ups that he’s only inventing around this period.’

‘We had several hours to cuddle him’

by Emily Bright

NEW Year’s Eve 2018 is a date that left an indelible mark on Dan and Anna Martin’s lives. They and their two daughters were present at the 12-week pregnancy scan for their expected twins. ‘We naively took the girls with us because we thought it would be a fun experience for them to see their siblings,’ says Dan.

But when the sonographer abruptly stopped talking, it became clear that something was wrong. The scan revealed that one of their baby boys, Jed, had megacystis – a condition in which a blockage in the bladder prevents urine from draining out. The bladder fills up with urine and expands, jeopardising the development of major organs such as the lungs and kidneys.

‘We were advised that Jed probably would be unlikely to live when he was born,’ recalls Dan. ‘Anna was regularly monitored, with scans every two weeks.’

From the beginning, Dan and Anna were honest with their young daughters – who were four and two years old at the time – about what was happening to Jed. As Christians, the couple turned to their faith for comfort.

Things were getting worse for Jed

‘When the ultrasound technician told us it was very bad news, I took the girls outside and there were all kinds of questions that I didn’t have the answers to,’ says Dan.

‘But even at that point, I would say: “There’s something wrong with one of the babies. Let’s say a prayer and trust God, he’s our Father, he’s going to help us through whatever it is.”’

Despite Dan and Anna praying fervently for their son’s healing, their hopes were dashed.

‘Each scan showed that things were getting worse for Jed,’ Dan says. ‘We were prepared for the fact that his body and his lungs and various other organs were so

underdeveloped or ill that he might not live more than a few hours.’

On 15 June 2019 one of the twins, Ethan, was born healthy, but when Jed was born, he was rushed to a neonatal intensive care incubator. Over the course of the next three and a half weeks, his underdeveloped lungs failed numerous times. He was put on a breathing tube and he had to undergo multiple chest drains.

Surgeons operated on him twice, but there was nothing they could do to fix the abnormalities in his kidneys and

Turn to page 6 f

To mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, which starts on Monday (9 October), DAN MARTIN reveals how his faith carried him and his wife, Anna, through the loss of their baby son

Interview

Anna and Dan Martin

From page 5

bladder. The time he had left was limited.

‘It was apparent that Jed was dying, despite the best care that he received,’ remembers Dan. ‘Late in the morning on 8 July 2019, he had his breathing tube taken out, and we had several hours to cuddle him.

‘He was able to have his siblings, his grandparents and a few other relatives come and see us all together. He opened his eyes quite a lot, you could see him drifting in and out of sleep during that precious time we had with him.

‘He died peacefully. We know that once he left this life, he will have awoken to see the face of Jesus.’

Baby Loss Awareness Week begins on Monday (9 October). The annual campaign encourages people to support bereaved parents and their families. Such an aim also lies behind a book that Dan and Anna have written called Near to the Broken Hearted

In the book they explain how they chose to express their grief in front of their children while modelling their dependence on God.

‘Our guiding principle has been to be honest rather than hiding how we’re doing,’ Dan tells me. ‘In a sense we’re

the strongest, best parents in those moments where we are most on our knees and most dependent on the Lord.

‘I think seeing Mum and Dad cry and be sad, yet turning towards the Lord, is affirming. It has been a strange gift to our children in terms of their own spiritual formation around the reality of suffering, looking to the Lord and taking one step at a time.

‘I hope as they grow older, and hard things come their way, they will lean on God, and know that he is mighty and carries you through.’

AfterJed died, Dan and Anna found comfort in the fact that Jesus, God’s Son, also suffered while on Earth. Dan gives the example of when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, preparing himself for the suffering and death that he knew was coming.

‘In the Bible, we’re given the account of Jesus in the garden before the Crucifixion. We see his humanity, and there is real emotional anguish that he is suffering.

‘He knows he has been betrayed and knows the mockery, shame and pain that is coming. We are told his sweat was mixed with blood. The detail underlines something that is so extraordinarily stressful – to suffer from emotional anguish to such an extent that tiny blood

Twins Jed and Ethan

Our guiding principle was to be honest

vessels within sweat glands burst.’

Dan adds that, in a raw moment of honesty, even the Son of God – while ultimately wanting to follow God’s will –asked for a way out of the suffering he was about to endure.

‘What’s comforting is that Jesus’ prayer went unanswered too, so that all our sins might be forgiven, that we might be brought near to the Father, and that we might be given new life.’

Dan admits that the death of Jed has left him with many questions. But they have not shaken his faith.

‘The suffering of Jesus in the garden and on the cross gives confidence to me that I can leave my unanswered prayers, my doubts and my struggles with him, resting in the fact that I don’t know the full story. I can trust that he’s good, and that is sufficient to bear us up in trials and suffering.’

