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War Cry THE

Est 1879 No 7043

FIGHTING FOR HEARTS AND SOULS

10 December 2011

salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

THE

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FELINE FOCUS OCUSS Seasonal furry tail hitss the screen Back page age

WHO WILL MAKE THE GRADE? asks CLAIRE BRINE

JUDGMENT Turn to page 3

ITV/Syco/Talkback Thames

TEARS and tantrums.

Squabbles and sing-offs.

There has certainly been plenty of drama on The X Factor. And it ain’t over yet. The final of ITV1’s singing competition begins tonight (Saturday 10 December). But who will

NEWS

The War Cry 10 December 2011

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ACADEMIC GIVES CAMBRIDGE TALK

NIGEL BOVEY

Physics professor: Belief in life after death is coherent DESTINY beyond death was the subject of a public lecture given by the Rev Dr John Polkinghorne at Cambridge last week.

Speaking at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, the former Professor of Mathematical Physics said that on the subject of death, science offered nothing but futility.

‘Because it is carbon-based, all life – human and the Universe itself – will end. Everything will die,’ he said.

Questions beyond death, he reasoned, are the domain of faith.

Dr John Polkinghorne

‘If there is a destiny beyond death, it must depend upon the faithfulness of the Creator. If God is truly the faithful God, then people matter to him, and if we mattered to him when we were alive, then we will not be thrown away at death.

‘As a Christian, I believe that the faithfulness of God is guaranteed in the resurrection of Jesus, which was a seed of the life to come.’

The Templeton prize-winner outlined his belief that the next life is a mixture of continuity

COUNCIL OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS HOLDS DISCUSSION

Religion has promoted ‘real human rights’

THIS ISSUE: DANCER MOVED p4

PLUS

MEDIA/COMMENT p6

O For more information visit st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/faraday An exclusive interview with Dr Polkinghorne will appear in ‘The War Cry’ in the new year

PHILIP HALCROW

A HUMAN rights campaigner and a barrister discussed punishment, medical decisions on life and death and the scope of the concept of “human rights” when they took part in an event held in London by the Council of Christians and Jews.

During the event, Clemens Nathan, joint chairman of the Consultative Council of Jewish Organisations, outlined how religious views had supported or contested the need to separate conjoined twins in procedures that would lead to the death of one.

He also spoke of his opposition to the death penalty. ‘The sanctity of human life is absolutely essential, even if somebody has committed the most terrible murders, because otherwise, the man who executes has also not respected life,’ he said.

Mark Hill, QC, a member of the Legal Advisory Commission mmission of of the

and discontinuity with this one.

Picking up the biblical teaching of the ‘new body’ after death, he said that such anatomy cannot be made from known material. However, ‘it is coherent to believe that God can bring into being new matter for those bodies that is not subject to the thermodynamic drive to decay.

‘Atomically, I am not the same as I was when I was a schoolboy – the body continually renews itself. The real “me” – which will continue into the next life – is an information-bearing pattern of character, relationships and memories. In Heaven, God will hold that pattern in his divine memory.’

General Synod of the Church of England, complained that in some cases ‘broad principles’ of human rights agreements were being used to fight trivial cases.

Reflecting on the relationship between religion and human rights, Mr Nathan told The War Cry that

Mark Hill (right) and Clemens Nathan take questions

‘religion – despite all the evils it has perpetrated – has been a major factor in human rights. Just look at the missionaries and what wonderful work they’ve done in welfare for poor people, more than any other group of people in developing countries.

That to me is real human rights. The school system in this country was Annual subscriptions to run by the Church, The War Cry can be ordered and most people online at sp-s.com would have had no education if the

Q

LIFESTYLE p7

PUZZLES p12

INNER LIFE p13

Church hadn’t taken it on. That is human rights.

‘Religion and human rights are in a tango together. Sometimes they dance harmoniously together and other times one pushes the other.’

Mr Hill said that religion could make a distinctive contribution to human rights: ‘The understanding of the human condition is important.

How that relates to a supreme being and the centuries of tradition of living out a faith must contribute to the human rights dialogue in the 21st century.’

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

p14

RECIPES p15

10 December 2011 The War Cry

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From page 1 take the victor’s crown?

For remaining acts Amelia Lily, Marcus Collins and Little Mix, it is their last opportunity to impress judges Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos, Kelly Rowland and Louis Walsh with their vocals. The pressure is on. Only one act can win the public vote and grab the record deal. And just to keep fans on the edge of their studio seats and living-room sofas, the result will not be announced until tomorrow.

So far, the series has been a rollercoaster. In week one of the live shows, the competition took an unexpected twist when the judges had to eliminate one of their own acts, after just one performance. Weeks later, contestant Frankie Cocozza created a stir when he left the show.

His departure left a gap in the line-up, which enabled the public to vote a former contestant back into the competition. They chose Amelia Lily, who is now in the final.

The judges looking for a headline act have been making the headlines themselves. Kelly and Tulisa have been front-page news with their ‘rift’. On air, Louis and Gary have exchanged harsh words, with Gary telling Louis to ‘get back in your cage’. Sometimes the panel’s feedback to the performers has created more discord than harmony.

But perhaps this year the judges are in a position to sympathise with the contestants.

The panel have been under public scrutiny themselves. The Guardian asked readers: ‘What did you think of the new judges?’ And social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are full of users airing their views on the judges’ mentoring skills. Some people are kind in their observations, whereas others have labelled the panel ‘a joke’, saying that they don’t rate their decisions.

Most of us are quick to make judgments in life. Sometimes a person looks at another and judges their level of intelligence by their appearance. At other times people form their opinions on someone by a mistake they have made in the past.

But no human being is perfect. And because no one is perfect, Jesus warns us against judging others.

He said: ‘Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you.’ He went on to say: ‘Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother’s FINALISTS:

Amelia Lily, Marcus Collins and Little Mix

ITV/Syco/Talkback Thames

JUDGES: Gary, Tulisa, Kelly and Louis

He forgave those who messed up.

He offered them a second chance eye, and pay no attention to the log in your own eye?’ (Matthew 7:1, 3 Good News Bible).

Jesus says that, rather than judge people for what they do (or fail to do), we should look at our own lives. Instead of pointing out the mistakes of others, perhaps we should concentrate on putting right our own errors first.

Sorting out our lives – voting to keep the good bits and eliminating the bad bits – may not be easy. But following Jesus’ example can help us.

Jesus spent his life loving people who were judged by most of society as sinful. He forgave those who messed up. He offered them a second chance. If we ask him, he is willing to do the same for us.

Jesus calls us to focus our attention on becoming more loving and forgiving. As for the lives and attitudes of others, let God be the judge.

Frankie Cocozza left the show

4 The War Cry 10 December 2011

Former wants to make a HEN I was a ballet dancer, there was a lot of demanding technique to master and strong discipline from the director,’ says Pam Jones. ‘Everything had to be absolutely perfect. But I couldn’t handle that pressure.

I had a complete breakdown.’

‘W

FULFILLED: Pam looks back on her ballet days (right) RENÉE DAVIS

To pursue her love of dance, Pam had gone to college to train to be a dancer.

Soon afterwards, she got a job in the Hamburg Ballet.

‘The regime in classical ballet is very strict,’ she says. ‘Everyone who joined the company was measured and the costumes that were individually made for us couldn’t be altered. If we gained or lost weight and our costumes didn’t fit very well, we had to pay a fine.

‘Sometimes we would have a ballet class in the morning and if we had a performance that evening we would rehearse until around 2 pm.

We were allowed to rest for a while but then we had to go back and have a 45-minute class before the show.

On a normal day, we had only short lunch breaks and would continue practising until the director was satisfied. Sometimes we worked until 1 am.’

Pam’s breakdown left her struggling to cope. She left Germany and returned to England to work for the Bromley Churchill Theatre as part of the wardrobe department. For two years, she toured with the company. After some encouragement to get back into dance, Pam auditioned to do cabaret work and got a job dancing in variety shows round the world.

But, sadly, Pam’s dance career came to an abrupt end.

‘During the finale of a show, I stepped backwards as part of a routine,’ Pam remembers. ‘Unfortunately the stagehands had taken away the back of the stage too soon, so I fell six feet and damaged my back.’

PAM JONES speaks with Renée Davis about leaving the world of dance to work with disadvantaged families in Cambodia

Everything had to be absolutely perfect

10 December 2011 The War Cry

5

Pam with a young boy whose wheelchair was specially made for him

‘I wasn’t injured to the point where I was paralysed, but I was strapped up in a steel corset for almost a year. I was devastated.’

After her injury, Pam taught ballet classes in Singapore. But it wasn’t the same as performing.

Pam returned to England and settled in Herne Bay in 1991. Pam says she had been a Christian since the age of 16 but had never quite felt fulfilled. After some searching, she sensed God telling her to go to the local Salvation Army church. There she found what she was looking for.

‘The minute I walked in the door I knew I was home,’ she says. ‘I’ve learnt so much about Jesus since being there.’

Travelling round the world as a dancer had brought Pam into contact with Cambodians. She learnt how disadvantaged many people in the country were. She wanted to help.

