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War Cry THE

Est 1879 No 6998

MINISTER OF SOUND Ex-Communard Richard Coles

FIGHTING FOR HEARTS AND SOULS

RSPB Images/Wales News Service

29 January 2011

salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

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Page 8

The Big Garden Birdwatch is being run by the RSPB, of which Kate Humble is the president

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SURVEY FOCUSES ON FEATHERED FRIENDS writes PHILIP HALCROW

RAY KENNEDY/RSPB Images

THE idea has really taken off. In 1979 30,000 children took part in the RSPB’s first Big Garden Birdwatch. Today (Saturday 29 January) and tomorrow more than half a million children and adults are expected to join in this year’s count of feathered friends. Participants will spend an hour recording the highest number of every bird

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NEWS

The War Cry 29 January 2011

NICK PARK PRESENTS AWARD FOR BIBLE PITCH

THE Salvation I Army is preparing to distribute

A grand day out for film winner

mattresses and other aid to people in areas of Brazil which were hit by mudslides. More than 650 people are known to have been killed.

IN BRIEF

A RESIDENT and I a trainee from The Salvation Army’s Booth House centre for homeless people in Swindon have donated money they raised by running three halfmarathons to Salvation Army projects. Matt Wooton, who has been a resident at Booth House since last May, and Ollie Lambrechs, who completed a work placement at the centre, donated some of the £360 they raised to Booth House and to a Salvation Army rehabilitation centre.

CHRISTIANS REMEMBER PERSECUTION

Prayers for Egypt

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church in Alexandria killed 21 people and injured 80 others.

The day of prayer is scheduled to take place at St Mary’s Church, Bryanston Square, London W1.

123, go!

SCULPTURE GOES ON TOUR

MATT GONZALEZ-NODA/Christian Aid

CHRISTIANS will be praying for their fellow believers in Egypt at an event in London today (Saturday 29 January).

At the event – organised by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and United Action for Egyptian Christians – church leaders will discuss the challenges facing Christians in Egypt and will remember them in prayer.

CSW reports that there was an escalation of violence against Christians in Egypt last year. On New Year’s Eve the bombing of a

WALLACE and Gromit creator Nick Park (right) presented Rob McLellan with an award for winning a Bible-based film-pitch competition.

The organisers of the competition, Bible Society, invited potential film-makers to record, upload and present a pitch for a film based on a verse, character or story from the Bible.

Rob, who is a video lecturer at Sheffield College, entered the competition with an idea for a film based on the Old Testament character Rahab, a prostitute from Jericho who saves the lives of two Israelite spies and is in turn saved by them.

He and nine other finalists presented their ideas to a panel of judges including Nick Park and Last King of Scotland and Spooks actor David Oyelowo over the course of two days at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire.

Winner Rob will receive £20,000 of production support to make his film. He will also be given the chance to show it to XTHE Salvation Army is to open Men and Fantastic Four director Ralph officially its work in the Solomon Winter and other Islands on 1 February. The opening Hollywood will bring the number of countries in professionals who will which the movement is operating to give advice.

123.

One in the eye for poverty CHRISTIAN Aid is taking a new sculpture and a photographic exhibition on a tour of cathedrals to encourage Christians to discuss poverty.

The tour was launched at Southwark Cathedral, where the commissioned sculpture was unveiled. Intended to resemble an eye within an eye, the work suggests the gap between people who live in poverty and those who do not.

Its creator Mel Howse says: ‘Poverty is staring at us and can be uncomfortable to

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witness. But once we have seen it, the challenge is to act.’

The accompanying photographic exhibition displays the relief and development agency’s work in

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poor countries.

The tour, which highlights Christian Aid’s Poverty Over campaign, is to visit dozens of Britain’s cathedrals over the next two years.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

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RECIPES p15

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From page 1 species they see at any one time in their garden. They can visit rspb.org.uk/birdwatch to enter their results.

Richard Bashford of the RSPB tells The War Cry that in the past Big Garden Birdwatchers have seen some rare birds, including the American robin and, from Asia, the black-throated thrush. This year they could be in for a treat. ‘The waxwing is a glorious-looking bird, which comes to the UK in varying numbers,’ Richard says. ‘Sometimes we get just six or seven in the country, other times hundreds – but this year we have thousands. This is the best winter to see them that I have known.’

It may be exciting to see rare birds fly in, but some previously common birds are becoming rarer.

Richard says: ‘When you look at the 1979 results, the song thrush was No 10. Now it is outside the top 20.

There has also been a 62 per cent decline in house sparrows. On average you could have ten in your garden in 1979; now it’s four.’

Richard says that the plummeting number of sparrows is a cause for concern. ‘Our research has found that the birds are breeding, but they’re not finding food for their chicks. So the chicks are dying in the nest.’

