War Cry 29 June 2019: selected articles

29 June 2019 • WAR CRY • FEATURE 3

The fields are alive…

W

ELLIES at the ready, musiclovers are enjoying festival season. During the summer months in locations across the UK, thousands storm parks, fields and farms to listen to their favourite artists and, come rain or shine, discover new sounds.

On Wednesday (26 June), the nation’s largest festival opened its gates.

Glastonbury Festival started in 1970 with fewer than 2,000 attendees. This year, 135,000 are expected to make their way to the five-day event, which boasts 2,800 performances across 79 stages.

After today’s sets from Janet Jackson and the Killers, tomorrow Kylie Minogue, Miley Cyrus and the Cure will close the show. But a few hours before the pop and rock performers belt out their hits, festivalgoers will be serenaded by a different sort of sound floating out from the Pyramid stage.

At 11 o’clock on Sunday morning, the Langa Methodist Church Choir are heading for pastures new.

Festival founder Michael Eavis personally invited the South African choir to perform at the event. While visiting Cape Town to see how Oxfam is using the money raised from Glastonbury Festival, Michael sat in on a choir practice at the Langa township’s Methodist church. The

Masixole and th e Langa

Methodist Churc h Choir

Choir brings heavenly sound to festival, writes Sarah Olowofoyeku music struck a chord. In his invitation letter he said: ‘The singing was absolutely amazing – I have never seen anything like it before in my life!’

While words and gestures can sometimes be lost in translation, music easily transcends language. ‘The treble clef in South Africa and the treble

Wherever we are, we are invited to join in the singing clef in England are exactly the same,’ Langa Methodist Church’s choirmaster Masixole tells the War Cry. ‘Music is an international language, one that brings everyone together.’

Masixole has prepared a combination of songs in English and in the South African language Xhosa, including some Methodist hymns, for the choir’s Glastonbury debut. He says that he wants people to realise that church is not boring.

‘We have vibrant singing in church,’ he enthuses. ‘People will be wowed because of how we can sing and dance

and play instruments at the same time.

‘I want our singing to show people how we praise God in South Africa, how we communicate God’s word and how people’s lives are changed through music. One of our songs speaks of God’s grace and how magnificent he is.’

Music has long been a way for people to express who God is. The Book of Psalms in the Bible is filled with songs, many of which invite others to join in the singing. One says: ‘Sing to the Lord, all the world!’ (Psalm 100:1 Good News Bible).

The call still goes out today and we can choose our response. Wherever we are in the world and whatever language we speak, we are invited not just to join in with the chorus, but also to experience the God described in the songs.

Music written about God often repeats truths about his magnificent love for humanity and his grace that offers forgiveness to everyone who puts their hope in him.

If we tune into those truths, we can discover the love that he has for us – a love that is music to the ears.

6 FEATURE • WAR CRY • 29 June 2019

JAYSON FONG

REVS UP Goodwood Festival of Speed chaplains ANTONY FELTHAM-WHITE and KEITH MORRISON tell Emily Bright why they feel driven to share their faith at the motorsports venue

I

JOCHEN VAN CAUWENBERGE

N 2003 car-racing vicar the Rev Keith Morrison tore up the track at about 50 miles an hour in a vehicle akin to a DIY go-kart at the Goodwood Festival of Speed’s Soapbox Challenge – a downhill race for small cars. Suddenly, when he was unable to brake, the car tipped him off the track in spectacular style. ‘It was quite a big crash,’ he recalls. ‘Flying through the air was terrifying.’

Fortunately, he was not badly hurt and he and fellow racing fan the Rev Antony Feltham-White, who built the soapbox, received the Spirit of the Event award – an added bonus to

Keith Morrison

surviving the race.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed began in March 1993 after Goodwood estate owner Lord March decided to resurrect a postwar motor racing circuit which closed in 1966. Since then, it has attracted four million car enthusiasts, including Formula One champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

The festival, which starts on Thursday (4 July), prides itself on allowing festival goers to get up close to the cars and the action. This year it will showcase the latest innovations within motorsport, with six Formula One teams set to race, while stunt drivers will perform risky manoeuvres in

Antony Feltham-White

a new attraction called The Arena.

As well as this new initiative, supercars, electric cars and hill climb monster cars will compete in what will be the 20th anniversary of the Sunday Shootout, all hoping they will be the ones to clock a new record time.

Historic motor racing vehicles are also on show, as the festival celebrates the 70th anniversary of Aston Martin’s first race at Goodwood.

‘The Festival of Speed is a celebration of almost every aspect of the automotive industry. It encompasses the past, present and future and tries to meld the three together,’ explains Antony.

‘It’s an opportunity for people in the automotive world to show the things that they get up to, but it’s also a

The Festival of Speed is a celebration of the automotive industry

Ferrari’s 488 GTE

celebration of the historical aspects of motorsports. Apart from that, it’s a jolly good party!’