Dan explains that the story of Jesus didn’t end with death, and that his resurrection signalled redemption for humanity, and the hope of eternity.

‘Jesus died and rose again so we might have a hope that is beyond this age of tears and loss,’ he says.

‘The resurrection of Jesus is a great hope for all our loved ones who die knowing the Lord or die in infancy. The hope of something beyond this life helps to absorb and accommodate the grief and sense of loss and outrage.’

Dan adds that it’s not just the eternal hope of Heaven which keeps him going, but rather the knowledge that God is with him on Earth too. While he admits that faith is never simple, Dan knows that God is good and comforts us in our suffering.

‘We can’t always understand or make sense of why his plans are unfolding as they are. However, we can trust that he hears our prayers and is tender and compassionate towards us.

‘If I had to boil our whole book down to one or two sentences, it would be to invite people to hear and believe the words of Jesus of the Bible, because he draws near to the broken-hearted. He has a way of comforting and carrying you.’

l Near to the Broken Hearted is published by the Good Book Company

Dan and Anna with their twin sons

HUGO and Hera are what author and artist Henry Martin calls his ‘favourite breed of dogs’: rescues.

‘Both of them have had some unkind treatment from humans in the past,’ he says. ‘Hugo was living in a shelter through the winter, but now he has a soft bed – and soft owners as well.’

Hera is a more recent arrival in the author’s family life in rural France, but Hugo has been accompanying him round the Charente since soon after Henry – an ordained priest who served as a chaplain at HMP Manchester – moved there towards the end of 2020.

‘Hugo comes with a few problems,’ Henry acknowledges. ‘He is a BeauceronLabrador cross – as is Hera – but we’re fairly sure he must have some Great Dane in him. He’s not able to meet other male dogs, and he’s very strong. He needs a lot of management when he’s out and about. He can’t be off the lead because he would just charge off.’

Hugo also has had the ability to tug Henry’s thoughts in a particular direction. The result is The Dog Walker’s Guide to God

‘Most of the book started with my reflections as I walked with him in the morning,’ says Henry. ‘So at one point we decided he couldn’t be off the lead – and I

Ruff guide to life

Author and artist HENRY MARTIN has written a book about dogs and faith. Why? Thereby hangs a tail

Interview by Philip Halcrow

thought: Does God put restrictions on our lives?

‘Then I realised I was giving him the same instruction over and over again: “Heel! Heel! Come back!” It seemed fair enough. But I wondered whether God gave me the same instruction over and over, which would probably be “Love, forgive, love, forgive”.’

The book, explains Henry, follows the lead of Jesus who would often use a small truth to shed light on a big one.

‘In the Bible, Jesus tells his listeners, “If you who are evil know how to give good things to your children, how much

more will God give you good things!”

Henry’s own illustrations are included in his book

The book started with my reflections

‘The book is based on that thought process. It doesn’t apply in every situation – it needs to be true of God as revealed by Jesus. We can’t say, “If I think this politician is a complete idiot, then how much more does God think so!” But I think we can use it with dogs.

‘For instance, we generally don’t keep dogs for work any more. They live a life of leisure. They get walked, they get fed. We keep them simply because we enjoy their companionship.

‘It makes me think that – although God dignifies us with work, tasks and responsibilities – maybe God made us because he wants our companionship. He values us for ourselves.

‘If we find it hard to believe, I hope that it will become easier if we understand that that’s what we humans do for dogs.’

The Dog Walker’s Guide to God, which comes complete with Henry’s own illustrations, includes anecdotes about his own dogs, past and present, as well as those of friends, and observations about

Henry with Hera (left) and Hugo

these domesticated wolves in general. He notes how a dog always seems to want to be on the other side of a door and then, when let through, fairly quickly returns to the room where they were previously. Henry also describes how he once sustained a minor injury, which affected his usual dog-walking routine. The disruption caused the dog’s behaviour

to change and he started to act up.

Each of Henry’s stories is followed by ‘a chew’ – something to think over while out dog-walking.

‘Dog-walking is a repetitive ritual that we should perform every day – ideally twice a day,’ Henry tells me, and he believes that it can be seen as overlapping with the Christian tradition of morning and evening prayer. ‘It’s a good time to reflect on the day that has gone and the day to come.’

It’s a time that led Henry to explore such truths about the connections between humans, the canine and the Divine – even when the walk has been less than idyllic.

‘I always explain things to my dogs, as if they can understand me completely,’ says Henry. ‘Of course, they can’t, but I think they respond to tone. I did actually say to them at one point: “You see that cow over there? You see the horns on it? Those aren’t for decoration.”