After 25 years of prayer, and trying everything possible to go to Cambodia, a three-week volunteer project finally came up. Pam jumped at the chance.

If someone in a family is disabled, they are considered a burden

On her first visit, she helped to put a new roof on someone’s house and paint a school, and gave out books and crayons. She has been back since. Pam’s time in Cambodia has been life-changing not only for her, but also for the people she met.

‘I was working with a 20-year-old man who has cerebral palsy,’ she says.

‘He is rigid from his head to the base

After 20 years this young man can now move his arms

of his spine. He cannot bend in any way, shape or form, and his knees were bent up completely. His mother did everything for him, but I didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t use his arms.

‘I spent six months working the muscles in his arms by moving them back and forth. I also used sponge balls and elastic exercise bands to help. Six months later he had strength in his arms and was able to feed himself. When, for the first time in his life, he held his hand up to touch his mother’s face, it brought tears to my eyes. His mother was also in tears.’

On her visits to Cambodia, Pam shares God’s love by speaking at church services in villages. She has helped in the building of nine houses and paid for five students to go to university.

But all her work comes at a price. So during her time back in England, Pam gives talks to churches and clubs about the needs in Cambodia to raise money and awareness. Pam hopes that with more money she can build more houses and wells, make sanitation units and toilets and pay for more people to go to university. She also has a special place in her heart for people with disabilities.

‘In Cambodia there is very little help for them,’ Pam says. ‘If someone in a family is disabled, they are considered a burden because they aren’t able to bring in any money. They are treated very badly. What I really want is to be able to change people’s way of thinking.’

Being a lone missionary is not easy, but Pam explains how her faith helps her.

‘I know I’m not alone because God is with me,’ she says. ‘When I’m in Cambodia, I don’t get a day off, but the strength from knowing that the Lord is using me to help other people who are in a bad state helps. Prayer is strength.’

MEDIA

New world order

WI N A COPY

WHITE chocolate cheesecake and marbled chocolate cream meringues are two of the mouth-watering recipes included in the Divine Chocolate Cookbook. Not only does the book provide a choice of sweet and savoury dishes to try, but also the purchase of Divine chocolate guarantees a fair deal for thousands of cocoa farmers.

The War Cry has two copies of the Divine Chocolate Cookbook, published by Absolute, to give away to readers who can answer the following question: The line: ‘My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get’ comes from which Tom or email your answer to warcrycomp@ salvationarmy.org.uk with the subHanks film? ject line ‘Divine Chocolate Cookbook OForrest Gump Competition’. Include your name and OBig address in your entry.

OThe Da Vinci Code Entries must be received by Monday Send your answer on a post- 19 December. The senders of the first card to Divine Chocolate Cookbook two randomly selected correct entries Competition, The War Cry, 101 will receive a copy of the book. The Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN Editor’s decision is final.

IN THE PRESS

WITH cameras focused on the procession of celebrities making their way into the Leveson phone-hacking inquiry to tell how their right to privacy was breached, the media might miss the fact that today (10 December) is Human Rights Day.

Comic admits he was grateful for prayer BAFTA-winner James Corden was saved from ‘drink, self-delusion and one-night stands … by his Salvation Army father’, reported the Daily Mail.

According to the paper, after the actor’s success in the BBC comedy series Gavin and Stacey (which he co-wrote), James’s career PA took a nosedive, prompting him to retreat into ‘a constant round of partying and hedonism’. photo of The paper went on to quote James, who described how his Salvation Army parents James stepped in to help him.

‘Dad came over to where I was sitting on the Corden floor, knelt down and put his arms RADIO around me,’ he said.

‘I couldn’t help but cry … Every tear that left my eyes THE Rev Joanna Jepson made me feel a little (pictured) – who became the lighter. Dad said a first chaplain to the London prayer as he kissed College of Fashion – is my forehead.’ the faith guest on Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday tomorrow (11 December 6 am).

Hardeep Singh Kohli, who is sitting in for ‘THE dying “must be given religious support”’ was regular presenter the headline in the Daily Mail over a report on NHS Aled Jones, is also joined by opera guidelines which state that ‘dying patients should PA have access to religious or spiritual leaders, including singer Jonathan Veira.

NHS chaplains’.

Fashioning faith

Spiritual care is part of the treatment

Simon Chapman of the National Council for Palliative Care said: ‘We only get one chance to get it right for people at the end of their lives.’

photo

PA

This year, the United Nations celebrates the work of its human rights defenders.

Throughout the world, people are fighting discrimination, intolerance and oppression. Some – like Gay McDougall, who is fighting racial discrimination in the United States – are lawyers. Others – such as Me Maphallang Ponoane, who is standing against the stigma faced by people living with HIV/Aids in Lesotho – are not.

In his message, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says: ‘Human rights are the foundation of freedom, peace, development and justice and the heart of the work of the United Nations around the world.

‘Laws to protect and promote human rights are indispensable. But quite often, progress comes down to people – courageous women and men – striving to protect their own rights and the rights of others: determined to make rights real in people’s lives.’

As important as they are, human rights are not the whole story. Insisting upon exercising one’s rights can degenerate into acts and attitudes of selfishness.

And when two parties exercise conflicting ‘rights’ – the right to privacy with the right to a free press, for example – then the matter can end up in court.

Perhaps, then, it is time for a Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities.

Such an instrument would focus on an individual’s responsibilities to others.

It could include personal undertakings not to discriminate, stigmatise, isolate or persecute on the grounds of ethnicity, religion, gender, age or sexual orientation.

It could envelop environmental, financial and relational responsibility.

There again, the key to ‘freedom, peace, development and justice’ already exists. As Jesus reminded his hearers: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

Book is choc-full of recipes

PA

Comment

BOOKS

6 The War Cry 10 December 2011

LIFESTYLE

10 December 2011 The War Cry

Play it safe with fire

CHRISTMAS is almost here and for many people it involves twinkling lights, fires and lots of cooking. Taking care to avoid a house fire can save lives. By following some simple do’s and dont’s, you and your family can remain safe this Christmas.

Install a smoke alarm and test it regularly, and install a fire blanket in the kitchen.

Work out the best escape make sure everyone is awake, route from your house. In gather them together and folcase your usual way out gets low the escape route to get blocked, decide on a back-up out.

Check that doors are safe route as well. Ensure that both with the back of your hand. escape routes are kept clear.

Regularly take a few min- If they are warm, do not open utes to walk the escape route them. If there is a lot of smoke, with everyone in the house- crawl with your nose near to hold, especially young chil- the floor. When you are on the dren. Check that doors and ground floor and need to break windows can be unlocked and a window, cover the jagged glass with towels or thick bedopened easily.

Review the escape plan ding before exiting through often, especially if changes the window frame. Throw some more bedding outside to are made in the home.

In the event of a fire, when break your fall. Don’t jump, the smoke alarm sounds, but lower yourself to the

length of your arms and drop to the ground. Never go back inside a burning building. Call the fire brigade as soon as possible.

If your escape route is blocked, get everyone into one room and close the door.

Put bedding or towels along

When making a fire action plan…

O Conside children, e r and include people. lderly and disabled O Tell eve ry and windo one where door w keys are .

O Remem ber that if escape, it you can’t ’s everyone safer to protect indoors a nd wait for help to arrive.

the bottom of the doors to seal any gaps. Open a window and stay near it for fresh air and also so that firefighters can see you.

To protect yourself and reduce risk of fire…

O Fit smo k each floo e alarms on r, and tes t them each mon th.

O Keep do ors closed night. at O Switch o electrical ff as many appliance s as possible a t night.

O Put out c candles s igarettes and afely.

O Keep m a lighters a tches and way from children.

Simple precautions can avoid tragedy

7

8 The War Cry 10 December 2011

Chants, oratorios, hymns and gospel – Christian music goes through

KEY

CHANGES T

HE scope of his new music book is on a major scale.

Tim Dowley has looked back over time and across the world to write Christian Music – A Global History.

The book’s index gives some clues to the variety of material in this A (‘Amazing Grace’), B (Bach), C (Cash, Johnny) of Christian music.

A choir sing Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in Dublin

PA photo

NIALL CARSON/PA Wire

It sounds like a challenge to cover the subject, which stretches back millennia.

Some of the difficulties can be guessed – for instance, the fact that music has been recorded for only about 130 years.

Sitting in his home in South London, Tim notes some further problems for the music historian.

‘Even music notation was introduced only in about the 9th or 10th century, so a lot of our ideas about music earlier than that are based on descriptions.

There are some very early examples where we have a form of notation, but we don’t really know what it means.’

No one knows the tunes to them but there are probably hymns included in the text of the New Testament. ‘There are several passages in Paul’s letters where he has taken a bit of what was probably an early Christian hymn and quoted it,’ says Tim. ‘Greek scholars can show the scansion and the way the lines would have ended. There are almost certainly four or five passages in the New Testament that are hymns, and possibly more.’

But the story goes back even further in time to the Hebrew Scriptures or the

10 December 2011 The War Cry

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G Christian Music – A Global History is published by Lion

TIM DOWLEY tells Philip Halcrow about thousands of years of music-making

Christian Old Testament.

‘The Psalms were almost certainly chanted in some way, though we don’t know how,’ says Tim. He points out that the Bible book includes instructions, such as ‘according to Alamoth’, on how an individual psalm should be performed, as well as titles, such as ‘Deer of the Dawn’, which seem to indicate tunes.

‘That chanting tradition was probably carried into the Early Church and then became formalised in the Gregorian chant of the Church in the Middle Ages.

Gregorian chant was normally unaccompanied and was focused on the Eucharist or Mass. The Mass has continued to be an important part of the use of music in church. A lot of the sacred music in the classical tradition has been a setting of all or parts of the Mass.’

Throughout the centuries, from the time of the Psalms, praise was a recurring motif in Christian music. It would continue to be repeated, but Christian music also developed.

Tim explains: ‘The hymn-writing tradition grew out of the chant tradition.

Early hymns were almost solely paraphrases of Scripture. The Protestants started chanting Psalms in the vernacu-

The Psalms were almost certainly chanted

lar – English or German – rather than in Latin. Then, to help people remember them – because they would not have had psalm-books or hymn-books – people started to make simple versifications of the Psalms. Often they were not particularly good in terms of verse.

Some of the rhymes were pretty awful.

‘So people such as Isaac Watts and John Wesley began to write hymns that were not word-for-word translations of Scripture but a better form of verse.

Gradually, the hymns were not so closely linked with a particular Scripture passage.

‘Watts and Wesley and hymns such as “Amazing Grace” helped to develop a more personal devotional approach to hymn-writing.

Hymns became much more a personal testimony. And that fed into the gospel and the AfroAmerican spiritual traditions.’

Tim says that some of the spirituals, sung by slaves in America, are among the pieces of Christian music that have had a great effect.

‘They were extremely powerful, because they were expressions of religious freedom and political freedom.

They were coded freedom songs. So

Turn to page 11

Tim Dowley PHILIP HALCROW

PA

10 The War Cry 10 December 2011

‘Abide with Me’ moves 'Abide with Me' people moves people to tears to tears

‘Abide with Me’ is sung at the FA Cup Final every year – in 2009 the London Community Gospel Choir led the singing

10 December 2011 The War Cry 11

Christians in Pakistan sing a hymn during a Christmas service

PA photo

PA

From page 9 “Go Down, Moses” was talking about the figure of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery but also about the singer attaining their own freedom.

‘It seems that when people sing them today, those songs still have the power to send a shiver down the back.’

Tim adds that the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ has a similar effect, though in this case it was written by John Newton, a slave ship captain who became a priest and abolitionist.

‘It talks about salvation. Nobody is quite sure whether Newton was also talking about freedom from slavery but it has certainly taken on that meaning, as well as the meaning of freedom generally.

So when people hear “Amazing Grace” it works on so many levels that it has the power to connect.

‘Some other hymns have gathered their weight of meaning over the years.

For instance, “Abide with Me”. In some ways it is odd that it should be sung every year at the FA Cup Final, because it is about death. But it moves people to tears, I suppose because people associate it with funerals, commemorations and other emotional occasions.

‘The same can be said about “Jerusalem”. Nobody is quite sure what William Blake meant when he wrote it, but it has accumulated a whole lot of additional meanings from the places it is sung.’

Tim points out that ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Jerusalem’ are two examples of pieces of Christian music that not only gradually gained layers of meaning but also took time to become

the songs they are today.

‘John Newton wrote “Amazing Grace” not as a hymn to be sung with a tune but as a verse. He wrote it as a summary of one of his sermons. It was only later that it would have been sung to any of a number of tunes, and it was only when his words were put together with the tune that we know today that the hymn became so powerful.

‘It is the same for “Jerusalem”.’

William Blake’s words appeared in one of his epic poems, ‘Milton’, in the early 1800s.

‘It was not until 100 years later that the words came together with the tune. It is true of a lot of those big hymns that they somehow evolved rather than just being written.’

For a hymn to work, a good tune is needed, suggests Tim. ‘Some hymns are just great to sing. A good hymn needs a strong tune. The tune for “Guide me, O thou Great Jehovah” is almost more well known than the words.

When you get football crowds singing it, it is just a great tune to sing.’

It is certainly true that football crowds substitute the hymn’s spiritual words with ‘You’re supposed to be at home’ or ‘Can we play you every week?’

Tim says: ‘The tune has just got that memorability.’

Hymn-writing is only one of the traditions in Christian music around the world, and Tim has drafted in other

experts to write on the sounds of the Pacific Islands, China, South-East Asia and other areas. ‘Even within Africa there are various traditions. The Ethiopian tradition goes back a long way and is quite distinctive, whereas African music generally has been influenced by vernacular traditions as well as American gospel coming in. In most areas there is a fusion of influences.’