Antony and Keith started racing cars from British manufacturer Morris Garages while at theological college.

They decided to create their own motor racing ministry called Revelation Racing.

Then, after watching Goodwood’s Soapbox Challenge, Antony decided to enter and convinced Keith to join him.

Revelation Racing eventually qualified,

29 June 2019 • WAR CRY • FEATURE 7

FOR RACING JAYSON FONG

Volkswagen’s ID.R prototype is the first all-electric car to challenge Goodwood’s record for the fastest vehicle to complete the course

Caption

and the duo hit national headlines after they competed in the event 16 years ago.

Keith then decided to see if they could bring their faith to the festival.

‘I asked if I could lead an act of worship on the Sunday morning at the Festival of Speed the following year and they said yes,’ he recalls. ‘We had our first service and were racing in the Soapbox Challenge in the same weekend.’

Now as official Goodwood chaplains, Antony explains that he and Keith aim to ‘inject a bit of humour and good spirits’ into the event, wandering around to chat with members of the public. He sees this as an important way to share his faith. ‘Both Keith and I believe that the Church needs to be out and about where everybody is. And Goodwood gives us an opportunity to make sure that’s the case,’ he says.

Antony adds that the perilous nature of motor racing means that people are

more receptive to conversations about faith, as crashes and close encounters force them to contemplate their own spirituality.

‘Motor racing is a dangerous sport,’ he explains. ‘An awful lot of people who are involved in motor racing have thought about their own mortality and had some quite big scares, myself included. They may have prayed to God for help. That gives an opportunity for me and Keith to have a conversation at a different level than you might get from other people.’

That receptiveness to faith is shown by the good-sized congregation who attend Keith and Antony’s Sunday morning service, which is held in front of Goodwood House. But listening to the message at a race track venue isn’t always easy. ‘Two years ago drivers were doughnutting up the hill while the service was still going on, so that was a bit tricky. But we just carried on,’

recalls Keith.

That is not the only possible clash between a motorsport festival and the Christian faith as many Christians are taking an active role in tackling climate change. So it might seem odd to find church leaders at an event like Goodwood.

But attending is not a problem for Keith. ‘The festival has a lot of electric cars,’ he says. ‘Some of them are faster than those powered by petrol or diesel.

‘I can’t not go to Goodwood because the people there are terrible fuel burners. I think Christians need to be present when the need arises and engage with people in conversation across different spheres.

‘I believe as Christians, we reach our full potential in God and he has a purpose for each of us. If we can model a life of faith, people may be drawn to find out more.’

8 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 29 June 2019

‘Infertility makes women think they don’t work properly’ ALICE SWAIN talks to Sarah Olowofoyeku about how not being able to have children has impacted her life and why she chose to tell her story

Alice Swain

29 June 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 9

A

SOCIAL media trend triggered it.

Early in 2016, somebody started the Motherhood Challenge on Facebook. Women were encouraged to post pictures of themselves as mothers and then to tag a number of other mothers, asking that they do the same and keep passing it on. For many women, it was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate motherhood and to encourage their friends who were also mothers. But for Alice Swain, the challenge provoked a lot of difficult emotions.

‘I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to post that picture,’ says Alice.

She had been told by doctors that she was infertile. Seeing the pictures of people she knew as mothers made her feel happy, but it also brought up feelings of sadness, jealousy, anger and insecurity.

‘It was after this I decided to start writing,’ she says. ‘I began to share my story with others from a place of grief.

I didn’t want to wait until I had a happy ending before I shared my story. I wanted people to know how it felt, there and then, in the pain of it all.’

Alice, who is a Salvation Army minister in Wales, began blogging about the ‘taboo subject’ and discloses she was shocked by the response from people in similar situations.

‘Young women believe that they’re going to get married, then they’re going to have children, and everything is going to be fine,’ she says. ‘So when those things don’t happen, there is a sense of shame.

Women think they have done something

wrong or that they don’t work properly.

That’s really hard to deal with.’

A few years before taking to the internet to write about her experience, Alice and her husband had been trying to have a baby.

‘When Paul and I married, we knew we wanted a family, so we just started trying,’ she explains. ‘But nothing was happening.’

They went to the doctors, who were unable to provide answers. The only diagnosis they received was unexplained infertility.

Turn to page 10

➥

I didn’t want to wait until I had a happy ending before I shared my story

10 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 29 June 2019

From page 9 ‘As time went on, it got harder and harder to see other people around me becoming pregnant so easily. I felt as if I was excluded from that,’ Alice admits.

‘But I did find great comfort in the Bible.’

Alice turned to the Bible’s stories about women, such as Hannah, who struggled with infertility. She was inspired by the fact that those women chose to put their faith first.

Alice included her reflections on faith when writing her blog.

