COMMENT
Don’t assume that God will plan for you no more I ‘My joys and triumphs find him here, My doubts and loves, my hopes and needs. Here, all is shared, and all confessed To him who loves and intercedes. Such endless charm, immense and free, That he should want to die for me!’ (SJP)
SUMMER SCHOOL NEWS Page 4
EastandWestScotlandYorkshire
NEWS Pages 5 – 9
LOVE the joke about an Englishman being shown around a Scottish hospital. He is introduced to a number of patients who show no obvious signs of injury or sickness. Instead, every patient he meets immediately starts quoting rambling poetry. Having listened painstakingly to such lines as ‘Some hae meat, and canna eat, and some wad eat that want it, but we hae meat and we can eat, and sae the Lord be thankit’ and ‘Fair fa’ yer honest, sonsie face, great chieftain e’ the puddin’ race’, the Englishman is confronted with a patient who keeps repeating ‘The bestlaid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley!’ Eventually, the bemused chap turns to the Scottish doctor in charge and asks what on earth is going on. ‘Aye, that’ll be nothing, nothing at all,’ replies the
LETTERS Page 10
REFLECTION Christ and cancer
PrestonSouthseaCradleyHeathKinlochleven DudleyBarnsleyandSheffieldLangsettRoad NorwichCitadelRochdaleLondonSherburnHill CumbernauldSalisburyCampbeltownLurgan SouthamptonSholingLlanelliBridgwater PeterheadTiverton
Page 11
Children for sale Pages 12 & 13
salvationist@salvationarmy.org.uk
MAJOR STEPHEN POXON, EDITOR
COMMITMENT SUNDAY FEATURE
CADET COMMITMENTS
Peace over pace
Pages 16 – 19
Page 14
BIBLE STUDY Hospitality and the three visitors
FEATURE
doctor. ‘Ye just happen tae be visiting yon Burns Unit.’ The line about the mice, incidentally, translates as ‘The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry’ and could aptly sum up the content of Major Shaun Skinner’s article on page 11 and Major Allen Satterlee’s piece on this week’s centre pages. There, you will read of lives, hopes, dreams and circumstances that have gone often awry – sometimes tragically so. Yet, you will also read of the powerful grace of God shining through. Major Skinner testifies regarding his personal admission to the fellowship of suffering being crowned with the gift of rare empathy and Major Satterlee reminds us of holiness that incorporates courage and compassion – which is exemplified in this territory by Anti-Trafficking Response Coordinator Major Anne Read and her team. Hers is very much a modern ministry, yet one hallmarked with the essence of original Salvationism. Major Read’s ministry spans the globe, which reminds me of a colleague in Brazil who ‘pray reads’ her copies of Salvationist, turning the pages and praying for the people, corps, divisions and territories featured – including those reports of things that, in a fallen world, aren’t as they should be. It’s a lovely use of this publication – one you may wish to consider adopting. It also reminds us to bring all that has ‘gang aft agley’ in our lives to a God who is neither English, Scottish nor Brazilian, but who loved this world enough to die for it. The back page this week would be a good place to start. Major Shaun Skinner contacted me recently, recalling a story of how, when he was collecting for the Annual Appeal in Aberdeen once, he entered a hardware store, stood there with his collecting tin, and asked for a donation. The shopkeeper duly obliged by presenting the major with a retractable tape measure. The best laid schemes indeed!
Page 15
ANNOUNCEMENTS Army people, engagements and tributes Pages 20 & 21
ADVERTS Pages 22 & 23
SALVATIONIST 29 September 2012
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