Equipped with knowledge, the RSPB looks at ways in which people can help. Richard suggests: ‘There are a few things you can do in your garden such as leaving the dead heads on flowers and keeping the grass slightly longer to create better habitats for the insects that these birds feed on.’

Generally, he says, Brits are always looking to help birds.

‘It is a hobby to feed the birds. It can help them through a protracted cold period. January and February are very hard months for them.

‘The Big Garden Birdwatch is the biggest survey of its kind in the world. People are fascinated by garden birds and concerned about them.’

Is it a flight of fancy to suggest that it’s natural for us to be concerned about birds? After all, we, like them, are part of creation.

It’s food for thought – as is the idea, thousands of years old, that we are not alone in birdwatching. discover a message that if we put According to Jesus’ reckoning, our trust in God, he gives us God looks out for sparrows – but strength for protracted tough times; also looks out for us. ‘Not one spardirection in how to approach life; row is forgotten by God,’ he said. ‘So and forgiveness for when we look do not be afraid; you are worth after number one and don’t bother much more than many sparrows’ looking out for others.

(Luke 12:6, 7 Good News Bible).

God loves the world he created, If we survey Jesus’ teachings we and he loves us. It all adds up.

The house sparrow is becoming less spotted

God looks out for sparrows – but also looks out for us RAY KENNEDY/RSPB Images

4 The War Cry 29 January 2011

Each year in January the world stops to remember the millions of Jews who were persecuted and killed under Nazi rule. This year the New End Theatre in London marked Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January) with performances of Judenfrei, a play based on the real lives of two Jewish lawyers who were banned from practising because of their race. Playwright KATE GLOVER tells Claire Brine about the process of creating a play which moved her to tears

‘M

Y play Judenfrei is about enormous courage, the importance of family and the fact that human love can survive the most evil actions,’ explains Kate Glover. ‘It’s a story about a young couple in love – Hanna and Philipp – and the dangers they face from the Nazis because they are Jewish lawyers.’

Kate wrote her historical drama after visiting a synagogue in Budapest and attending a Lawyers Without Rights exhibition at Temple Church in London.

‘The two experiences hit me hard,’ she says. ‘At the exhibition I read about Jewish lawyers who fled from Germany after losing their rights. Others stayed put, struggled through the war and then died from exhaustion shortly after it ended. I never set out to write a play about Jewish persecution, but the subject matter gripped me.

‘I based the characters Hanna and Philipp on real lawyers living in Germany in the 1930s: Wilhelm Dickmann and Dr Elisabeth Kohn,’ says Kate. ‘The relationship between them was my creation, but other events in the play – such as an anonymous phone call

UNITED: (from left) Anita (Rachel Sternberg), Aladar (Tim Thomas) and Margarete (Victoria Corlass) face problems for being Jewish

VAL DIMIR

Writer Nazi to Philipp, urging him to flee the country for his safety – really did happen.

‘A stranger said to Dickmann: “I understand you are going on your holidays. I advise you to depart early because the weather will change for the worse later in the morning.” Then the caller hung up.’

In the play Philipp takes heed of the advice and flees to New York. Hanna forgoes her visa to Cuba – despite the dangerous position she is in – to remain with her mother and sister. Together they face the terrors of Kristallnacht, the night in 1938 on which synagogues were burnt down and Jewish shops smashed and looted.

‘When I wrote some of the scenes I had tears pouring down my cheeks,’ says Kate, who also plays Hanna’s mother. ‘I felt that Hanna had such a difficult decision to make. Should she run for her life or stay to take care of her widowed mother and younger sister? If I were Hanna, I don’t know what I would have done.’

Many people continue to be affected by the horrors of the Holocaust. Kate believes that people are fascinated with the period surrounding the Second World War. ‘We ask ourselves: “How could anyone treat another human being in such a way?”

But since that time, has society really changed that much?

We try to kid ourselves that today we are more civilised, but I believe that humankind still has the potential to do evil things. Events such as the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s make me wonder if we have learnt anything at all.’

In spite of all her research, Kate is none the wiser about why the Holocaust happened.

As a Christian, she finds her-

How could anyone treat another human being in this way?

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acts on terrors YOUNG LOVE: Philipp (Anthony Wolfe) and Hanna (Noa Bodner)

self faced with the question: Where was God? ‘I’m not sure I know the answer to that,’ she confesses. ‘I think ultimately he was in the hearts and minds of those people who kept their hopes up. He was in the human spirit of those who cleared up the mess, and those who cared for elderly people and consoled sick people.

‘When God sees the pain humans inflict on one another, as in the case of the Holocaust, I think he feels enormous disappointment. But at the same time I don’t think he is surprised by anything. I also think God is always ready to give us a second chance.’

So does that mean that God forgives those who persecute others?

‘I see God as all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving,’ says Kate. ‘I believe he loves people deeply enough to forgive them – but I also believe in the importance of repentance. I’m not sure whether forgiveness is possible without a person being sorry for what they have done. But I cannot possibly know.’

It is unsurprising that most of the characters in Judenfrei (whose title means ‘free of Jews’) do not live happily ever after. But Kate believes that the message behind her play is still a positive one. And that it needs to be told and retold.

‘I believe that whatever problem we face – however bad or enormous – we can conquer it, as long as we have love, courage and faith. If we cling on to those qualities, God’s love and goodness will always triumph in the end.’

POSITIVE: Kate believes in the importance of repentance CLAIRE GROGAN

God is ready to give us a second chance

MEDIA

Feel-God factor IT was no electoral promise, but the Government wants to know how good we feel.

Last November, David Cameron announced that from this April he would be introducing a quarterly poll on the state of the nation’s wellbeing.

Cambridge, reported The Daily Telegraph.

The 1631 ‘Wicked Bible’ forms part of an exhibition of religious texts run by Cambridge University. At the time of print the omission of the word ‘not’ in the seventh commandment earned the printers a public rebuke from the Archbishop of A NUMBER of papers reported that a signature worth Canterbury. £500,000 has surfaced in the records of a church in Other volumes on Wolverhampton. display include the Button Gwinnett signed the marriage register at Gutenberg Bible of St Peter’s Church in 1757 before emigrating to America 1455, the first printed and becoming a signatory of the Declaration of Bible, and Henry Independence in 1776.

VIII’s Great Bible.

The page containing the signature will not be sold and has been moved to a bank vault for security. ‘It’s a piece of history that belongs to Wolverhampton,’ said the Vicar of St Peter’s, the Rev David Wright.

A RARE copy of the Bible which, because of a printing error, includes the commandment ‘Thou shalt commit adultery’ is on public display for the first time in

Signature will not wander from Wolverhampton

Peacemakers considered in song

Church attracts attention of teenagers

CINEMA

A CHURCH in Lancashire has its own hotline to the police to stop disruptive teenagers shouting abuse during services, reported The Sun. The paper quoted Councillor Tony Melia

as saying that the incidents at St Peter’s Church in Darwen were ‘a shameful sign of the times’.

The Rev Andrew Holliday has praised local residents for working hard to make services safer.

TO continue his look at the Beatitudes, presenter Brian D’Arcy will reflect on peacemakers on Radio 2’s Sunday Half Hour tomorrow (30 January).

The presenter will explore the challenges faced by peacemakers and consider the rewards they are promised.

Hymns will include ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’ and ‘Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven’.

Momentum

‘Gross National Product,’ he said, speaking of the total value of goods and services a country produces in a year, ‘is an incomplete way of measuring a country’s progress.’

Echoing last year’s Budget report that ‘the Government is committed to developing broader indicators of wellbeing and sustainability’, Mr Cameron added that ‘the new measure won’t give the full story of our nation’s wellbeing or our happiness or contentment … but it could give us a general picture of whether life is improving.’

Public consultation is going on about how wellbeing can best be measured.

The set of indicators being used by the Office for National Statistics makes interesting reading. Under the heading ‘What things in life matter to you?’ are categories including ‘income and wealth’, ‘job satisfaction and economic security’, ‘good connections with friends and relatives’, ‘crime’ and ‘health’.

While this list adds social dimensions to crude bank-balance measures, there is one crucial element of wellbeing that is notable by its absence – faith.

Although not remembered for his economic advice, Jesus knew where value really lies. ‘Do people gain anything if they win the whole world but lose their life?’ he asked. ‘Of course not!’ (Mark 8:36 Good News Bible).

One person who understands the truth behind Jesus’ words is former pop star Richard Coles. In this week’s War Cry the former Communard tells how fame, fortune, opportunity and popularity ‘weren’t reaching what I needed deep down’. In penitence, he put his trust in Jesus and realised that ‘this was the food I was hungry for’.

If those who are to shape policy according to personal wellbeing want the full picture, they will do well to remember the life-enhancing and society-contributing impact of faith.

‘Wicked Bible’ goes on shameless display

RADIO

Comment

IN THE PRESS

6 The War Cry 29 January 2011

‘Speech’ film inspires discussion

A CHRISTIAN education trust has produced online resources to help church, school or other groups discuss the award-winning film The King’s Speech, which is on general release.

Damaris worked with film distributors Momentum to create the resources, which include film clips and a study guide.

They can be downloaded free of charge from damaris.org/kingsspeech

Colin Firth in ‘The King’s Speech’

LIFESTYLE

Protect your social status

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Beware the status hijackers

Library pictures posed by models

EVER been on a social networking site and wondered why one of your ‘friends’ is posting out-of-character or random messages? If so, they might be a victim of ‘status-jacking’, in which someone else has accessed their details and written bogus comments. The practice is most common among 18 to 25-year-olds.

Internet security company AVG has completed a study of this age group in the UK, the US, Australia, the Czech Republic and Japan and found that most young people are not taking adequate precautions to secure their social network profile.

The study found that 48 per cent of young British adults in the UK, US and Australia secure their laptops and mobile devices with a password.

Four in ten young Britons share their passwords with friends and family. The research also found that young women overall are less careful about security than men. Forty-two per cent of women under 25 share their passwords, compared with 28 per cent of men.

Tony Anscombe of AVG says that the sharing of DO you have a habit of telling your passwords is a great concern. whereabouts on social networking ‘The most worrying statistic is that four in sites, such as Facebook and Twitter? ten share their passwords,’ he says. ‘This is Beware, it could cost you an arm and a something we do not advise doing. Sharing your leg, and possibly your television. passwords can leave your social network pages Insurance company Confused.com open to status-jacking and makes your other online is warning social media users that they accounts, such as banking, vulnerable to attack.’ could eventually face hikes in their He adds that people should secure their handhome insurance premiums. held and mobile devices, as more and more people are using these to access social networks.

‘A person has to walk away from their mobile only for a few minutes for someone to access their device and masquerade as them on a social networking site.’

AVG has put together a YouTube video, featuring UK comedian Holly Burns, entitled ‘Facebook Status Jack’, which highlights the dangers of statusjacking in a light-hearted, but informative, manner.

Keep your location secret It issued the warning after a group of burglars from New Hampshire in the US targeted people who checked into ‘places’ on Facebook. This alerted them to people who were not home.

The police caught them after they broke into 50 homes and stole $100,000 (£64,000) worth of goods.

Confused.com’s top social networking tips to reduce the risk of home burglary are: G Never post your home address or other personal information such as your home phone number.

G Don’t follow or add people you don’t know.

G Block others from seeing your profile if you don’t know them.

G Turn off location-based services on Twitter and Facebook unless you need to use them.

Letting people online know where you are could lead to financial loss

8 The War Cry 29 January 2011

From

RICHARD COLES explains his

ommunards Rex Features

A

IBOX overflowing with empty nonCommunion wine bottles is propped against the church wall (the remnants of a do the night before). On the portico steps, a tray of workmen’s tea goes cold in the winter morning air. St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, is used to catering for catholic tastes.

Richard with Jimmy

Inside the ornate Victorian church, morning prayer Somerville in their concluded, Father Richard Coles is soaring through the Communards days Bach and Gounod setting of ‘Ave Maria’. This is a world away from On the way to college one day, ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ – his Richard was run over by a car. Two chart-topping success as half of the years later he invested some of his 1980s duo the Communards. £2,000 compensation in a soprano saxSo what led him this way?

‘I grew up with music,’ he says.

‘My grandfather was a pianist who loved the songs of Stanley Holloway, and I got a bit stage-struck watching my grandad play. I started playing the piano when I was four years old and became a choirboy when I was eight. I always felt at home with music. It was a language I could speak quite easily.

‘As a choirboy I had a thorough grounding in music and performance, but I got to the stage where I realised I didn’t believe anything I was singing. I loved the music, the liturgy, the words, the atmosphere and the church buildings, but I didn’t connect with the content. It didn’t make any sense to me.’

Losing interest in church, Richard set his sights on being an actor. He studied drama at a further education college in Stratford-upon-Avon.

ophone.

‘I loved the sound of jazz saxophonist Sidney Bechet,’ he says. ‘He was one of the few who played a soprano sax, so I bought one, taught myself and headed for London to play in a band.

‘I was, without doubt, the worst soprano sax player who ever got paid for playing. I started in theatre and session work and one day met Jimmy Somerville.

‘Jimmy has spectacular talent, extraordinary presence and an amazing singing voice. I started playing in the same band as him, Bronksi Beat. I felt very lucky just to stand next to him.

I didn’t believe anything I was singing

Father Richard Coles and St Paul’s, Knightsbridge

NIGEL BOVEY

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ministry of sound to Nigel Bovey and Renée Davis

to

Communion

Then he decided to leave. I left as well, and we started our own band as a sideline. The sideline took over and the next thing I knew we were on Top of the Pops. It was quite ridiculous.’

The Communards’ first two singles crept into the Top 30.

Their high-energy reworking of the soul classic ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ topped the charts for four weeks and was the bestselling single of 1986.

What did that feel like?

‘It was really good, like winning the lot-

tery. We were in Italy when we found out. Elton John sent over a case of Dom Pérignon champagne – but we were more of a crate-of-lager band.

When you get to No 1 life changes quickly. Suddenly you’re faced with hordes of screaming fans, many of them throwing their knickers at you.’

So did Richard’s lifestyle become a case of sex and drugs and rock’n’roll?

‘I was too busy for that. It was too difficult to find the time. I was effectively a small-business man. I had other things to attend to. But sex

When you get to No 1 life changes quickly

and drugs were going on for those around me.’

A big-time musician, masses of groupies and temptation all around – was there really no time for indulgence?

‘Of course, being in a pop band means lots of people are pleased to see you and you can very quickly get used to people saying “yes” to you. When that happens, it’s difficult to put up too much resistance.

‘The deal is that you get your night

Turn to next page

10 The War Cry 29 January 2011

From page 9 of intimacy, they get their anecdote. At the time this seems fair. But actually there is a tension. You can completely lose yourself in the opportunities, but by doing so you lose something of your deeper, more-lasting needs.

‘I probably had a sense that there were deeper issues needing my attention more than just getting what I wanted. Having said that, I did get plenty of what I wanted. I was certainly no saint.’

Nor, for the sake of the record, were there any ‘sinners’ in the demise of the band.

‘We didn’t split up,’ Richard says: ‘Jimmy and I just stopped working together. I felt at the time that I had nothing more to offer. Being in a pop duo is a bit like being in a difficult marriage. We’d reached the point where we needed a break from each other.’

It was after the success, instant recognition and adoration that, Richard admits, his problems started.

‘Our success coincided with the initial impact of HIV/Aids in the UK. While we were enjoying enormous

Being in a pop band means you can very quickly get used to people saying ‘yes’ to you

success, we were surrounded by people who had suddenly been afflicted with this terrible physical condition.

Otherwise-healthy men in their twenties were dying. I, on the other hand, was 25, had lots of money and didn’t have to work. I found these extremes hard to handle. I decided to take a year off.’

It turned out to be what Richard calls his ‘lost year’.

‘Within three weeks I was in a nightclub taking anything that came my way. Ecstasy had just arrived in London. I found it irresistible. It gave me instant escape from pressure and tension. I must have spent a good six months completely losing it on the dancefloor. It was one of the most fun things I ever did.

‘But then it all caught up with me. I was losing my grip on reality. I’d be going out on a Thursday and getting in on a Monday not remembering where I’d been.

‘I remember coming to on a Tube train and not knowing how I’d got there. I was covered in bruises. I had no idea what I had done. I didn’t smell too good. I got off at King’s Cross station, and people were looking at me –

in alarm or pity, I don’t know. I knew then it was time to stop. I knew that if I didn’t stop, I’d be dead.’

This point of awakening started Richard’s turnaround. Having a ‘strong sense of self-preservation’, he realised that he needed something meaningful from elsewhere.

‘I was one of those boring militant atheists who think about faith for a moment and then realise that the reason they feel so intensely about it is not because it means nothing to them but because actually it means a great deal.

‘The excitement of work, music and clubbing just weren’t reaching what I needed deep down. I started having religious twinges.’

I

t was while working during the Edinburgh Festival that, one Sunday, Richard stepped into evensong in the Anglican cathedral.

Hearing a piece he’d sung as a choirboy struck a chord in Richard’s heart.

‘I went in a spectator and came out a

The Communards appear on ‘The Tube’ ILPO Music/Rex Features

29 January 2011 The War Cry 11

participant,’ he says, describing the transformation that took place. ‘I really, really didn’t want this. I had no time for church. But I knew I needed the generosity, love and sympathy of Jesus Christ.’

On his way back to London, Richard stopped off at York to get a few days’ head space.

‘I went into York Minster and bought a silver cross. I wasn’t sure why. I now know I was nervously and shyly making my way back to what I needed – God. But when I got home I went to see a psychiatrist because I thought religious impulse was a prelude to insanity.’

The psychiatrist assured Richard that he wasn’t going mad and that his need would be better served by a priest. The priest he went to see was the friend of a friend.

‘I realised I had to put aside my preposterous self-regarding pop-star persona, my anxieties and reservations and in humility get on my knees and let Jesus Christ talk to me.

‘I said to him: “Save me!” (Before, I had been too full of my own selfimportance to have ever imagined doing such a thing.) But as I spoke I felt a huge release within and realised that this was the food I was hungry for.

I knew I was saved.’

Given that Richard had been ‘no saint’, how easy was it for him to forgive himself for the self-indulgences of the past?

‘If it were simply a matter of me forgiving myself, I would never have got anywhere,’ he confesses. ‘But gradually I understood that God had forgiven me through Jesus Christ and that, compared with the bottomless love and forgiveness of God, our selfpromotion fade into insignificance.

‘My lifestyle changed radically. I stopped taking drugs. I stopped clubbing. My social life had been built

I went into York Minster and bought a silver cross.

I wasn’t sure why

Richard appears as a panellist on ‘Have I Got News for You’

around clubbing. It was hard withdrawing from people I loved. It hurt to put barriers between us.’

But life, says Richard, had taken on a new dimension.

‘Life before God was in black and white. Now it is in HD, 3D colour.’

In 2005, having responded to a calling he first tentatively sensed – but didn’t understand – when he was eight years old, Richard was ordained into the Anglican ministry, where the Almighty is redeeming his past.

Complete with dog collar and ‘The Reverend’, Richard has appeared on BBC’s irreverent quiz show Have I Got News For You (‘I was told off by one of my parishioners for that’), and the higher brow Newsnight Review.

He has also presented Radio 4’s Saturday Live. In addition he was a consultant for the BBC Two comedy Rev. Is he in any way compromising the gospel by getting caught up in the media?

‘I hope not. I think it’s important to have Christians talking with confidence and poise in the media. With programmes such as Have I Got News one recommendation would be for Christians to stay clear.

But I think the art is in trying to find a way to be true to what you are Hat Trick

and being viable within the system.

For me, the model is Jesus. He went anywhere and everywhere. I believe he calls his followers to do the same.’

Is Richard hoping to change the media image of Christians at large and vicars in particular?

‘Yes, I am. (But I’m also a showoff!) Television tends to deal in straightforward statements which are sometimes simplistic or caricatures. I want to challenge that.’

I

t is, though, off-screen contact with people that confirms to Richard that he is in the right place.

‘The opportunity to connect with people as a priest is most fulfilling,’ he says. ‘Being with someone in the most intimate, difficult aspects of their life is an extraordinary privilege – immensely moving and affirming.

‘I do, though, miss having weekends to socialise. Many of my friends are not religious and so most of their social life happens at weekends, Christmas and Easter. Trying to find a way of sustaining such friendships when you are at your busiest is frustrating.’

So, how tempting would it be if someone suggested he hook up with some of his old friends and formed a band again?

‘Not at all,’ he smiles. ‘That was who I was then. This is who I am now.’

PUZZLEBREAK

12 The War Cry 29 January 2011

SUDOKU

WORDSEARCH Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these common garden birds Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 Solution on page 15

BLACKBIRD BLUE TIT CARRION CROW CHAFFINCH COAL TIT

QUICK CROSSWORD

by Chris Horne ACROSS 1. Banal (5) 4. Theme (5) 8. Currently (3) 9. Plump (5) 10. Degrade (5) 11. Strike (3) 12. Boris Johnson, for example (5) 13. Twisted (7) 16. Historical records (6) 19. Monkey-like (6) 23. Condemn (7) 26. Make a speech (5) 28. Indian bread (3) 29. Openings (5) 30. Tintern, for example (5) 31. Joke (3) 32. Silk fabric (5) 33. Minor actor (5)

ANSWERS QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1 Trite. 4 Topic. 8 Now. 9 Stout. 10 Abase. 11 Hit. 12 Mayor. 13 Crooked. 16 Annals. 19 Simian. 23 Censure.

26 Orate. 28 Nan. 29 Vents. 30 Abbey. 31 Gag. 32 Satin. 33 Extra.

DOWN: 2 Irony. 3 Enthral. 4 Twitch. 5 Plato. 6 Crack. 7 Trend.

9 Samoa. 14 Ohm. 15 Eta. 17 Née. 18 Ass. 20 Iron Age. 21 Needy.

22 Benign. 23 Civic. 24 Nines. 25 Upset. 27 Ambit.

QUICK QUIZ 1 Uncle Albert. 2 A cow. 3 Giuseppe Verdi. 4 Mont Blanc.

5 Johannes Vermeer. 6 Hammer.

HONEYCOMB 1 Eatery. 2 Garçon. 3 Prince. 4 Avatar. 5 Smooth. 6 Locate.

COMPETITION WINNERS THE winners of the Nativity! DVD competition are A. Tippins of Dawlish and D. Howard of Bognor Regis.

The gifts that the wise men brought to the baby Jesus were gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The winners of the Priests Noël CD competition are M. Frost of Harwich, A. Lennon of Lurgan and P. Burnett of Aberdeen.

The title of the Priests’ second album is Harmony.

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

U N O E G I P L A R E F I I F

H C K A S T A R L I N G I B C

R W C O I D B L T I T E U L B

COLLARED DOVE DUNNOCK FERAL PIGEON GOLDFINCH GREAT TIT

E V O D D E R A L L O C S A H

K N N R L L O J I W A I O C J

E O N A R I N G E R M H N K A

I E U V I A R I R E C I G B C

P G D E A T P I D N F T T I K

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GREENFINCH HOUSE SPARROW JACKDAW LONG-TAILED TIT MAGPIE

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ROBIN SONG THRUSH STARLING WOODPIGEON WREN

HONEYCOMB Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number 1. Restaurant or café 2. Waiter in a French restaurant 3. Son of a monarch 4. Film directed by James Cameron DOWN 2. Sarcasm (5) 3. Fascinate (7) 4. Jerk sharply (6) 5. Greek philosopher (5) 6. Crevice (5) 7. Fashion (5) 9. Pacific nation (5) 14. Unit of electrical resistance (3) 15. Greek letter (3) 17. Born (3) 18. Donkey (3) 20. Prehistoric period (4, 3) 21. Impecunious (5) 22. Kind (6) 23. Urban (5) 24. Dressed up to the _____ (5) 25. Distress (5) 27. Scope (5)

5. Having an even surface 6. Discover the exact position

QUICK QUIZ 1. Which character did Buster Merryfield play in the TV series Only Fools and Horses?

2. What is the term for a female dolphin?

3. Who wrote the music for the opera Otello?

4. Which is the highest Alpine peak?

5. Which Dutch artist painted Girl with a Pearl Earring?

6. Soft-faced, club, claw and sledge are all types of what tool?

INNER LIFE WHEN I was at school I tried to learn to play a number of musical instruments, including the guitar. As an eager ten-yearold, I joined my school’s guitar club, sure that I’d finally discovered the instrument for me. However, I don’t think I learnt more than four or five chords.

the behind the ANDREW STONE looks at the biblical inspiration behind some popular hymns

Rivers of Babylon

, ylon b a of B n s r e ow riv on. i the e sat d t, Z Y B re w ep ered The ah we wrememb Ye- en we Wh

The song must feature some of the oldest words to reach No 1. They were inspired by Psalms 19 and – mainly – 137, which were written some 2,500 years ago.

Although recorded as a Rastafarian song by the Melodians, Boney M’s 1978 hit version took the song’s lyrics closer to their biblical roots, and the song has

PA

But that didn’t stop me ‘performing’ with the rest of the club at a parents’ evening. We sang and strummed our way through ‘Rivers of Babylon’, which the pop group Boney M had just taken to the top of the charts.

29 January 2011 The War Cry 13

PA PHOTO OF BONEY M

been included in the repertoire of Christian singers.

Psalm 137 begins with the words: ‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion’ (Psalm 137:1 New International Version).

The psalm recounts a time when the Jews were living in exile in Babylon away from Zion (or Jerusalem). This ancient biblical song reflects the sorrow people felt after circumstances had separated them from their past, their identity and their culture.

In our lives circumstances can change in ways that reduce us to tears. We look back and feel that things are not what they were. Perhaps we long for the good old days and wonder if our situation will ever improve.

But the message in the Bible is that God can change our lives. If circumstances have turned our world upside down – if we feel cut off and abandoned – God can give us new hope for the future.

If we trust him and follow his way of living, God will help us. Some of the problems we face today may be because of bad decisions we’ve made in the past. But if we admit this to God, he can give us a new beginning.

We don’t have to live our lives longing for the past; God can give us a better future if we get in tune with him.

CAN WE HELP? Just complete this coupon and send it to The War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN

Please send me Basic reading about Christianity Information about The Salvation Army Contact details of a Salvationist minister Name Address

CHART-TOPPERS: Boney M

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

14 The War Cry 29 January 2011

Library picture posed by model

Workers offered a

second chance

IN the 1950s they were plentiful. In the 1990s they virtually disappeared. Today they are coming back into fashion. Many employers are reintroducing apprenticeships.

Registered at Companies House as a newspaper under the Newspaper Libel and Registration Act 1881

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It took determination and commitment

no matter what people had done, he still wanted to know them: ‘I will never turn away anyone who comes to me’ (John 6:37 Good News Bible).

No wrongdoing is too big or bad for him to forgive. He welcomes everybody. He also wants to help us become the best that we can be. His teachings about how to live can help us as we choose which paths to tread in future.

Want a second chance? Then turn to Jesus and take it.

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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

We all make mistakes.

And when we do, the idea of starting afresh may not sound possible.

But it is – through Jesus.

Jesus cared about people and forgave the things they did wrong. In spite of their failings, he saw their potential for the future and taught them how to reach it. He told his followers that

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The War Cry

Apprenticeships are becoming popular

B LO

by JIM BURNS

Many years ago I had a job working in a retraining scheme called Topps. According to adverts, the scheme was ‘a second chance to learn a trade’. It was designed to help adults who had not been able to take up an apprenticeship when they were younger.