‘Then I wondered: How does God speak to us? And how does he get through

to us, particularly when our minds are elsewhere but there are things we need to hear?

‘I figured that the best way for me to communicate with my dog would be for me to learn dog language, to actually become a dog myself and grow up alongside him.

‘I can make a joke about it, but actually that is what God did for us. God so wanted to communicate with us that he became one of us.

‘I would not want to become a dog. I’d find the restriction irksome. But that’s the wonder of what God did for us in Jesus by becoming human and starting from scratch as a baby to live among us, to teach us what God really wants from us and show how much God loves us.’

l The Dog Walker’s Guide to God is published by Darton, Longman and Todd

I always explain things to my dogs

BOMBARDED by social media content while trying to strike a healthy balance between study and socialising, modern students seem to be under a lot of pressure to ‘live their best life’. In a 24/7 culture, juggling the challenges of university life can take its toll on their mental health.

‘It feels like that the younger generation are being assaulted at every angle,’ says Rich Wilson, movement leader at student and church networking organisation Fusion. ‘Things that they’ve been consuming through social media and other platforms are actually making them ill.’

Rich believes that churches need to share their faith with students, providing them with support, a sense of community and the truth about their identity in God.

‘Starving people will eat whatever is in front of them,’ he says, speaking metaphorically about consumer culture. ‘The challenge for churches is to give students spiritual bread, because we have got something we know is good and is healthy and will bring life.’

He is an enthusiastic advocate for students, having discovered his future career and a deeper faith when he was studying at university in Loughborough. Rich explains that he had an awareness of God from a young age, but that his faith became far more meaningful when he reached his late teens.

‘I was dutiful in Bible reading each day,’ he remembers, but ‘when I got to university, it became a faith adventure.

‘I connected with a group of other

RICH WILSON, one of the leaders at student-focused organisation Fusion, talks about how churches can provide hope on campus

Interview by Emily Bright

students at Loughborough who had experienced something of a move of God – so much so that seven of them chose to stay around to start a church for their friends who had become Christians but were struggling to connect with other churches.

‘I stayed around after university to help that church start and grow. Not that I knew anything. I was just keen, and I was available. It was at that point I felt God speak to me about reaching students.

‘It’s funny who God chooses. There are many people far better suited for what I’m doing and what I’ve done. But I think God just looks around and goes: “Who is available?” And I was there.’

Rich’s mentor, Roger Ellis, invited him

to join student movement Fusion six months after it was launched in 1997. It was two years since Rich had graduated, and at the time he was working part-time with a church in Loughborough. Later he joined Fusion’s small team to begin groups that would help students share their faith with friends. Over the course of the next five years, 500 groups popped up across the UK.

Fusion also sought to equip churches with everything they needed to engage with students. Initially, 80 churches signed up to work with the organisation, but now it works closely with more than 300 churches and is connected with hundreds of others.

Since its early days, the organisation

We have got something we know is good

challenges

has been focused on helping a generation encounter Jesus, assisting students in finding a home in a church community, and providing churches with all the resources they need to reach out to students. Fusion now also develops and trains student workers.

Rich believes that students have huge, and often untapped, potential to influence the world. He also thinks that universities are the perfect place to help them to discover faith.

‘That’s where a generation are gathering in large numbers, where they’re living and eating and journeying together. I believe this is one of the most clearly defined yet unreached people groups across the world.

‘Every individual is important to God. Students are no more precious than

anybody else. But they potentially have more influence in society as policymakers, teachers, business leaders.’

He thinks that his ambition to reach students matches their hunger for something greater in their lives.

‘Fusion has carried out a survey that showed 74 per cent of students would come to church if invited by a friend. There’s a hunger and openness out there.

‘We belong to God, and that’s why there’s a longing in us for more, because he has put eternity in our hearts. We taste and see that the Lord is good, and it

whets our appetite for more.’

Rich’s desire is to see churches ‘getting a bit bolder’ in telling people about Jesus. ‘In doing so,’ he says, ‘we would begin to meet the huge amount of pain that is in this generation. I would love to see a spiritual awakening, where this generation can taste something of God.’

l For more information visit fusionmovement.org

Rich Wilson

THE War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances, for publication. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

Becoming a Christian

There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God

Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen

KEYS OF THE KINGDOM

The childlike Kingdom

DURING his life on Earth Jesus spent time talking about what the Kingdom of Heaven is like and who is able to enter it. In teaching recorded in Matthew 19, Jesus makes it clear that there is one group who will not be able to enter the Kingdom – those people who think that they deserve to be there.

Jesus had already said that strict religious observance and self-righteousness are not enough. Now he explains that wealth and worldly status are a barrier rather than a passport to the Kingdom. He says that ‘it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God’ (Matthew 19:24 New International Version).