Tim is familiar with another kind of Christian music. He was a member of the London Orpheus Choir for 30 years and appreciated singing music from the Christian classical tradition. He says he personally is moved by pieces such as Handel’s oratorio Messiah and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

‘Beethoven seems to be always trying to express the inexpressible, so he pushes everything to its limits,’ Tim says. ‘It is a very profound musical expression of his response to the Divine.’

Composers are still writing classical pieces based on Christian liturgy and texts. New hymns are touching people.

Recordings of Gregorian chants reach the album charts. Rock, gospel, country and folk musicians are singing about their experience of God. Musicians – famous or obscure, professional or amateur – are using music in the same way as those who used the Psalms thousands of years ago.

‘From the start,’ says Tim, ‘music has been used as praise.’

A lot of those big hymns evolved rather than just being written

PUZZLEBREAK

Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 Solution on page 15

WORDSEARCH

SUDOKU

12 The War Cry 10 December 2011

Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find the names of the final 12 acts and the judges of this year’s ‘X Factor’

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Chess piece (4) 3. Used to be (3) 5. Gusto (4) 7. Widespread (9) 9. Lie in wait (4) 10. Twelve months (4) 11. Raw (5) 14. Problem (5) 15. Hospital photographs (1-4) 17. Imbecile (5) 18. Abrupt (5) 19. State an opinion (5) 20. Reside (5) 23. Sense (4) 25. Heal (4) 27. Wildly excited (9) 28. Good fortune (4) 29. Parched (3) 30. Bathing pool (4)

ANSWERS

A X S S D E M O N J J O I F B R S E

J I K O R N B R I M O T R C S R O C

I M S L P A A M I S H A B T A E K I

L E I V J H E L H L N S S W M K S B

N L R A M A I Z W K N L O O I O E A

AMELIA LILY CRAIG COLTON FRANKIE COCOZZA GARY BARLOW JAMES MICHAEL JANET DEVLIN

I T E T A N M E I O Y L L T B J V W

J T H S S O L E H L R U T N R N E H

L I T O O M C T S A O Y K R O O A C

O L G T C O H T B M B S L A O J M E

U E T N C B S Y W R I I T L K E E N

I H J O E U R O U O N C B N E T L P

S S Z C H A I C O T S N H I S K I R

JOHNNY ROBINSON JONJO KERR KELLY ROWLAND KITTY BRUCKNELL LITTLE MIX LOUIS WALSH MARCUS COLLINS

W Z N A G N K S A O O H L A S H A N

A R N S U N N A R E N E O C E T L A

L N O I E E E J A N E T D E V L I N

S N I L L O C S U C R A M G S O L I

H O L U N U V I B E A A O A Y T Y R

MISHA B NU VIBE SAMI BROOKES SOPHIE HABIBIS THE RISK TULISA CONTOSTAVLOS TWO SHOES

HONEYCOMB Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number 1. Time still to come 2. Set of clothes worn together

DOWN 1. Bucket (4) 2. Squealer (4) 3. Vacillate (5) 4. Compact (5) 5. Crazy (4) 6. Round trip (4) 7. Kept (9) 8. Unyielding (9) 11. Wept (5) 12. Combine (5) 13. Glorify (5) 14. Mug (3) 16. Observe (3) 21. Eerie (5) 22. Laymen (5) 23. Young horse (4) 24. Emblem of Wales (4) 25. Ringlet (4) 26. Resound (4)

L N O T L O C G I A R C I R O L B T

3. Hot drink made from ground beans 4. Baby’s woollen shoe 5. Professional horse rider 6. Spring flower

QUICK QUIZ 1. Which film director was born Allen Stewart Konigsberg?

2. Which musical includes the song ‘I Whistle a Happy Tune’?

3. What is the term for fear of spiders?

4. Who is the ancient Greek goddess of victory?

5. What is the chemical symbol for calcium?

6. Complete the saying: Many a true word…

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1 Pawn. 3 Was. 5 Zest. 7 Prevalent.

9 Lurk. 10 Year. 11 Crude. 14 Poser. 15 X-rays.

17 Idiot. 18 Terse. 19 Opine. 20 Dwell. 23 Feel.

25 Cure. 27 Delirious. 28 Luck. 29 Dry. 30 Lido.

DOWN: 1 Pail. 2 Nark. 3 Waver. 4 Solid. 5 Zany.

6 Tour. 7 Preserved. 8 Tenacious. 11 Cried.

12 Unite. 13 Extol. 14 Pot. 16 See. 21 Weird.

22 Laity. 23 Foal. 24 Leek. 25 Curl. 26 Echo.

QUICK QUIZ 1 Woody Allen. 2 The King and I. 3 Arachnophobia. 4 Nike. 5 Ca. 6 Is spoken in jest.

HONEYCOMB 1 Future. 2 Outfit. 3 Coffee. 4 Bootee. 5 Jockey.

6 Crocus.

INNER LIFE At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth, as he often did. He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah’s writings and invited to read to the assembled congregation. What he read described his forthcoming mission so precisely that he said: ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’ (Luke 4:21 New International Version)

10 December 2011 The War Cry 13

MAN with a MISSION In this series, PHILIPPA SMALE looks at how Jesus saw the work God had given him to do

AGED 19 months, Helen Keller, born in Alabama in 1880, suffered from an illness that left her deaf and blind and effectively without speech. Thanks to a teacher called Anne Sullivan, who was visually impaired herself, Helen managed to reconnect to her world and became the first deaf-blind student to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Helen wrote 12 books. One, her spiritual autobiography, has the title Light in my Darkness. Although physically she could not see, Helen Keller had vision. She wrote: ‘For three things I thank God every day of my life: thanks that he has vouchsafed me knowledge of his works; deep thanks that he has set in my darkness the lamp of faith; deep, deepest thanks that I have another life to look forward to – a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song.’

During his ministry, Jesus healed people who were physically blind. But he also came to bring sight to the spiritually blind – people who for all their looking could not see the hand of God in the world.

Helen Keller reportedly said that ‘the most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision’.

There are many people who have no vision, no concept of spiritual light. They confine their belief just to what they can physically see – and so they miss out on many important things. Helen Keller realised that the life of faith was still open to her. She could see the things Jesus was showing her – love, peace, patience, kindness, self-sacrifice. For those things she didn’t need eyes.

Jesus still wants to heal the spiritually blind.

Spiritual truths are just as real as the physical world and, for those who have eyes to see, they extend beyond this world to the next.

The for sight saga

‘The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to proclaim recovery of sight for the blind’ (Luke 4:18)

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Helen Keller at work at a Braille machine

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

14 The War Cry 10 December 2011

All I got for Christmas was a

S U VIR

IT was a safer, gentler sort of world when there were only Christmas cards. Now, every Christmas, I have to erect electronic sandbags for the tsunami of texts, family letters and e-cards that threaten to overwhelm my computer.

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The sole purpose of Christmas is to bring us all closer to God

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Editor: Nigel Bovey, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Stephen Pearson Editorial Assistant: Claire Brine Editorial Assistant: Renée Davis Chief Designer: Gill Cox DTP Operator: Denise D’Souza Secretary: Joanne Allcock War Cry office: 020 7367 4900

birth from the wise men, King Herod wanted him dead. He ordered that all the boys in and around Bethlehem of two years and under should be killed.

The sole purpose of Christmas is to bring us all closer to God. But, just as happened with my computer and with Herod, something or someone unseen and thoroughly evil will do their best to prevent us from getting closer to him.

Our prayer for this coming Christmas might be to ask God to place his firewall round our hearts and minds, to protect our spirits from spiritual viruses which cause us to crash, and to keep us safe all the way to the crib, where we can worship Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

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The War Cry

by RON THOMLINSON

B LO

It is just so easy to forward a digital card that has already been sent to groups of numerous individuals. The problem is some of them arrive with vicious viruses, worms, spyware, Trojan horses, phishing tackle and every other kind of electrical goblin.

It seems that there are anonymous evil people who enjoy fouling up Christmas for others.

A couple of years ago my computer crashed, thanks to the seasonal greetings. My machine was on the repair workbench for three days.

Result – 300 viruses removed, a new hard drive and a huge bill. All I got for Christmas that year was viruses.

This year, I am doing everything I can to defend my database.

Who, though, would want to send me a virus for Christmas? Most of the people I know are not like that.

At least, I don’t think they are. So why would anyone want to destroy something as innocent as Christmas?

Perhaps it has always been this way. The first attempt to destroy Christmas was 2,000 years ago when it all started. After hearing of Jesus’

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LVATION

WHAT’S COOKING?

10 December 2011 The War Cry 15

THE MAIN ATTRACTION

Half-fat cheese and herb scones Ingredients: 150g self-raising flour 1¼ tsp baking powder 1tsp English mustard powder 20g butter, plus a little unsalted butter for greasing 125ml semi-skimmed milk 60g reduced-fat hard cheese, grated 1tbsp chopped fresh rosemary, plus a few extra sprigs

FOR STARTERS

Grilled cauliflower and reduced-fat cheese soup Ingredients: 2tbsp olive oil 350g onions, peeled and finely chopped 1 medium cauliflower, broken into florets 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped 1tbsp rosemary sprigs 1tbsp flour 900ml semi-skimmed milk 500ml low-salt chicken stock Ground black pepper 125g reduced-fat hard cheese, finely grated 1tsp paprika Rocket leaves, to garnish Method: Heat the oil in a large saucepan and stir in the onion, cauliflower, garlic and rosemary. Cook and continue to stir for at least 10 minutes, until the SUDOKU SOLUTION

onion is very soft and has turned a golden colour.

Stir in the flour, milk and chicken stock. Season the mixture and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer gently for about 30–35 minutes, or until the cauliflower is very soft.

Cool the soup a little, then purée in a blender. Return the soup to the pan and reheat gently.

Dilute, if necessary, with a little extra stock and adjust the seasoning.

Turn the grill to high. Stir 50g of the cheese into the soup, then ladle it into 4 shallow heatproof soup bowls. (The bowls need to be quite full). Place the bowls in a large roasting tin. Sprinkle the

2tbsp chopped fresh basil 1tsp cayenne pepper

Method: Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6.

Sift the flour, baking powder and mustard powder together and place in a food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Pour in the milk. Process the mixture in short bursts to make a soft dough. Place the dough on a lightly floured board.

Using a floured rolling pin, gently roll out the dough into a neat rectangle, about 1cm thick. Use your hands to square off the edges. Scatter half the cheese and all the herbs over the surface, then lightly press into the dough so they become embedded.

Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll. Cut into slices to make little rounds.

Place the rounds, with the spiral facing upwards, on a greased baking tray. Make sure remaining cheese and a little they are spaced well paprika over the top. apart. Sprinkle the Boil a kettle of water and pour the remaining cheese over hot water into the roasting tin the top. Tuck a sprig of so that the bases of the bowls rosemary into the top of are covered. Carefully place the each round and dust roasting pan under the grill and with the cayenne pepper. cook for 5–10 minutes or until Bake in the oven for the soup is golden and 15–20 minutes or until bubbling. golden brown and risen.

Remove the roasting tin from the Remove the scones from grill and lift the bowls out. Wipe the oven and allow to them dry, then garnish the soup cool on a wire tray. with the rocket leaves. Serve Serves 6 with warm soda bread or freshly made cheese scones.

Serves 4

Recipes reprinted, with kind permission, from the British Cheese Board website britishcheese.com

No need to be a has-been

writes RENÉE DAVIS

Paramount/Dreamworks

CAT’S WHISKERS: Puss and friends go in search of treasure

CATCH him if you can! The much-loved moggie from the Shrek films has pounced his way back into cinemas in Puss in Boots, released yesterday (Friday 9 December).

Puss (voiced by Antonio Banderas) is an outlaw constantly running from town to town. He is always searching for a way to clear his name and put things right.

He embarks on an adventure to find the magic beans that he has been dreaming about since kittenhood. But there’s just one thing stopping him – the scary Jack and Jill have them.

While trying to work out how to nab the beans, Puss comes up against the sly Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) and the oddly shaped Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifiankis), who have been trying to track him down.

Humpty and Puss’s relationship turned sour a long time ago. Humpty caused Puss to be shunned by their hometown of San Ricardo. But Humpty reminds him of the dream they once shared together when they were young – to find the magic beans, climb the beanstalk and get the golden eggs.

Humpty needs Puss’s sharp moves

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and skills to complete the mission.

Although Puss would rather go solo, he is persuaded that with Humpty’s help, the long-held dream of being rich is within paw reach. Puss could even have a chance of clearing his name. But will rekindling his friendship with Humpty be worth it?

Just like Puss, many people have dreams they want to pursue, but mistakes or hurts prevent them. Mistakes can often hold us in the past and make it hard to move on. To compensate, we might throw ourselves into making money or

running up a string of casual relationships. While that might satisfy for a while, ultimately it leaves us unfulfilled and frustrated. There must be more to life. There is.

Jesus says: ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ (John 6:35 New International Version).

When we turn to Jesus and confess our wrongdoing, he forgives us and gives life meaning, purpose and fulfilment. When we know Jesus, we don’t have to go roaming anywhere else. Purr-fect!

Mistakes can hold us in the past

The Salvation Army (United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland) on behalf of the General of The Salvation Army.

Printed by Benham Goodhead Print Ltd, Bicester, Oxon. © Linda Bond, General of The Salvation Army, 2011