Doors were opened for people to retrain as plumbers, mechanics and even deep-sea divers.

The training courses resulted in transformed lives. Some people went from prison to college and into a profession.

The work wasn’t easy and success wasn’t achieved overnight. It took determination and commitment. But what helped the apprentices was the fact that someone believed in them.

To have a second chance in training for employment is great.

But what is far more precious is having a second chance at getting it right in life.

SA

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LVATION

THE MAIN ATTRACTION

WHAT’S COOKING?

Chicken and mushroom pie

29 January 2011 The War Cry 15 until the sauce thickens. Stir in the chicken pieces.

Grease a 20cm pie dish with lard.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry into the shape of the dish, then carefully line the bottom and the sides. Spoon the chicken into the pie dish and leave until completely cool.

Roll out the puff pastry to the size of the pie dish. Dampen the edge of

the pastry, then use it as a lid to cover the chicken mixture. Press the pastry down and use a fork to crimp the edges. Cut a couple of slits into the pastry lid to let out any steam, then brush the beaten egg over the top.

Bake the pie for 15–20 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden brown.

Serves 4

Coffee and walnut cake

Ingredients: 1 small chicken, roasted 25g butter 2 bunches spring onions, finely sliced with dark green ends discarded 300g chestnut or button mushrooms, quartered 1tbsp flour 250ml milk 140ml double cream 1 packet ready-made Ingredients: shortcrust pastry 225g unsalted butter, plus 1 packet of ready-rolled extra for greasing puff pastry 225g caster sugar 1 egg, beaten 4 eggs 50ml strong espresso coffee Method: 225g self-raising flour Preheat the oven to 75g walnuts 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7.

For the topping Tear off large chunks of chicken flesh from the 125g unsalted butter carcass, then discard the 200g icing sugar skin and bone. Heat the 50ml strong espresso coffee butter in a large pan and Crushed walnuts, to add the spring onions. decorate Cook for a few minutes until they have softened.

Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, until lightly coloured. Stir in the flour, and cook for another minute. Gradually add the milk, then pour in the cream and simmer SUDOKU SOLUTION

Method: Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two 20cm cake tins with baking paper.

In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until very light and pale, then add the eggs one at a time and beat into the mixture.

Add the espresso to the bowl and stir well.

Fold in the flour and walnuts, then mix well to combine completely.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tins, then bake in the middle of the oven for 25–30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean and the cake is golden brown.

Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the buttercream topping, beat the butter and icing sugar together in a bowl until pale and light. Add the espresso and mix well.

Spread the buttercream over the top of each cake, then place one cake on top of the other.

Decorate the top of the cake with crushed walnuts before serving.

Serves 8–12

SWEET TREAT

WHAT’S THE MEET Barney Panofsky, an ordinary man with an extraordinary life. With three failed marriages behind him and various murky entrepreneurial schemes to his name, Barney certainly has a lot of stories to tell. And he does – in Barney’s Version, which was released in cinemas yesterday (Friday 28 January).

STORY?

asks CLAIRE BRINE

The reason Barney (Paul Giamatti) wants to share his life story is that his sworn enemy has published a book about his colourful past. Barney wants to set the record straight.

In flashback scenes Barney recalls his triumphs and sorrows. He recounts the success of his television company, Totally Unnecessary Productions. He remembers that he was the prime suspect for murder after his friend Boogie disappeared.

He also looks back to when he met love-of-his-life Miriam – his third wife – on the day that he married his second wife. And he remembers how, years after marrying Miriam (Rosamund Pike), she spoke the brutal words: ‘A little time apart would be good for both of us.’ Although the couple’s relationship has become rocky, Barney doesn’t want his marriage to end. He reminds Miriam of his loyalty: ‘Have I ever given up when it comes to you?’ he asks.

‘Never,’ she replies.

‘So what makes you think I’m going to start now?’

In spite of their troubles, Barney still sees potential in his marriage. He wants to put the problems right. He doesn’t want to walk away from them, because he is motivated by love.

Similarly, when we have landed ourselves in tough situations God isn’t prepared to give up on us. Never has. Never will.

His unconditional love for us means that we have someone to turn to – always and no matter what.

One Bible writer sums it up with the words: ‘The Lord has promised that he will not leave us or desert us’ (Hebrews 13:5 Contemporary English Version).

However big our mistakes, God is willing to forgive us.

When we confess our wrong actions and attitudes and ask him to be in charge of our lives, he forgives us – and sets our record with him straight.

We have someone to turn to

YOUR LOCAL SALVATION ARMY CENTRE

Universal

Barney and Miriam

The War Cry is printed on paper harvested from sustainable forests and published by 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. © Shaw Clifton, General of The Salvation Army, 2011