War Cry 27 February 2021

Former gunman now aims to help others

WAR CRY

27 February 2021 20p/25c

Comedy of errors Mel Giedroyc hears celebrity confessions in TV panel show

Social media app has sound appeal

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 7514

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

Your local Salvation Army centre

INFO 2 • WAR CRY • 27 February 2021

EDITOR From the editor’s desk

IT might be expected that an armed man collecting drug debts would end up serving a prison sentence. However, while Mick Fleming’s life was once one of drugs, violence and addiction, today he is serving people who are sleeping on the streets or are otherwise disadvantaged.

In an interview in this week’s War Cry, Mick explains how his life was transformed when he decided to commit himself to God by following Jesus. Having studied at theological college, Mick now works as a pastor with Church on the Street Ministries, which offers food parcels, clothing and church services to people experiencing homelessness and addiction.

It may seem a remarkable change, but Mick is certain about how it could happen.

‘I don’t think anyone’s beyond God’s redemption,’ he says. ‘I knew deep down inside me that I wasn’t bad, even though I was doing very bad things.’

The idea that everyone is capable of doing bad things but no one is beyond redemption is one which the Right Rev Graham Tomlin would agree with. He tells us this week that society tends to ‘divide the world into the good people and the bad people, when really all of us are a mixture of good and bad’.

Graham has written a book called Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea and Other Countercultural Notions, in which he explores how every individual is a complex mixture of good and bad, leading him to suggest that the often-given advice to ‘be yourself’ is confusing.

‘We can be positive and genuinely reach out to others in compassion and love,’ Graham tells us. ‘But we’re also liable to be selfish and full of envy and pride.’

However, Graham also believes that the way to be the best version of ourselves is to turn to Jesus. He says: ‘If we discover who Jesus is, it can change our lives.’

Mick is the living proof of Graham’s words. The great news is that any of us can experience that same change by turning to Jesus.

CONTENTS

What is The Salvation Army?

FEATURES 3

Crime watch

Celebrities confess all in TV show

5

Join the club?

The attractive sound of social media app

6

Don’t be yourself!

Author on how to live better

8

‘I was rotting away inside’

The former life of a church pastor

REGULARS 12

Team Talk

13

Puppy Tales

14 Puzzles 15

War Cry Kitchen

5

6

Front-page picture: UKTV

15

TELEVISION UKTV

My bad

Tom Allen, Gemma Collins and Darren Harriott confess their misdeeds

Philip Halcrow watches a show that explores how wrong you can be

S

O far, so bad. Since Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable began earlier this month, comedian Alex Brooker, former Blue Peter presenter Richard Bacon, reality TV businesswoman Gemma Collins and sports presenter Clare Balding have been declared ‘beyond redemption’. Next Tuesday (2 March) more celebrities will line up on the Dave comedy show to reveal their murkier moments.

Every week, Mel coaxes three contestants into confessing misdemeanours. After her assistant Lou Sanders writes down the details in her ‘Bad Bible’, Mel awards each celebrity zero or minus points depending on the scale of their transgressions. At the end of the show, whoever has notched up the most negative number is deemed to have won the honour – or dishonour – of being unforgivable.

The misdeeds revealed go way back.

In the opening round, contestants are instructed to divulge an ‘original sin’ – something bad they did in their early days.

Graham Norton recounted how a lie he had told about feeling ill so that he didn’t have to go to school led to his undergoing an appendicectomy.

Tom Allen told how, while visiting a National Trust property as a child, he had removed a chain that debarred

entry to a path – paving the way for an elderly lady to fall into a lake.

As the contestants get older, their crimes continue.

Clare Balding confessed to skipping secretarial college and lying to the tutor that her no-show was down to her having been in a road accident. Darren Harriott spoke of how he was fired from his employment at an AA call centre because he would ignore calls so that he could continue conversations with colleagues.

There is, however, some space for contrition. Each week, one of the contestants comes face to face with someone they have wronged – and is invited to say sorry.

And if confession is good for the soul, it’s not only the celebrities who can benefit.

Members of the audience are also invited onstage to admit to a guilty secret.

‘The public confessions are more left field, surreal and mad than you could ever make up,’ comments Mel, adding that Unforgivable is ‘not trying to make anyone actually look really bad’.

‘Bad Bible’ holder Lou thinks that the show ‘is important because it’s saying we can have a laugh at our defects’. She says: ‘Some of the stories are quite sweet and tame.

Some of them are awful! But hopefully the audience has got the wherewithal

To err is definitely human

Mel Giedroyc and Lou Sanders note the stories to think, “We’ve all done bad things”.’

To err is definitely human – a truth backed up by the Bible, which details dozens of examples of misdeeds that are still repeated with variations all over the world. When we see such shortcomings in our own lives, some of them may cause us to smile wryly about human weakness. Others we may struggle to see the funny side of.

But the Bible also insists that no one is beyond redemption. ‘If we confess our sins to God,’ it says, ‘he can always be trusted to forgive us’ (1 John 1:9 Contemporary English Version).

Its verdict is that God’s love for us means we do not have to have the negative things we have done forever held against us. We can have hope for the future, because in God’s eyes we are always forgivable.

27 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 3

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WAR CRY

Chaser catches up with her faith

ITV

TV QUIZ personality Anne Hegerty took a break from filming the documentary The Chasers Road Trip: Trains, Brains and Automobiles to go to church.

Anne, nicknamed ‘the Governess’, was in Tokyo with fellow stars of the ITV quiz The Chase Mark Labbett and Shaun Wallace but did not take part in filming on the Sunday morning, because of her faith. In a piece to camera, she said: ‘It’s a Sunday. I’m a practising Catholic and that means I’ve got to go to Mass.’

After her church visit, Anne was filmed meeting up again with her fellow presenters for the programme, which can be watched on the ITV Hub.

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‘RELIGIOUS Twitter’ is an unexpected corner of peace, wrote journalist Sirin Kale in a feature in The Guardian.

She said that ‘entering religious Twitter feels like wandering into an animal sanctuary after sitting courtside at an MMA [mixed martial arts] match.

It’s a safe space.’

Nuns, monks, bishops and rabbis populate the section of Twitter that prompted her to conclude that ‘a valuable lesson’ could be learnt from ‘our godly peers’.

In her feature, she spoke with Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, who said that one of the Church of England’s social media guidelines was to ‘disagree well’.

He told her: ‘True kindness isn’t just about agreeing with everyone – it’s not kind to allow people to be misled by fake news, for example. Sometimes you have to call things out.’

Salvation Army appeal plugs pupils into lessons A SALVATION Army church in Droitwich has received more than 100 digital devices after it took part in a donation drive with other organisations to help schoolchildren access their online lessons.

Running up to the middle of this month, the appeal encouraged people to drop off

their old laptops and tablets at the Salvation Army church and council collection points.

A computer company in Worcester helped to refurbish the devices free of charge.

The Salvation Army then worked with schools to redistribute the devices to families who needed them.

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Ruth Valerio

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Laptops are delivered to Chawson First School

TEENAGERS are concerned about climate change and want their churches to do more to tackle the crisis, according to a report by Christian charities Tearfund and Youthscape.

Based on a survey of 630 British Christians aged between 14 and 19, Burning Down the Houses revealed that 84 per cent believe it is important for Christians to respond to climate change. But only 9 per cent think their church is doing enough to tackle the problem.

Dr Ruth Valerio, director of global advocacy and influencing at Tearfund, said: ‘This survey is clear: young people want the Church to listen and act now. If it does not, it will fail the living planet that God loves and calls us to protect.

‘Churches must use their platforms to listen to their young people and stand up for the most vulnerable in the world who are facing the climate crisis head-on with lifethreatening consequences like droughts, famines and more severe weather events.’

FEATURE

tWwxcx Do you have a story to share? a warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk @TheWarCryUK TheWarCryUK

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THE author behind a humorous Twitter account that amassed more than 250,000 followers with posts reflecting the fictional thoughts of a toddler, told US magazine Relevant how she needs God ‘every moment of every day’.

Canada-based Bunmi Latidan, who began tweeting on the @HonestToddler account in 2012, explained that she started exploring Christianity at a time when she was questioning her Jewish beliefs. She said: ‘I felt like something else was calling me and I didn’t know what it was … and then, I don’t know why, but the name “Jesus” popped into my head. I was very confused and I went to God, because at this point I just wanted the truth.’

Bunmi revealed that when she ‘started talking’ to Jesus, ‘things really began to change’.

She said: ‘I knew it was Jesus because his presence announces itself.

He doesn’t have to say a word. And I knew that he loved me and knew me.’

Last month Bunmi’s book Dear God: Honest Prayers to a God who Listens was published by Zondervan.

Sounds Exclusive

Social media users are clamouring to join the club, writes Claire Brine

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ISTEN up! The audio-based social network Clubhouse is growing fast. But how to describe it? Users say it’s a bit like listening to a live podcast, only with the option to join in the chat. Another detail setting Clubhouse apart from other social media apps is that it’s exclusive. If you don’t receive an invitation from someone on the inside, you don’t get in. Simple as that.

When users sign up to Clubhouse, they are free to join conversation rooms and listen to live interviews and discussions between interesting people, covering topics such as health, business and books. Last month, when the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, popped in for a chat about life on Mars, he attracted more than 5,000 listeners, maxing out the app’s conversation room limit. Days later, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg joined the app and promptly participated in a lively discussion about the future of augmented and virtual reality.

But the platform isn’t just a stage for the rich and famous to talk tech.

There are dating chatrooms, career workshops and even auditions, including ones for this weekend’s in-app performance of the musical Dreamgirls.

As Clubhouse grows, wannabe users are keen to receive an invitation.

But it’s not as easy as asking a signed-up friend to ‘get you in’, as existing users have limited invitations to offer. Clearly, not everyone who wants to join Clubhouse is going to be able to.

Being left out of anything – when we want to be let in – can be difficult. We may start to question if there is something wrong with us. We start to believe that what we offer and who we are mean we will never be accepted.

Thankfully, the Bible tells a different story. We can read about a man called Jesus who loved people so much that he invited them to follow him. And the best bit about it: everyone was welcome.

He said: ‘I will never turn away anyone who comes to me’ (John 6:37 Good News Bible). Whatever we have done wrong, Jesus can forgive. Whoever we are, he accepts and loves us. The invitation to follow him is available, any time.

Being left out of anything can be difficult

27 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 5

Doing ourselves justice GRAHAM TOMLIN talks to Sarah Olowofoyeku about countercultural notions that can help us to live better

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6 • WAR CRY • 27 February 2021

F we have ever asked a friend for advice on how to act in a job interview or on a date, the chances are that they have told us: ‘Be yourself.’ On the face of things, it is a wise saying, but the Bishop of Kensington, the Right Rev Graham Tomlin, thinks it is not the best counsel. He gives his reasons in his new book Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea and Other Countercultural Notions.

Graham tells me: ‘If we’re going on a date or for a job interview, the last thing we want is for the other person to know what’s going on in our head. When we’re trying to impress someone, we don’t want them to know about our fears or anxieties. We often present the sanitised version of ourselves.

If we did go into those encounters being ourselves and thinking about ourselves, we would not have a very good encounter.

‘The person who says precisely what comes to mind on social media is usually

the person who gets into trouble. The advice to be yourself is confusing because our selves are not as simple as that. We are divided selves; there are bits of my self that I like and bits of my self I don’t like.’

Graham argues that the focus on the self in society has been to our detriment.

‘In modern culture, we have turned inwards to try to find identity, to find truth inside ourselves. But that’s a mistake. We are not meant to find life by turning into ourselves. We find life by being turned out towards God, the source of life.

‘One of the tensions of modern living is that we focus on ourselves, but we also feel a need for connection and community.

The answer to that is to realise that we were made to find life through turning out towards our neighbours too.’

One way in which many people show care for their neighbours is the pursuit of justice. It is something that Graham has witnessed in recent years, as the Grenfell Tower fire took place in a parish he looks after.

‘You don’t have to be a Christian to sense that justice matters,’ he says.

INTERVIEW

‘When something goes wrong, we want the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

It’s good and right. But our desire for justice can lead us to divide the world into the good people and the bad people, when really all of us are a mixture of good and bad.

‘We can be positive and genuinely reach out to others in compassion and love. But we’re also liable to be selfish and full of envy and pride.

Some of us do have more of one than the other, but we all are both. So we say we want justice, but we don’t want to admit that we don’t want that justice exercised towards the parts of our own lives that aren’t particularly good.

‘We must recognise the parts of us we are not proud of and which need forgiveness. The Christian faith says we can find that forgiveness with the God who made us. It is offered through Jesus

Christ and his death on the cross. There is nothing we can do that will take us beyond that forgiveness.’

That offer is helpful for those who believe there is a God. Some people, however, do not. Graham explains, though, that, as well as pointing us to our own need to be forgiven, the quest for justice can point us to God. ‘I want to ask people who have a strong sense of justice where it comes from. Where do we get the idea that there’s a right and a wrong? Some may say it’s because we have decided that that is the case, but what happens when a society gets that completely the wrong way round? Where does that deep human instinct that certain things are right come from?

‘In past times, people assumed there was a moral structure to the world that we didn’t create, but was given to us.

Today, we look inside ourselves. The problem with that is my moral law might be different from someone else’s.’

Where does that instinct that certain things are right come from?

Graham suggests that a sense of justice comes from something outside humans.

‘If the moral law has been given to us, who gave it to us. If it is a God, what might that God be like?

‘That’s where the person of Jesus is so important. We have this dim idea of a God who might be out there, who might have given the moral law. But we don’t know what he’s like. Christians say that we see the face of this God in Jesus Christ, and that he is a God of compassion, love, forgiveness, mercy and grace. If we discover who Jesus is, it can change our lives.’

•

Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea and Other Countercultural Notions is published by SPCK

27 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 7

Rescued from dealing and d Pastor MICK FLEMING tells Emily Bright how he was transformed from a criminal, alcoholic and drug addict to a churchman who serves people in need

Mick Fleming

H

OLDING a loaded gun, drug debt collector Mick Fleming waited in a car outside a gym to settle a score. He remembers how the man he was looking for walked past, holding hands with his two young daughters. As Mick jumped out of the car, a bright light shone off the children’s hands, blinding him for a matter of seconds.

‘I staggered and then got back in the car, breathless,’ he recalls. ‘I didn’t know what was happening. I started being sick and drove away. I prayed for the first time in 30 years, but nothing happened. existed, but didn’t think God cared about ‘I had the radio on, and the Johnny him, particularly when, at the age of 11, he Cash song “Man in Black” came on. It was robbed of his childhood. On his way felt like I was a dark and horrible person inside. I put a gun under my chin and fired, to school, he was sexually assaulted by a stranger. but it didn’t go off.’

The following morning, summoning Mick discarded the gun safely, firing all his courage, he walked the bullets harmlessly into a nearby field. downstairs to tell his parents The gun didn’t misfire once. Later that what had happened to him. day, after a violent altercation, police sent But as he did so, he saw his him to a mental health unit, believing that father was crying. He learnt he was suffering from a drug-induced that his sister had died of an psychosis. After four months at the unit, asthma attack on the way Mick was in a better state. He had felt to hospital. In his emotional anguish, Mick encouraged by a visiting nun, who had told him that God loved him, regardless of took his mother’s prescription painkillers.

He later became addicted to Class A his criminal past. drugs and alcohol, and eventually began Brought up in a Roman Catholic family, dealing drugs.

Mick had always believed that God

‘I started taking drugs to dull the pain,’ he says. ‘I was rotting away inside, and I became lost.’

Mick was living a double life as a career criminal and a husband and father to young children. His home was raided repeatedly by police.

‘It was insane,’ he says. ‘I’d been doing criminal activities in Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, and I was a different person in each place and when I came home. It was almost like I was playing different roles.

‘But the amount of crack cocaine I was taking meant that everything started to unravel. I started to become really poorly and dangerous to myself and others. People

I put a gun under my chin and fired

8 • WAR CRY • 27 February 2021

drugs, danger

INTERVIEW

LIBRARY PICTURE POSED BY MODEL

MICK FLEMING

Mick as a young man

could see me carrying knives and firearms more openly.’

After he was released from the mental health unit, Mick was determined to transform his life for the better. He tells me how he was staying in a homeless hostel when he had an experience that pointed him in a new direction – he saw what he can only describe as an angel at the bottom of his bed.

‘He told me to go and stand against a particular wall at exactly seven o’clock that night,’ he recounts. ‘So I did. I thought: “I am absolutely crazy.” I was ready to walk away, when a man walked around the corner. I nearly collapsed when I saw him. The guy was a staff member from the hostel.

‘He invited me in for a brew, and I realised it was a narcotics anonymous meeting.’

Mick went into long-term recovery that day. He noticed that the Christians at his meetings had ‘something different’ about them.

‘They had no bitterness or self-pity,’ he explains. ‘I wanted to be like them.’

He started praying more, and, during one meeting with his sponsor, decided to commit his life to God. Mick began working with notorious long-term addicts, and, much to the surprise of drug and alcohol services, they became clean and sober. When the council asked how he did it, he told them it was God, not him. They decided

to pay him £1,000 to support his work, and he spent all the money on feeding and clothing those he worked with, meticulously keeping every receipt.

In 2014, while helping out a friend by dropping him at the Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, he bumped into the registrar, who asked if he wanted to study there.

Initially taken aback, Mick eventually decided to begin a course. However, he found it tough going. Mick has dyslexia and so struggled to read. He also had no money to pay for accommodation and ended up homeless and sleeping in his car. This triggered a remarkable act

Turn to page 10

➥

27 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 9

From page 9 of generosity from the principal of the college.

‘She found out that I had no place to live and she offered me a room in the halls of residence, with clean towels all folded up on the bed. Then she bought me a week’s worth of food,’ Mick says, clearly still moved by her actions. He went on to complete the course.

‘Because she gave me one food parcel, I’ve given out thousands,’ he reflects. ‘She homed me and I’ve homed hundreds. She showed me Christ.’

When Mick returned to his home town of Burnley, he had just £10 in his pocket

and a suitcase of clothes.

‘I bought some cigarettes, even though I don’t smoke, and I sat down next to a homeless guy and gave him a cigarette,’ he says. ‘I opened my suitcase up, let him take some clothes, and I told him about Jesus. I said there was a way out, and I told him about my life.’

Over time, Mick built a new life for himself in Burnley and created an outreach ministry to people experiencing homelessness and addiction. Along the way, he met Sarah, who is now his wife.

Then, in 2019, he and two of his friends

Some people can’t afford a funeral

10 • WAR CRY • 27 February 2021

set up Church on the Street Ministries, which works in partnership with other Christian organisations in Burnley to offer food parcels, clothing and church services.

Church on the Street Ministries began supporting 80 people who turned up to seek help twice a week. The team hired a building cheaply and started running church services there. In recent months, demand for their support has soared.

‘Before the pandemic, we’d been doing maybe 10 food parcels a week,’ says Mick. ‘But then, I was doing hundreds of parcels a week. I’ve now set up a satellite food bank so people who are able can

INTERVIEW pick up the parcels themselves. Gas and electric have become a luxury, and some people can’t afford a funeral, so we do what we can to help. Children are playing outside with no shoes or ones with ripped toes, so we provide them with new ones.

‘Other children ring me up when they’ve had no food because their parents are on drugs. We get the parents into recovery groups, and you can see the kids becoming children again. We also help those with terminal cancer to die with love and care.’

While the material need is great, Mick emphasises that people need their emotional and spiritual needs met too.

PHIL EDWARDS/BBC

Mick runs Church on the Street Ministries, which helps people in need

‘I was an addict for more than 30 years,’ he says. ‘I’ve been homeless.

I’ve been in extremes. I’ve been wealthy, I’ve been very poor. I’ve slept on the streets, I’ve been hungry, and I’ve known poverty – but, for me, poverty has nothing to do with money.’

He adds that his ministry is not just about food or clothing.

‘It’s about real salvation. We meet people wherever they’re at and pull them out of the situation they’re trapped in. I’ve set up recovery groups that are absolutely booming. People are coming to faith, they’re getting free, their lives are getting changed.’

Mick sees his faith as integral to bringing lasting change to those he meets and takes inspiration from Jesus’ example.

‘Jesus was honest, unselfish and loving,’ he explains. ‘He sat with people who were suffering and understood who and what they were. He left them with a love that can transform.

‘We have a living Christ who does things here and now. He can inspire change in the world in which we live. He gave me a second chance.’

Mick’s steadfast belief in the

transformative power of Jesus was put to the ultimate test when he came across an alcoholic who he instantly recognised as the person who had sexually abused him.

‘When I met him, I knew who he was straightaway,’ Mick recalls. ‘I wanted to cut his throat, smash him up and use drink and drugs. But I didn’t, because I knew that if I was forgiven for what I’d done, then I had to forgive.

‘Forgiveness isn’t saying it’s all right. It’s not all right.

Forgiveness is saying that God has freed me, and I don’t need to live in somebody else’s sin. It wasn’t easy, but I helped him to get sober, before he died just over two years ago. He never knew who I was. The funny thing is, I didn’t hate him in the end. Forgiving him gave me my sanity back.’

Mick believes that everyone, regardless of what they have done, can encounter God and have a relationship with him.

‘I don’t think anyone’s beyond God’s redemption. I think there’s something in all of us that cries out for God. I knew deep down inside me that I wasn’t bad, even though I was doing very bad things.

‘My faith means that I can leave the past behind me, and that I’ve now got hope for the future.’

I’ve lived in extremes

27 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 11

EXPLORE

Prayerlink YOUR prayers are requested for Tim, who is suffering from anxiety.

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

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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.

talk ‘ ’ Team talk TEAM TALK Giving up is hard to do

Sarah Olowofoyeku gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

WE’VE all given up a lot over the past 11 months. Time with loved ones, holidays, eating out. It has been tough. And it’s why, when Lent rolled round last week, many people weren’t that keen to sacrifice anything.

Lent is the period of time leading up to Easter when some people decide to go without one or two of life’s luxuries – such as social media, watching TV or even eating chocolate. But, in these difficult days, such things have sometimes seemed like a lifeline, and the prospect of letting them go is daunting.

One viral tweet facetiously stated: ‘I have nothing to give up for Lent because I have nothing left.’ It was funny, but also relatable. The past year has been draining, and lots of us are struggling.

We have all made sacrifices. Last year did not go according to plan for anyone and this year was only a few days old when new lockdowns were introduced. I think it has encouraged many of us to hold tight to the few pleasures that we can still enjoy.

The good news is, God completely understands that response. But – whether we’re giving something up or not – we can still reflect on the significance of the season. At the heart of it is the encouraging message that, because Jesus once knew great suffering, he can empathise with us on our darkest days and in our lowest moments.

As well as knowing Jesus is with us, we mustn’t forget the best thing about Lent, which is that it leads up to Easter, when Christians celebrate that on the third day after his sacrificial death, Jesus was raised to life. They believe his resurrection means that one day all suffering will be over – no more tears, natural disasters or pandemics.

As more of us are invited to be vaccinated in the coming months, we should show up to our appointments and be part of the hope for an end to this particular trial. But we also have another invitation – to meet with Jesus at this time of year, and find a hope for every season.

One day all suffering will be over

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

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

Or email your details and request to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk 12 • WAR CRY • 27 February 2021

EXPRESSIONS

puppy tales Life with a young dog leads Barbara Lang to look at the world from a new perspective

Not a walk in the park J

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QUICK QUIZ 1

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Who presents TV quiz Only Connect?

What is the common name for leukocytes, which help the human body’s immune system to fight off disease?

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Rock group the Aninmals were formed in which port city?

What was Martin Luther King Jr’s birth name before it was changed?

What Scottish Championship football club shares its name with a novel by Sir Walter Scott?

Who is known as the ‘Bard of Avon’?

ANSWERS

AK, our border collie puppy, had to learn how to walk safely on the pavements. It can be a scary experience for small puppies, and Jak was afraid of new things. One day, while walking along the pavement near to our home, he saw a discarded children’s plastic motorcycle leaning up against a hedge.

Jak stopped and made a tiny growling noise. He pulled backwards on the lead, not wanting to go any nearer, and then he sat down. But by encouraging him to walk closely with us, he was able to walk up to the toy and sniff it and learn that he was safe.

I guess many of us have felt scared when we’ve encountered something new. Christians have learnt that if they stay close to Jesus at those times, they can feel safe with him.

Trusting in Jesus when we are afraid can assure us of his strength and protection and give us the peace he promises. We can cry out to him at any moment because he can help us at any moment.

When any of us have to face something that scares us, we can know Jesus’ presence with us, helping us in just the way we need.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 14:27 (New International Version )

PODCAST REVIEW Everything Happens Kate Bowler katebowler.com/podcasts ‘IT’S okay that life isn’t always better,’ Kate Bowler says in the introduction to her insightful and entertaining podcast where she speaks to people – some with a Christian faith, others who have none – about what they have learnt in hard times.

In her autobiographical book, on which the podcast is based, Kate tells how her life was drastically altered after she was given a cancer diagnosis at the age of 35. The guests on her podcast have experienced similar life-changing events – such as being bereaved of a close family member or being in prison for decades. Yet throughout the episodes, and regardless of how challenging their situation, a theme of hope permeates the show.

I draw encouragement from Kate’s interviews with people of faith, who talk about the ways God’s love has shown up in unexpected places.

Their stories reassure me that God will always be there for us, especially when we need him the most.

Linda McTurk

27 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 13

1. Victoria Coren Mitchell. 2. White blood cells.

3. Newcastle upon Tyne. 4. Michael King Jr. 5. Heart of Midlothian. 6. William Shakespeare.

CROSSWORD CROSSWORD

PUZZLES

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Fast train (7) 5. Student (5) 7. Depraved (7) 8. Cook by dry heat (5) 10. Repose (4) 11. Introduction (8) 13. Edify (6) 14. Niche (6) 17. Ejected (8) 19. Just (4)

21. Armistice (5) 22. Akin (7) 23. Dupe (5) 24. Attempted (7)

DOWN 2. Sunshade (7) 3. Flightless birds (4) 4. Lampoon (6) 5. Side by side (8) 6. Crash (5)

7. Fat (9) 9. Cherished (9) 12. Wealthy (8) 15. Precisely (7) 16. Funeral car (6) 18. Feather (5) 20. Alack (4)

SUDOKU

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

HONEYCOMB HONEYCOMB

1 3 5 7 6 4 8 5 1 1 9 3 3 2 8 2 6 5

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

ANSWERS

4

5 8

9 1 7 5 1 8 3

WORDSEARCH ADJUSTMENT ADVANCE

ALTERATION

CORRECTION

DEVELOPMENT DIFFERENT

INNOVATION

METAMORPHOSIS MODIFICATION NOVELTY

RECONSTRUCTION REVERSAL REVISION SHIFT

SWITCH

TRANSFORMATION

HONEYCOMB 1. Cheque. 2. Bridge. 3. Melody.

4. Alight. 5. Stride. 6. Length.

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1. Express. 5. Pupil.

7. Corrupt. 8. Roast. 10. Rest.

11. Prologue. 13. Uplift. 14. Recess.

17. Expelled. 19. Fair. 21. Truce.

22. Related. 23. Cheat. 24. Essayed.

DOWN: 2. Parasol. 3. Emus. 4. Satire.

5. Parallel. 6. Prang. 7. Corpulent.

9. Treasured. 12. Affluent. 15. Exactly.

16. Hearse. 18. Plume. 20. Alas.

1 6 8 9 7 3 5 4 2

TRANSITION

9 2 5 8 4 6 3 1 7

3 4 7 2 1 5 8 6 9

5 3 4 1 9 2 7 8 6

7 8 1 6 3 4 2 9 5

2 9 6 7 5 8 4 3 1

4 5 9 3 2 1 6 7 8

8 1 3 5 6 7 9 2 4

6 7 2 4 8 9 1 5 3

SUDOKU SOLUTION

TURNAROUND

2

8 2 9 1 8 7 5 6 5 1 8 3

14 • WAR CRY • 27 February 2021

6

ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH

1. Form of payment 2. Card game 3. Tune 4. On fire 5. Long step 6. Measurement

2 9

1 Look 9 up, 3 down, 5 7forwards, 2 4 backwards 8 6 and diagonally on the grid to find 6 these 2 4 3 associated 8 9 5 with 1 change 7 words 8 5 7 4 1 6 9 3 2 R U I D M F Y K R Y L 9 8 2 1 6 I 7Y I W T T O 3 5 4 O B S G Q T N E M T S U J D A X T C 7 4 1 9 3 5 N V 2 6T N G 8 V V Y W L M O E Q D Y O J R T Z E Q S I S O H P R O M A T E M 3 6 5 2 4 8 1 7 9 T E V N M M T Q B B L E V O J C R S 5 3 8 7 2 4 6 9 1 L O V X N J C V Z P Z C F D Q N E Q N D I I K J 4 E E O D A O T 1 6 8 9 3 I 7 X D F O 2 5 K L P N S Z R M N Y B N R F F J F Y 7 9 6 5 1 I 8 I 4Z 3I H U U T W J 2I R U U E R S A

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

3

D Potato and fish curry Ingredients

Method

1tbsp groundnut oil

Heat the oil in a large frying pan.

Cook the onion, bay leaf, chilli and garlic for 2 minutes.

1 onion, peeled and finely diced 1 bay leaf 1 green chilli, split lengthways 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped 1tsp ground cumin ½ tsp ground turmeric ½ tsp fine sea salt 400ml coconut milk 400ml hot fish stock

Add the spices and salt and continue to cook for several minutes, then add the coconut milk, stock, mustard and potatoes. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.

Add the haddock fillets and cover them in the sauce. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir through the peas to heat, then serve.

1tbsp wholegrain mustard 300g Maris Piper potatoes, cubed

SERVES

2

300g haddock fillets, skin removed 100g frozen peas, defrosted

Quick potato and haddock gratin Ingredients

Method

1 garlic clove, peeled

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

600g King Edward potatoes, thinly sliced and blanched 400g undyed smoked haddock fillets, cut into pieces Handful of spinach leaves Salt and pepper 1tsp grated nutmeg 2tbsp fresh chives, chopped 350ml half-fat cream 50g butter Salt and ground black pepper 1tbsp grated Parmesan

Rub the inside of a large baking dish with the garlic (reserving the clove for later), then put down a layer of potato slices.

Next add a layer of fish with a few spinach leaves. Season well and sprinkle over some nutmeg and chives. Repeat the layers until you reach the top of the dish, finishing with potato slices.

Put the cream, butter and garlic clove into a pan and season.

Bring the sauce almost to the boil, then turn off the heat.

Remove the garlic clove and pour the sauce over the gratin.

Sprinkle over the Parmesan and the remaining chives. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden, then serve.

Recipes reprinted, with permission, from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board website lovepotatoes.co.uk

SERVES

4-6 27 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 15

THE STUCK-UP

FALL FLAT ON

THEIR FACES, BUT

DOWN-TO-EARTH

PEOPLE

STAND FIRM Proverbs 11:2 (The Message)

WAR CRY