Wealth and worldly status are

In a world where might is right and money talks, who, then, is qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? When children are brought to him, Jesus says: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these’ (19:14).

Children are the least valued and recognised group in the world at large. They are easily exploited and abused. Defenceless and dependent, they are often overlooked and underestimated. By identifying children, Jesus is saying that the values of the Kingdom of Heaven are opposite to the values of the world. Perhaps he is also pointing to certain childlike qualities, often lost in the grown-up world, such as dependence, teachability and trust.

In their Gospels, Mark and Luke record Jesus saying that ‘anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it’ (Mark 10:15 and Luke 18:17). The word ‘receive’ implies taking something with the hand.

In order to take anything or anyone by the hand, our hands need first to be empty. Those who cling to personal ambition, self-righteousness or comfortblanket cynicism already have their hands full. Just as a child readily takes the hand of someone they trust in order for them to lead, accompany and protect them, so we need empty hands and a trusting heart to grasp God’s Kingdom.

Address

a barrier

In this occasional series, Nigel Bovey unlocks the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus speaks to his disciples about in Matthew’s Gospel

Woman’s right

QUICK QUIZ

1 2 3 4 5 6

In which century was the King James Bible published?

How many times has Serena Williams won the women’s singles title at Wimbledon?

Who wrote the novel The Great Gatsby?

Who composed the orchestral interlude ‘The Flight of the Bumble Bee’?

Complete the proverb: It’s no use crying over…

What do the initials FBI stand for?

Housewives are encouraged to strive for better in story coming to TV

Feature by Claire Brine

PREGNANT, alone and fired from her job. That’s the reality facing Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) in Lessons In Chemistry, a new drama by Apple TV+, available for streaming next Friday (13 October).

The series is based on the bestselling novel by Bonnie Garmus, published last year. In it, the author introduces readers to an excellent woman scientist working in a male-dominant lab in California. It’s the 1950s – and Elizabeth can’t get through a day at work without facing gender discrimination. Despite her brilliant mind, her male colleagues at the Hastings Research Institute don’t respect her. They see women as less capable, intelligent and inventive – and only good for marriage and babies.

After Elizabeth announces her pregnancy as an unwed woman – and is promptly dismissed by bosses – she finds herself accepting a job as presenter of the TV cookery show Supper at Six. The team of male producers know what they want her to do and say, but Elizabeth isn’t a fan of their script. Rather than patronise her housewife viewers, she wants to teach them the science of cooking. Her smart, no-frills approach proves a huge hit.

They see

‘I like how she uses science-y words,’ says Rosa, the show’s make-up artist. ‘It makes me feel – I don’t know – capable.’

‘I can’t believe how much I’ve learned,’ adds Mrs George Fillis, who watches the show.

Though Elizabeth’s behaviour often disgruntles the men around her, it prompts the women she encounters to grow in confidence. Instead of feeling second-rate, they are inspired to strive for better.

Sometimes, our view on life can be altered by listening to the point of view of someone else. Perhaps they have a refreshing approach that we had never considered before.

When Jesus walked the earth, he challenged people with his message of peace, love and forgiveness. Love your enemies, he said. Forgive others. Don’t seek revenge. His invitation to follow him showed people that his way of life wasn’t just wishful thinking – it was truly possible to experience. It still is.

Whatever our life has looked like up to now, it doesn’t have to stay that way for ever. When we live like Jesus, we can begin a whole new chapter.

women as less capable

Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Elizabeth takes a scientific approach to cookery

PUZZLES

Quick CROSSWORD

Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number

1. Nut of a horse chestnut tree

2. Situated within a building

3. Used for canoeing

4.

11. Pack tightly (5)

12. Additional (5)

13. Enticed (5)

14. Tattered cloth (3)

16. Performed (3)

21. Scope (5)

Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these words associated with autumn

22. Cinema attendant (5)

23. Dupe (4)

24. Narcotic (4) 25. Narrated (4) 26. Naked (4)

Spinach and prawn scrambled eggs

INGREDIENTS

1tsp olive oil

1tbsp butter

10 raw king prawns

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced 100g spinach

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

METHOD

Heat the oil and half the butter in a sauté pan. Season the prawns with salt and pepper and fry over a high heat until they turn pink. Transfer to a warm plate with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reduce the heat and add the garlic to the pan. Fry for 1 minute, then add the spinach and cook until wilted. Transfer to the prawn plate. Add the rest of the butter to the pan, then pour in the eggs. Stir until scrambled to your liking, then return the prawns and spinach to the pan. Stir well and serve immediately.

SERVES

Charles Spurgeon

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness