War Cry 26 October 2019: selected pages

Creature comforts

BBC Studios/ESPEN REKDAL

BBC Studios/ESPEN REKDAL

26 October 2019 • WAR CRY • TELEVISION 3

Emily Bright gives her seal of approval to new documentary

I

N the animal kingdom, navigating offspring through to adulthood is never easy. Birds and mammals alike are plunged into sometimes perilous challenges as they look to protect and provide for their young – and their endeavours are captured in a new BBC One documentary, Seven Worlds, One Planet, which starts tomorrow (Sunday 27 October).

Narrated by David Attenborough, the series spans all seven continents, exploring the wildlife that lives on them.

It opens in Antarctica, where a Weddell seal and her pup face dangerous weather conditions.

These seal pups are born straight on to sea ice, experiencing the sharpest drop in temperature of any animal.

Unable to swim until it is ten days old, each pup is vulnerable. The mother must make an impossible choice: seek warmth in the water and leave her offspring exposed, or risk death in trying to protect her young.

A film crew also follow a grey-headed albatross that has given birth to the only chick she’ll have in two years.

Delicately touching her chick’s beak with her own, she seeks to strengthen the bond between them. But all too soon, she has to search for food, leaving the little one at the mercy of the elements.

King penguins in South Georgia travel vast distances in search of food for their offspring. The chicks are expected to wait where their parents left them, but the temptation to go off and explore is irresistible. Calling out to their chicks in a crowded penguin colony, the

parents desperately seek their young.

Parenting often involves tough choices and a relentless attempt to keep offspring safe.

Whether we’re parents ourselves who feel we’ve fallen short, or whether we have struggled to have good relationships with those who raised us, parenthood affects us all.

But Christians believe that, regardless of our own experiences, we can be in a relationship with a perfect Father: God. While imperfect human relationships can fail us or end, Bible writer Paul explains that God is the one constant, who will stand beside us in our struggles, care for us and never leave us.

He says that God is ‘the Father of compassion, the God of all comfort. He consoles us as we endure the pain and hardship of life so that we may draw from his comfort and share it with others in their own struggles’ (2 Corinthians 1:3 and 4 The Voice).

We may feel buffeted by the storms of life. But God will never forsake us, and offers us all a chance to become his sons and daughters.

Whether we’ve wandered away from God or never known about him, he calls everyone to be in a relationship with him. He will take us under his wing and support us through every episode of our lives.

Parenting often involves tough choices

6 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 26 October 2019

As this year’s Great British Bake Off final approaches, former quarter-finalist BENJAMINA EBUEHI tells Emily Bright about her experiences on the TV show and what she

really thinks of Paul Hollywood

which will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Tuesday (29 October).

The end of the series will no doubt contain a generous helping of fraught bakers, a dusting of puns from presenters Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig, and a hint of an impending crisis. Mix those ingredients with the comments of judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, and leave the bakers to sweat for approximately an hour in TV time until the winner of the tenth series is crowned.

A baker’s dozen of contestants started this year’s ten-week competition. Inside the tent you could cut the tension with a bread knife as the weekly signature bakes, technical

Rising to the © Love Productions

N your marks, get set … bake!

O Synchronise your timers for the final of The Great British Bake Off,

I’ve enjoyed baking since I was quite young challenges and show-stoppers whittled the amateur bakers down to three finalists.

One person who knows all about the rising rivalry within the tent is 2016 contestant and long-time fan Benjamina Ebuehi, who participated in the last series to be aired on the BBC. ‘It has always been my favourite show; I’ve loved watching it since the beginning,’ she says.

‘I really liked Michael and Helena from this series, but they’re both gone now. I have no idea who’s going to win.’

She reminisces about her own Great British Bake Off experience.

‘I’ve enjoyed baking since I was quite young, and friends told me that I should apply for the show. And then one year, I thought “Why not?” I didn’t tell anyone I’d applied,

Current ‘Bake Off’ judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith and then I got further and further through the process until I somehow got on.’

Stepping into the tent in the first week was her series highlight. ‘It was surreal. I was thinking: “How am I actually in this tent that I’ve been watching on TV for years?”’

It was also the first opportunity that Benjamina had to meet the other bakers and the show’s judges at the time, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Paul has cooked up a reputation as a hard-to-please judge. But, after interacting

with him on the show, Benjamina takes a different view.

‘Paul’s all right actually,’ she says. ‘I think he plays up the bad cop role for the cameras.’

However, while Benjamina thinks that Paul puts on a TV persona for entertainment value, she reveals that the emotions shown by the contestants are for real.

‘There were definitely a few tears,’ she recalls. ‘I cried in week one because it was so overwhelming. You don’t want to be the first

26 October 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 7

occasion MARK BOURDILLON/Love Productions

one to go, you’re feeling panicked and you’ve got all the cameras in your face.’

Reflecting on her time on the show, she says: ‘I was stretched in ways that I hadn’t been before. I baked things that I would never have dreamt of, like filo pastry or puff pastry from scratch. You’re forced to get out of your comfort zone and explore breads and pastries that you probably wouldn’t have otherwise.

‘It expanded my skills in a short space of time. It was a good learning curve on working to deadlines and coming up with loads of ideas at once.’

After her success on The Great British Bake Off, Benjamina is launching her first recipe book, The New Way to Cake, which is released in December.

‘It’s full of modern cakes in different flavours that bakers might not have explored before, giving them new cakes for their repertoire,’ she explains.

‘One recipe in the book that I love, because it’s quite autumnal, is the apple and sage caramel cake. It’s a moist apple sponge and the caramel is infused with fresh sage so it tastes earthy and fragrant.’

Benjamina says that throughout the highs and lows of The Great British Bake Off and her culinary career to date, her Christian faith has

Benjamina in the ‘Bake Off’ tent kept her grounded and shaped her work.

‘My faith really helped me to put things into perspective, and keep a steady head. It’s easy to get carried away, especially with the opportunities I’ve had. I felt that the show was a great opportunity, but it shouldn’t take over my life or be my number one priority.

‘Being a Christian has also influenced the projects that I get involved in and that I’m passionate about. I’m an ambassador for a social enterprise called Luminary Bakery. It works with disadvantaged women, teaching them how to bake and gives them employability

‘Bake Off’ expanded my skills in a short space of time

skills. I teach some of the bakery classes, do public masterclasses, and tell people about the work it does.

‘Luminary Bakery brings both my passions together: baking and supporting women. I can serve others with the skills that I’ve been blessed with.’

l The New Way to Cake is published

by Page Street Publishing Co

8 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 26 October 2019

BACK TO

BLACK

BEN LINDSAY talks to Sarah Olowofoyeku about Black History Month, colour blindness and why it all matters to him DRUMMING workshop in Devon, a reading flash mob in Leicester, A a folk song workshop in Edinburgh and a games night in London are just some of the events that have taken place across the UK this month. Though seemingly unrelated, there is a common thread. Each one has been part of Black History Month.

Established in the UK in 1987 by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, a special projects officer at the Greater London Council, Black History Month aims to celebrate and educate people about the culture and contributions of Black African and Caribbean people to the world, past and present.

‘Black History Month is a good thing, but it should go beyond October,’ says author and activist Ben Lindsay. ‘It does spark a wider conversation about what’s being taught. As a kid, I wasn’t told anything about African or Caribbean history at school. But my parents and grandparents talked to me about our history, and about black issues here and globally.’

The multiplicity of black narratives is something Ben is keen to emphasise. ‘We’re not a monolith,’ he asserts. ‘Our

Colour-blindness means missing the beauty of God creating differences history didn’t start in the 1600s with slavery. Black people have been in this country for centuries.’

While slavery is not where black people’s history in the UK began, it is part of the story.

And Ben, also a church leader, has had to come to terms with slavery not only as a black person but as a Christian, knowing that the religion was once used to justify the slave trade.

‘About seven years ago, I was asking myself how I could reconcile being a Christian with its historical complicity in slavery,’ he tells me.

He says he worked

26 October 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 9

through the predicament by praying and talking. In his book, We Need to Talk about Race, Ben highlights the importance of having such difficult discussions. He explores the experience of black Christians within white majority churches, addressing issues such as the Church’s role in slavery and the negative impact that has had on black people in Britain.

‘Black people don’t have a chip on their shoulder,’ he says. ‘The UK government produced the race disparity audit in 2017. It showed that in education, employment, mental health, social housing and the criminal justice system, black people tend to fare the worst. Racism is more than overt name calling.

It’s covert and it’s structural.

That’s what we need to tackle.

‘Some Christians will say: “I don’t see colour, I’m colour-blind.”

I find that funny, because I don’t think God is blind to colour. There’s a spectrum from colour blindness to colour consciousness. If you go too far on either end, you miss the beauty of what God has done. Sticking to colour consciousness means ignoring that Christ is a unifier who brings us all together, which is a wonderful thing. And sticking to colour blindness means missing the beauty of God creating differences, and of my heritage – I want that to be celebrated.’

Ben is aware that some people may find racial discrimination a stumbling block to staying in the Church or being drawn to it at all.

‘What I’d ask people to do is understand that the problem is not God,’ he says. ‘Christianity has been manipulated, but that’s what humans have done.’

For Ben, the Church provides a contrast. He references a world that is divided, emphasising that Christianity is ‘for everyone’. He explains: ‘There are many stories in the Bible of people from different backgrounds coming together – Jew and Gentile, rich and poor. Within Jesus’ group of disciples, there were former terrorists, fishermen and tax collectors.

‘Church should be a community, a place where people aren’t judged, and where everyone is welcome. In reality that isn’t always the case, but it is where people can come as they are, with all their baggage, and try to live life together.’

Ben has discovered this for himself,

describing his faith as ‘a game changer’.

He says: ‘I grew up in a Christian home, but gave my life to Jesus at 22. When I understood that you could have a personal relationship with him and that he was bigger and better than I’d ever learnt, something radical changed in my heart. I went from a selfish individual to somebody who cared about what was going on in the world around me.’

His change of heart led him to work with young people in youth groups, the youth offending service and community safety teams.

He then became a pastor and later launched a charity, Power the Fight, which seeks to empower communities to end youth violence through training, workshops and resources.

‘As someone who fights against injustice, I’m frustrated by racism,’ Ben says. ‘That God has made us all different shows me that God is an artist. He’s bigger and more creative than we can possibly imagine.

‘There are so many differences in the world and yet the Bible says that we’re all made in God’s image. To me that means God is awesome. When people judge others by their skin colour in a negative way, I just think: Can you not see the wonder in our being different?’

l We Need to Talk about Race is published

by SPCK

Black people don’t have a chip on their shoulder

Library pictiures

12 INNER LIFE • WAR CRY • 26 October 2019

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 requests to Prayerlink, War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, Lon­don SE1 6BN. Mark your envelope ‘Confidential’.

Becoming a Christian There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

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

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit.

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

Nigel Bovey gives chapter and verse on each book in the Scriptures

The New Testament RITTEN between about AD50 and W AD100, the New Testament is made up of 27 books, beginning with the four

gospels and ending with the mysterious Book of Revelation.

The gospels are accounts of the birth, life, teachings, actions, death and resurrection of Jesus. Although dates are disputed, scholars generally calculate that Mark was the first to be written and John the last. Being biographical summaries, Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels. John is focused on the nature of Jesus’ divinity.

The gospels are followed by the Acts of the Apostles. Written by gospel writer Luke, Acts chronicles the birth and growth of the Early Church. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the disciples of Jesus attest to his resurrection and preach salvation in his name. Focusing first on their Jewish countrymen, they then take the good news to Gentile nations.

The book’s leading characters are Peter, who is based in Judaea, and Paul, who embarks on four evangelistic tours of the eastern Mediterranean.

Paul is credited with authoring the 13 letters that follow the Book of Acts. These letters give instruction in the beliefs and practices of fledgling Christianity. The first nine letters are addressed to congregations he visited on his travels. The next four are personal, pastoral correspondence. The letters in both groups are

arranged not in order of importance or inspiration but in descending order of length.

Paul’s letters are followed by one whose writer is unknown. The Letter to the Hebrews explains the relationship between Jesus Christ

The gospels are accounts of the birth, life, teachings, actions, death and resurrection of Jesus and Judaism. For the unknown writer, Jesus is the ultimate expression and fulfilment of God’s covenant with his ‘chosen people’.

The New Testament continues with seven more letters variously credited as being written by Jesus’ early followers James, Peter, Jude and John.

Finally, Revelation is the New Testament’s only book of prophecy, written against a background of Roman persecution of Christians.

Beyond its opening messages to seven churches, it is a book of heavenly visions.

Judgment, tribulation, the battle at Armageddon, the overthrow of Satan and the Second Coming are writ large.

A mysterious book, Revelation engenders much interpretation as well as debate about the nature and timing of the end of the world.

Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

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