War Cry 15 August 2020

15 August 2020 20p/25c

When the going gets tough

Bear Grylls HOSTS TV ENDURANCE RACE

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity providing services in the community, particularly to those who are vulnerable and marginalised. Motivated by our Christian faith, we offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK to all who need them, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. To find your nearest centre visit salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church

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 7487

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 UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN Tel: 0845 634 0101 Helpline: 020 7367 4888 Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Editor-in-Chief: Major Mal Davies Published weekly by The Salvation Army ©The Salvation Army United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.

Printed by Walstead Roche Ltd, St Austell, on sustainably sourced paper

ONLINE a warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk @TheWarCryUK TheWarCryUK

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salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

2 • War Cry • 15 August 2020

EDITOR From desk From the editor’s desk SINGING good religion, for you. politics So say or scientists on thegiven on ‘NEVER talkis about money’ quoted is the advice BBCtoFuture The experts said that singing can boost how make website. polite conversation with someone you don’t know very our moods and sense of social well.

Conventional wisdom says connection. that all three topics are of a private Perhaps it is people with these in mind that people have been nature and that can benefits have wildly differing, and firmly held, joiningBest online choirs lockdown.

In this issue, the views. keep yourduring thoughts and beliefs to week’s yourself, the advice War Cry’s Olowofoyeku joins a virtual rehearsal of should the London goes.

WhatSarah or who you put your faith in is personal and not International be shared. Gospel Choir to discover for herself the pleasures people have found singing alone, yet together with others.

The problem with of that train of thought for Christians is that their found similar value running. faithMeanwhile cannot beAusten limitedHardwick to saying has grace before meals andinpraying This week’s War includes anown interview with the marathon before bedtime in Cry the also privacy of their homes.

Christianity runner their who whole found that his affects sport helped himthey to regain life after infuses life and the way behavehis – and it can he suffered three strokes while in his early forties. have a positive impact on other people as well. it was that helpedwho Austen’s recovery.

InHowever, this week’s Warnot Cryonly we running feature Christians improved the His Christian faith around played a vitalspecifically part in him because taking a positive lives of the people them they lived out approach to all than that he faced.it a personal, private matter. Products their faith rather keeping ‘When in hospital,’ Austen asked God to take what bearing theI was brands of Colgate, Heinzsays, and ‘I Hartley’s are familiar I was on going through and to transform sights supermarket shelves.

What isme notthrough so well it.’ known is that believe God–can takeColgate, any situation anything the Christians men behind thosethat brands William HenryorHeinz and that they do or–face use it to who makeran a positive impact inusing others’ William Hartley wereand Christians, their businesses the lives or their own.faith.

ThatAs hasa been Oliver principles of their result,the theexperience conditionsof in painter which their staff Pengilley. worked were much better than those in other companies.

Oliver had on developed a successful career as Japan an artist with some This week, the anniversary of Victory over Day (Saturday of August), his work we selling significant of money.

But, asArmy he tells 15 alsofor find out aboutsums the work of Salvation the War Cry week, he of grew ministers whothis spent much the frustrated.

Second World War in Japanese ‘I didn’t camps. see the While meaning of it,’ he says. he travels internment there, inspired

by Now their faith, they to churches all the world to paint pictures during worship supported andover helped their fellow prisoners. sessions and faith-based has helped other someone people in The truth is, his Christianity is aartwork personal faith but, when their own journey. decides to faith follow Jesus, it influences the way they interact with their It is an amazing truth that skill a person has community and gives them a God desirecan to take makeany a difference for good. or any situation they are facing and can transform it into something that can change their lives and the lives of the people around them.

Contents

What is The Salvation Army?

FEATURES 3

Endurance expedition TV series focuses on a tough competition

5

Some stories are more equal than others 75 years of Animal Farm

6

Expanding the story Author inspired by biblical people and places

8

Good for business The Christian origins of well-known brands

10 Prisoners bring hope and healing

Life in Second World War Japanese

internment camps

REGULARS 4

War Cry World

12

Team Talk

13

Now, There’s a Thought!

14 Puzzles 15

War Cry Kitchen

6 Front-page picture: Amazon Prime Video

8

15

Amazon Prime Video

TELEVISION

N H O G E U G H I H N A T I N U AIN’T NO MO Emily Bright sees competitors from around the globe tackle the toughest race of their lives

A

DVENTURERS navigate an ocean in small sailboats, traverse dense tropical forests, rush down rivers and ascend mountains to complete a relentless 671km race in just 11 days.

Bear Grylls documents their epic expedition in the series World’s Toughest Race: Eco-challenge Fiji, which was released on Amazon Prime yesterday (Friday 14 August).

Pushed to the limits of their mental and physical endurance, 66 teams from 30 countries cross the most dangerous terrain in the world. Travelling without any modern technology, the competitors are reliant on limited supplies, a map and each other to make it through.

Participants come from all kinds of backgrounds and with a variety of experiences. Some have disabilities and illnesses, while others are at their physical peak. Some are novices, whereas others are experienced explorers. Some see it as an opportunity to bond with a family member; others take on the challenge with friends.

Each competitor has their own goal for the life-defining race, whether that’s seeking victory, reaching the finishing

line, defying their own expectations of their capabilities or redressing the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities or certain nationalities among explorers.

The competition will require grit, courage, good judgment and teamwork. Participants may start strong, but the true test of character will come when their energy reserves are exhausted and their relationships are strained.

Nathan Fa’avae, a veteran adventure racer representing New Zealand, says: ‘It’s very easy to get lured into the fact that it’s a race and forget that it’s actually an expedition.

‘A lot of rookie teams start too fast and won’t look after themselves, won’t look after each other, and things can

start to spiral out of control after that.’

While only a few people engage in adventure racing, many experience the feeling of things spiralling out of control in their lives. Lapses of judgment, relationship challenges or wrong financial decisions can cause what seem to be insurmountable problems for people from all walks of life.

When the going gets tough it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of challenges.

However, in those times, millions of people have found a source of strength and help that they can turn to.

In the Bible, the prophet Isaiah says that God ‘gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint’ (Isaiah 40:29–31 New International Version).

Those words show us that we never have to face our difficulties alone. We can seek refuge in God, who will equip us to face the challenges ahead, and fill us with the courage, strength and peace we need to combat them.

No obstacle is too hard to overcome with God’s help. If we put our trust in him, we will embark on an adventure of a lifetime.

Things can spiral out of control

Bear Grylls meets one of the competitors in the 671km endurance race 15 August 2020 • War Cry • 3

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WAR CRY

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THE Rev Kate Bottley will present a Songs of Praise programme next week that focuses on The Salvation Army. The programme, which is due to be aired on Sunday 23 August, includes items about a training centre in Hadleigh, a Salvation Army minister who has returned to nursing with the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic and a prison chaplain who works for the church and charity. The music in the programme will include songs from the organisation’s International Staff Songsters choir.

n

Teams help communities hit by Hurricane Hanna

The Salvation Army distributed food and drink

4 • War Cry • 15 August 2020

THE Salvation Army provided thousands of meals, snacks and drinks to people in the south of the USA and northern Mexico when Hurricane Hanna caused widespread disruption.

The church and charity deployed seven mobile feeding units to support communities that had been flooded and left without power.

Although prepared to respond to hurricanes, volunteers and staff have had to adjust their usual emergency procedures in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

In several locations, the food distribution took place in drive-thru style, with teams handing meals from the mobile kitchens to a steady line of vehicles.

Lieutenant Adolph Aguirre of The Salvation Army in the US city of McAllen said that the kitchen where food was being prepared was using UV disinfecting lamps, like those used in hospitals, to ensure cleanliness.

STRAWBERRY Field, the Salvation Army centre in Liverpool which inspired a Beatles hit, has reopened to the public after four months when it was closed because of coronavirus.

The site – which now provides Steps to Work, a training programme for young people, and incorporates a Beatles-themed visitor centre – also recently announced that it has received permission to build a bandstand in its grounds.

When growing up nearby, John Lennon, who went on to write ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, used to hurry to fêtes at Strawberry Field when he heard the sound of a Salvation Army band.

Major Kathleen Versfeld, mission director of Strawberry Field, says: ‘We are looking forward to celebrity performances, performances by our Steps to Work students and, of course,

by Salvation Army bands.’

75 FEATURE

xsztW n THE presenter of a Turkish TV

programme broadcast by the Christian network Sat-7 made a plea on air for authorities to protect women after the murder of a 27-yearold student.

According to a women’s rights group, We Will Stop Femicide Platform, 474 women were murdered because of male violence in the country last year.

The discovery of the body of student Pinar Gultekin at the end of July caused widespread fury.

During the weekday programme, Homemade, Semsa Deniz Baker said: ‘Women are being killed in their hundreds. Here, I really call out to government leaders. There are laws – please, we want these laws to be applied … Young people are taking their last breaths because they wanted to end a relationship, because they wanted a divorce. So many reasons come up.’

Semsa expressed her sympathy to Gultekin’s family, then, referencing an increase in femicide in Turkey, said to viewers: ‘You do not have the right to kill a woman. You have no right to kill anyone. We have a God who has created us. We have a God who has given us the breath of life, this body, this soul … We do not have the right to kill one another.’

Semsa’s programme is one of many on Sat-7’s network that seek to support women in male-dominated cultures across the Middle East and north Africa.

Animal tale George Orwell classic celebrates 75 years, writes Claire Brine

‘A

LL animals are equal,’ states the seventh commandment of Animalism. But some become more equal than others in Animal Farm, George Orwell’s allegorical novella, which was published 75 years ago on Monday (17 August).

Based on the Russian Revolution and the rise of Communism in the Soviet Union, the story focuses on a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to establish a society where they can live in freedom and equality. At first, the creatures work together to reap the biggest harvest the farm has ever seen. They work hard, they eat well.

Then one of the farm’s pigs grows hungrier for power – and he doesn’t care which animals he hurts to get it. Turning his snout up at his own commandments, Napoleon becomes the type of leader he once despised: selfish, dishonest and corrupt.

Despite Orwell’s initial struggles to get his book published, Animal Farm is now the nation’s favourite school book, according to a survey released by Oxford Home Schooling earlier this year.

Why is a story about a bunch of talking animals considered a must-read classic?

Perhaps people feel that the animals accurately reflect the best and worst parts of human nature.

Maybe life on the farm prompts them to recognise the inequality of their own society.

In the real world, we don’t have to look very far to see injustice and selfishness. People sometimes choose wrong instead of right. Some have more than enough, while others have nothing. Napoleon’s idea that some lives are ‘more equal than others’ appears to be true, off the page as well as on.

But the Bible shows how Jesus taught that it’s possible to live another way. He urged people not to accept the world’s injustices but to strive for better. Share your wealth with poor people, he said. Be kind to those who are rejected by others. Love your enemies.

He practised what he preached, transforming the lives of people he met along the way.

When we follow Jesus’ example, we, too, have the power to change the world – beyond what we can even imagine. It’s not too late to start a new chapter.

15 August 2020 • War Cry • 5

On the write lines ANGELA HUNT tells Sarah Olowofoyeku how her new book is inspired by people and places in the Bible

T

Angela Hunt

HE Bible is full of accounts about real people who lived across the centuries and had to cope with good, bad or sad times. Some people’s lives are told in great detail, but little is known about other people featured.

Florida-based author Angela Hunt, who has written picture books, novels and non-fiction books, is interested in some of those untold stories. Her latest series is a collection of four books, that are what she calls ‘historical fiction with biblical characters’. It features four women who lived during the 1st century and had personal connections to Jesus.

‘Lots of people have written about Esther and Sarah from the Bible’s Old Testament, so I wanted to move to the New Testament,’ she tells me. ‘But there aren’t a whole lot of women characters whose stories are told there, so I decided to choose women that we know existed, and imagine their lives and interactions with Jesus and the disciples. We know that the disciple Peter had a wife, for example, but we don’t know anything about her.’

In the first book in the series, Angela exercises her imagination further and explores the life of a figure who does not explicitly appear in the text. Daughter of Cana is about the sister of one of Jesus’ disciples, Thomas.

While she isn’t mentioned in the Bible, Angela has reasoned that she may well have existed. She explains: ‘Thomas’s second name was Didymus, which means twin. There were other brother pairs in the disciples, Peter and Andrew and James and John, so I wondered why Thomas’s twin wasn’t along for the ride as well. I thought, maybe Thomas had a twin sister, not a twin brother. So I created her and gave her a name, Tamsin.’

Angela’s story opens at a wedding in Cana, the occasion when, the Bible says,

Jesus performed his first miracle – turning water into wine.

‘I wrote Thomas and Tamsin as the party planners for the wedding. When the wine runs out and Jesus creates the wine from the water jars, Thomas is enthralled and starts to follow him. Tamsin is irritated that her brother is skipping out on her and she’s convinced that Jesus is a trickster and a fraud.

‘She teams up with Jesus’ brother Jude, who was also sceptical, and they try to convince their wayward brothers to give up the ministry and come home to do the work they’re supposed to be doing.’

While the story that unfolds is about Jesus and is based on information that is in the Bible, Angela does not write just for Christians.

‘I try to write a good story that anybody would enjoy,’ she says. ‘People who are not Christians will see stories about living, breathing, real people who had the same emotions that we have today – love, hate, anger, fear, sorrow. People can relate to the characters.’

Angela has been creating characters for more than 30 years, but did not begin as a fiction author.

‘I quit my day job in 1983 to become a writer,’ she says. ‘I didn’t start out trying to write the Great American Novel. I just took small jobs, writing brochures, catalogue copy and magazine articles. I was learning and reading a lot of books on the craft.

Five years later, I saw an ad for unpublished children’s writers, so I went to the library, got a book on how to write picture books, wrote one up and it won the

I thought, maybe Thomas had a twin sister

6 • War Cry • 15 August 2020

INTERVIEW

contest. I wrote a bunch of children’s books, then I wrote books for older kids and, after writing about 50 of those, my editor said we should try adult novels.

My writing has been slow and steady.

I’ve just been walking through doors the Lord has opened.’

Angela believes that she has received help from God in other ways during her career as a writer. ‘Often I hit a wall when I’m writing. So I’ll get up, take a walk or decorate a room – something where you don’t have to think too hard – and I say to the Lord, “I’m stuck, help me out of this.”

It never fails, the idea always comes.’

Her faith has been a key part of her life since she became a Christian at a summer camp for children when she was six years old. ‘There was a puppet show.

One puppet did something wrong and was going to be punished for it. Then another puppet stepped in and took the punishment in the first puppet’s place.

All of a sudden it clicked for me. That’s what Jesus did for us. We deserve the punishment but he took it.

‘Since then I can honestly say I have felt the Lord’s presence with me. With my writing, I don’t make plans. I do the work that the Lord sends me to the best of my ability, and it has worked out well.’

l Daughter of Cana is published by Bethany House

15 August 2020 • War Cry • 7

Business – but not as usual PETER LUPSON tells Philip Halcrow about entrepreneurs from history who wanted to do more than make a fast buck Peter Lupson

I

N writing his book about entrepreneurs, Peter Lupson set himself some targets. ‘The idea,’ he tells me, ‘was to encourage Christians who are in business, but also to inspire people who are not Christians so that they can see it’s possible to achieve great things without crossing lines.’

In God’s Company tells the story of figures such as soap industrialist William Colgate, jam maker William Hartley and food producer Henry Heinz. Peter developed the concept for the book after listening to the experiences of his son, who was finding that trying to run a business with integrity and honesty in the face of financial challenges and murky practices elsewhere could be draining.

‘To show that he wasn’t alone in refusing to sacrifice his Christian principles, I gathered some information for him about George Cadbury and Joseph Rowntree, who built wonderful businesses God’s way. My son was so inspired that he urged me to write a book about Christian entrepreneurs.’

Feeling that the chocolate success stories of Quaker movers and shakers Cadbury and Rowntree were already widely recognised, Peter studied seven other figures from business history.

He says: ‘The spread of these stories is more than 200 years, starting with William Colgate, who was born in 1783, and finishing with Anthony Rossi, the founder

8 • War Cry • 15 August 2020

of the Tropicana drinks company, who died in 1993.

‘I’ve noticed that business practice in general has been constant across the centuries: people are trying to sell things to make a profit. What distinguishes the people I have written about is the way they did business. They were men of moral character who shone like beacons in their generation.

‘We have to remember that at the time when some of the earlier men in the book were doing business, there were no government checks on the quality or purity of products.

‘Henry Heinz started off by producing horseradish sauce as a way to help his mother and other ladies who had to grate horseradish, which made their eyes smart and was awful work. It was already possible to buy bottled horseradish sauce, but it was always sold in dark bottles

that you couldn’t see through. All sorts of dubious things would be found in those bottles – leaves, sawdust, even insects.

Heinz decided he would use see-through bottles so people could see what they were buying.

‘This kind of integrity established people such as Heinz as trustworthy.’

If Heinz was insistent on transparency – literally and figuratively – and William Hartley decided that only quality ingredients would go into his jam, rather than the turnips others used to increase products’ weight, they were driven by

INTERVIEW

something other than money.

‘It was their faith that inspired their business practice,’ says Peter. ‘A contemporary said of William Colgate: “His business was prosecuted as God’s business.” He conducted his business in a way that would honour God. ‘Similarly, William Hartley said the purpose of his life was “to serve the Lord every day to the best of my ability”, and he referred to the money he made as “the Lord’s money”. It gave him immense joy to give it away.’

Hartley built not only a new factory for

his company but also hospitals, homes for disadvantaged people and a college. The same business model was used by the other entrepreneurs researched by Peter, who also notes how their faith influenced their attitude towards their workforce.

They made demands of their employees. Peter quotes the example of Henry Crowell, who, alongside two other businesses, founded Quaker Oats (and who, despite the company’s name, worshipped at a Presbyterian church).

He insisted that his business ‘should consist of men who were honest, intelligent, of good character and willing to render the very best of service to the customers’.

The businessmen also made demands of themselves, ensuring

that their employees had good working conditions.

Peter says: ‘When William Hartley noticed he couldn’t personally push one of a new batch of wagons used in his factory, he ordered them to be scrapped rather than just leave the workers to get on with it.’

The companies founded

by Hartley and others have changed hands many times over the years. Peter is unsure how much they look back on their origins. ‘But what is interesting is that the names such as Colgate, Hartley and Heinz have been kept, because those were names that could be trusted.

‘The phrase “business is business” implies that personal feelings and moral considerations are easily suspended in the pursuit of profit. But one contemporary said Heinz had shown how “the belief that business demanded ruthlessness and the cutting of moral corners was a superstition as foolish as it was evil.”

‘These men saw their business as being in God’s service.’

It gave him joy to give money away

l In God’s Company is published by Day One 15 August 2020 • War Cry • 9

‘Conditions in the camps were appalling’ A

S a war plane roared over their heads, excited cries rippled throughout the civilian internees of the Japanese-run Weihsien camp in 1945. Parachutes filled the skies as 75 American airmen landed to liberate the camp, bringing food and supplies.

Finally, after two years and eight months of incarceration, the internees were free.

Their war was over.

The liberation of the camp was described in this way by Salvation Army officer Major Mary Layton, who wrote a letter to her friends soon after she was freed.

Her relief was shared by millions across the globe on 15 August 1945, when Japan officially surrendered to Allied forces and the Second World War came to an end.

The day became known as Victory over Japan or VJ Day. While many may have heard the history of soldiers and prisoners of war on the Japanese front, the stories of civilian internees are far less well known.

After the Japanese entered the war in December 1941, more than 130,000 civilians, considered enemy aliens, were rounded up and interned in camps within the East Asian nations it occupied.

Internees included colonial officials and their families, relatives of servicemen,

Salvation Army officer Mary Layton 10 • War Cry • 15 August 2020

To mark VJ Day, which is commemorated today (15 August), Emily Bright learns how incarcerated Salvation Army officers sought to bring hope and healing in Japanese internment camps during the Second World War employees of European companies and foreign missionaries.

Among them were 185 Salvation Army officers and 80 of their children.

Salvation Army records reveal that officers were interned at Weihsien in China, at Makassar in modern-day Indonesia and at Changi in Singapore. More than 14,000 civilians died as a result of internment, including 15 officers.

However, thanks to The Salvation Army’s International Heritage Centre, the stories of these men, women and children have not been forgotten. Accounts of internment by Salvation Army members are available online from the Cambridge Digital Library Voices of Civilian Internment: Second World War Singapore collection.

‘The conditions in the internment camps for a civilian were appalling,’ explains Steven Spencer of The Salvation Army’s International Heritage Centre.

‘They were all overcrowded, food was in short supply, and sanitary conditions were rudimentary if they existed at all. For instance, Changi camp in Singapore was in a prison that had been built to house 500 inmates, and the camp had 3,000 internees in it.

‘The camps made work compulsory and people had to spend most of the day doing mundane tasks. One Salvation Army officer, Lieut-Colonel Leonard Woodward, who wrote a diary of his internment in an

Indonesian camp, spent a lot of time peeling shallots and picking maggots out of rice.’

To alleviate their hardship, some other internees set up a black market within the camps to source home comforts, as Steven explains. ‘Mary Layton’s letter notes that foodstuffs of all kinds were coming into the camp, and she disapprovingly adds that tobacco and spirits were too. This was all remarkable, because there was an electrified barbed wire fence.

‘She recounts how one of the camp surgeons heard a pig crying and thought

Leonard Woodward with his wife, Margaret

FEATURE

Internees made their own Salvation Army flag, magazine and songbook

it was a baby being delivered, but then they smelt the bacon in the morning and realised that it had been a live pig being smuggled in.’

Although extra food was welcomed, the greatest source of solace to Salvation Army church members was their faith.

Historical accounts report how, in 1942, they built a place of worship for all Christian internees.

Salvation Army church members requisitioned a dilapidated thatched hut, designed their own furniture from bamboo

and created a garden plot in front of the new church hall. A church member and internee from Essex made a Salvation Army flag after dyeing pieces of cloth in different liquids until he had recreated the right colours. They wrote their own songbook to provide worship music for all to enjoy, and the few members who still had instruments established a brass band. The Salvationists also

created their own camp magazine in April 1943 called The Liberator, to document their experiences. It included poetry and spiritual reflections.

Salvation Army officers were also keen that their faith be outward-looking, and they offered practical help to those in need. ‘All 14 officers interned in Changi camp took lead roles in working as surgeon assistants, as orderlies and as chaplains in the hospital within the camp,’ says Steven.

‘Major Bertha Grey and Adjutant Elsie Willis, who were interned in 1942, played such a significant role in nursing the sick within the prisoners’ hospital that they were both given MBEs in 1946 for their services in Malaya.’

Although the experiences of Salvation Army church members interned across East Asia varied significantly, Steven asserts that one thing united them: ‘It’s clear from all the sources we have that it was the Christian faith of the Salvationists that motivated them to carry on.’

Salvation Army officers provided practical help to those in need

l For more information visit cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/ civilianinternment/9 Bertha Grey and Elsie Willis

15 August 2020 • War Cry • 11

EXPLORE

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

j

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

Team talk Team talk

‘ talk’ Moral Maze finds a way to the heart of the matter

Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

ON 20 August 1990, Radio 4 broadcast its first episode of Moral Maze. That’s 30 years of lively debates on ethical issues affecting humankind, such as abortion, racial justice and mental health.

I find it interesting that the programme – presented by Michael Buerk – launched with a mere six-week run. Those first episodes were so successful with listeners that the series became a firm fixture in Radio 4 schedules. I wonder why.

Perhaps the set-up of the show is what appeals. There’s a presenter to chair the discussion, a panel of commentators (usually writers, thinkers, historians and so on, known for their strong opinions), and then some ‘witnesses’ or experts on the topic up for discussion. The panel’s interrogation of Surely it’s the witnesses is usually entertaining and combative, maybe that’s the hook. wrong to keep soOr it could be that Moral Maze is surprising listening. When the show was in its infancy, Michael a closed mind Buerk told the Evening Standard why the format worked: ‘Too many programmes are predictable. They’ve got predictable people taking the party line.’

To put forward another view, I wonder if Moral Maze appeals to listeners because it’s great for fence-sitters. If you don’t know what to think on a certain issue, then Moral Maze is guaranteed to give you a few options to choose from. As one listener reviewed: ‘I find it frustrating, agonising, antagonistic and maddening! Whilst simultaneously energising, uplifting, illuminating and thoughtful. It’s challenging my own values and beliefs, and particularly my conscious and unconscious bias.’

Hmm, they make a good point.

In a world where people want to be right, surely it’s wrong to keep a closed mind.

To form fair opinions, I believe we need to listen to a range of well-informed people and consider their evidence, and not just blindly accept the words of those we know we agree with. It can be challenging – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

My faith reminds me that when Jesus came into the world, he constantly divided public opinion. But he also listened to his objectors. He didn’t try to bully them into changing their minds.

Could such an approach be an example to follow? Discuss.

" Tick one or more of the options below, complete the coupon and send it to

a

War Cry 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN

Basic reading about Christianity Information about The Salvation Army

Looking for help?

Contact details of a Salvation Army minister Name Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

Address

Or email your details and request to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk 12 • War Cry • 15 August 2020

EXPRESSIONS

Now, there’s a thought!

q

quick quiz 1

2

Which American playwright wrote The Glass Menagerie?

Cirrus, cumulus and stratus are types of what?

a 3

4

5

6

In what year did Serena Williams win her first Wimbledon singles title?

Which French singer had her first UK hit with ‘Joe le Taxi’ in 1988?

What picture won best film at the Bafta awards earlier this year?

In which ocean are the Maldives?

ANSWERS

by Jim Burns

We can clean up with some handy tips W

ILL birthday celebrations ever be completely normal again or will we always associate the ‘Happy Birthday’ song with the coronavirus pandemic? The UK government encouraged us to sing or hum the song twice while washing our hands. It was to ensure people’s hands were thoroughly clean as part of a bid to prevent the spread of the virus. So perhaps the association is a small price to pay for our safety.

Washing hands has had an unusual meaning for most of this year.

But ‘washing hands’ can mean something else. We sometimes talk about washing our hands of a person or situation when we feel that we can’t take any more or when we want to absolve ourselves of any future blame.

The Bible says that the Roman governor Pontius Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd before giving Jesus over to be crucified. In doing so, he was trying to abdicate responsibility.

But the washing of hands can be symbolic of something more positive. In some religious ceremonies people wash their hands, and sometimes their whole bodies, to be ritually clean before worshipping, although Jesus emphasised the importance of being clean on the inside.

We know how refreshing it is to have a shower or bath after we’ve carried out work that has made us dirty. We feel so much cleaner.

So it’s not difficult to understand why we would want to go to God with a clean conscience. But the truth is, we don’t have to be clean or perfect before turning to him. One Bible verse explains that we can go to God to confess our mistakes, and he will forgive us and ‘cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done’ (1 John 1:9 New Century Version).

No matter what we have done, or how unclean we may feel, God will always welcome us. He will make us clean and help us to live a life that pleases him. That is something worth celebrating.

Washing hands can be symbolic of something positive

15 August 2020 • War Cry • 13

1. Tennessee Williams. 2. Clouds. 3. 2002.

4. Vanessa Paradis. 5. 1917. 6. The Indian Ocean.

CROSSWORD CROSSWORD

PUZZLES

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Kitchen utensil (5) 5. ______ del Sol (5) 8. Ornamental

headwear (5) 9. Fury (5) 10. Irish county (5) 11. Select

individuals (5) 12. Asian parrot (4) 15. Sea journey (6) 17. Heron (5) 18. Antelope (6) 20. Succeed in

an exam (4) 25. Urge (5) 26. Rise (3, 2) 27. Resin used in

jewellery (5) 28. Taylor _____ ,

country singer (5)

by Chris Horne

29. Sudden

movement (5) 30. Master of

ceremonies (5)

DOWN 1. Anna _____ ,

Black Beauty

author (6) 2. Rubber (6) 3. Anaesthetic (5) 4. Fast (5) 5. King Arthur’s

court (7) 6. Verse (6)

7. Stick (6) 13. Unit of

resistance (3) 14. Cooker (3) 15. Animal doctor (3) 16. Hydrogen, for

example (3) 17. Oval (7) 18. Photographs (6) 19. Ceramicist (6) 21. Middle Eastern

language (6) 22. Thinly dispersed (6) 23. Mar (5) 24. Roof tile (5)

SUDOKU

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

HONEYCOMB HONEYCOMB

7 9

3 7 2 1 9

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

Answers QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1. Sieve. 5. Costa. 8. Tiara.

9. Wrath. 10. Meath. 11. Elite. 12. Lory.

15. Voyage. 17. Egret. 18. Impala. 20. Pass.

25. Impel. 26. Get up. 27. Amber.

28. Swift. 29. Surge. 30. Emcee.

DOWN: 1. Sewell. 2. Eraser. 3. Ether.

4. Rapid. 5. Camelot. 6. Stanza. 7. Adhere.

13. Ohm. 14. Aga. 15. Vet. 16. Gas. 17. Ellipse. 18. Images. 19. Potter.

21. Arabic. 22. Sparse. 23. Spoil. 24 Slate.

HONEYCOMB 1. Tarmac. 2. Simmer. 3. Punish.

4. Muesli. 5. Saliva. 6. Jackal.

5 3 9 4 6 2 8 1 7

4 7 2 1 8 3 5 6 9

8 6 1 9 5 7 3 4 2

7 5 6 8 4 1 2 9 3

9 2 3 5 7 6 1 8 4

1 8 4 3 2 9 7 5 6

6 9 8 2 3 5 4 7 1

3 1 5 7 9 4 6 2 8

2 4 7 6 1 8 9 3 5

SUDOKU SOLUTION

2 3 1 5 5 3 4 6 1 9 2 3 7 4 6

Wordsearch ADVANTAGE

CORNER KICK DEFENDER DRIBBLE

GOALKEEPER HANDBALL HEADER

KICK-OFF MATCH

MIDFIELDER OFFSIDE

PENALTY AREA

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT STRIKER TACKLE

THROW-IN

TOUCHLINE

YELLOW CARD

1 7

4 6

14 • War Cry • 15 August 2020

8 5 3 7 6

ordsearch ordsearch ordsearch ordsearch ordsearch

1. Material used for surfacing roads 2. Stay just below boiling point 3. Inflict a penalty for a crime 4. Breakfast food 5. Watery liquid secreted into the mouth by glands 6. Wild dog

8

2 4

up, down, forwards, backwards 5Look 8 7 on 9 the 1 grid 6 to3find2 and4diagonally 3these 7 football 6 5 terms 2 8 9 1 4 9 2 1 6 3 4 8 5 7 D O N U Q B N A D V A N T A G E W C 4 1 9 8 5 3 2 7 6 Z U D L A K Q E R N B Z R T E Q J E U E E Z P C F E A X K K L 6 8 5 4 7 2 L Z S E O 3 9 1 B T L L D E Q F C Z G H K S T W U V 2 3 7 1 6 9 5 4 8 G Q P B N C N Z W V Y C C R G U Q M T K W D B F 8 K A O D A 5 3 2 1V I 7 N Y G Q H 4 6 9 T N E A B I V S L T X K K R Q F E H 6 4 T 9 E Q R Q Z A S 8 5 7 2 3V F R J J C 1 I R R L M I D F I E 7 L D E R Y 9 2 3 4L E R D A O X 6 1 8 5

T U O T O O H S Y T L A N E P F F Z U S D B K W Q M M A X L R P G W F F W D Q B N X F X B A Q E O E H U S W C W V J B P D D G Q T P C E A F I H B E U I D B N F F O K C I K E G D Q I V P N S A Q R T O U C H L I N E A C N Q Y H I O B Z T J Q J A O Z K T W S W X Z E P H A H N I W O R H T W U P O W R D B R O R Q O M G D G V S

9

2 3 1 5 3

5 4 6 2 3

D Turkey sarnie with coleslaw Ingredients

Method

8tsp low-fat spread

Put some spread on each slice of bread. Share the watercress between 4 of the slices and arrange the turkey meat on top.

8 slices wholemeal bread A handful of watercress 120g cooked skinless turkey breast, sliced 1 carrot, grated 1 apple, cored and grated 30g sultanas 3tbsp fat-free yoghurt 1tsp fresh chives, chopped

SERVES

4

6 cherry tomatoes, halved

To make the coleslaw, mix together the carrot, apple, sultanas and yoghurt in a bowl.

Pile the mixture on top of the turkey on each of the 4 slices of bread and sprinkle with chives.

Sandwich together with the remaining slices of bread. Cut the sandwiches in half. Serve with the cherry tomatoes and celery.

1 celery stick, cut into 12

Pepper and onion melts Ingredients

Method

2 peppers, any colour, sliced

Preheat the grill.

Arrange the peppers on a baking sheet with the red onion. Sprinkle with the olive oil, then grill for 6 minutes until soft and lightly browned.

1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges 2tsp olive oil 4 slices wholemeal bread 125g light mozzarella cheese, sliced Mixed salad leaves, to serve

Toast the slices of bread and top with the peppers and onion.

Arrange the mozzarella cheese on top, then return to the grill for 2 minutes until the cheese begins to melt.

Serve with a handful of salad leaves.

Recipes reprinted, with permission, from the Public Health England website nhs.uk/change4life

SERVES

4

15 August 2020 • War Cry • 15

Proverbs 16:24 (New International Version)