‘I believed God had called me to be a voice for people who were struggling with infertility and especially those trying to reconcile that with faith,’ she remembers.

‘Then on holiday a couple of years ago, I told my husband that I felt God was calling me to write a book. I didn’t have any time though.’

The couple were already living a busy life running the Salvation Army church in Mold, a market town in north Wales. ‘We have a charity shop, a coffee shop and a Christian bookshop,’ Alice explains.

‘We give out food bank vouchers, and we do a lot of work with our volunteers, many of whom have special needs. We

look after the pastoral side of the church and are part of various groups in the community, such as one helping Syrian refugees who are being rehoused, and one raising dementia awareness.

‘And we have two dogs!’ she laughs.

Unsure when she would find the time to write her book, Alice put the idea to the side until one bank holiday Monday.

‘Paul and I had gone away for a couple of days,’ she says. ‘As I was walking out of our hotel, I fell and badly broke my

My faith doesn’t solve my problems, but it gives me hope ankle. I felt God say to me: “You said you needed time, here it is.” I couldn’t walk for nearly three months, so that’s when I wrote the book.’

The book is called Flourishing in the

Family snaps of Alice, her husband Paul and daughter

Wilderness, and while Alice’s ‘wilderness’ related to fertility, she penned it with a wider audience in mind.

‘I was single for a long time before I met my husband, so I know what it is like to walk through the wilderness of singleness. My husband has been through divorce, another wilderness. On a daily basis, I see people going through a range of difficulties. I have found that what I’ve learnt in my wildernesses can help other people who are in theirs.

‘Everyone goes through difficult times, no matter what – grief, pain, hurt and sorrow – that is just the nature of our world. We can either choose to let it overcome us or we can choose to flourish in it.

‘It is rubbish and it is unfair. Some days I didn’t get out of bed. I would sit with a duvet over me and refuse to move,’ she admits. ‘And that’s fine, but the key is not to let bad days overcome you.’

Alice has also found that suffering has allowed her to have a greater capacity for positive emotions. ‘Because I’ve struggled, I see far more joy in the little things,’ she explains. ‘My faith doesn’t solve my problems, but it gives me hope.

‘I think a lot of people feel that church is full of people who have their lives

29 June 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 11

A wilderness does not mean you have to be on your own

together, but that is wrong. There is a lot of brokenness, but we can find commonality in that. And having shared in grief and struggle, the experience of sharing joy is far greater.’

And Alice and Paul felt that joy at the end of last year when they adopted a little girl.

‘A couple of years ago, I went on a pilgrimage, and I felt that God took away some of the burden I had been carrying with infertility,’ she says. ‘A little while later, Paul and I started pursuing adoption, something we had not thought about before.

‘Because I’d been so vocal in the wilderness, now that I’ve found a bit of an oasis, it seems all the more glorious, and people have celebrated it alongside me.’

Despite this joy, Alice is keen to acknowledge the fact that the road through the wilderness is not straightforward. ‘Becoming a mum has been a difficult transition,’ she tells me.

‘Although I’m a mum and I have a daughter, I’m still infertile. I’ve still never been pregnant, carried a child or given birth.

‘I love being a mum, it’s absolutely fabulous, but I still have a heart for women who are going through infertility because I have not stopped walking that road. I thought becoming a mum would take away any worry that I had about

infertility, but it hasn’t.

‘There is a pain that I don’t think will ever leave, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because I’ve learnt so much about myself, God and faith through this journey. I called the book Flourishing in the Wilderness because, although it was a wilderness time, I flourished in so many ways.’

Alice says that the Bible was a source of comfort to her. But she was also puzzled by the way it sometimes seemed as though all the characters in it have a happy ending. ‘In the midst of grief it’s easy to read the story of Hannah and see that, yes, she was in pain, but then she prayed and God gave her son.

Sometimes I have thought: I’ve been praying and praying too; when will I get my miracle? Have I failed as a Christian?

‘It was at those times that I felt God really close to me. He would send people to check on me at the right moment to assure me that he was there. God was faithful through it all.’

Alice has also learnt the importance of community. She is enthusiastic about people getting together to talk openly about the more unspoken struggles such as infertility.

‘We shouldn’t suffer alone,’ she says. ‘A wilderness does not mean you have to be on your own all the time. Speak to people.

Seek out those who are walking the same

road as you and commit yourselves to each other. There are support groups on the internet for all kinds of issues.

‘I would also say reach out to God. He has taught me about digging deep in prayer and being persistent with him. I’ve learnt that if you put your life in his hands, no matter how rough times get, he will always remind you that he is with you.’

Flourishing in the Wilderness

Alice Swain

l Flourishing in the Wilderness is published by Shield Books

12 INNER LIFE • WAR CRY • 29 June 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

Jeremiah

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

EREMIAH prophesied from the days JJudah of Judah’s King Josiah until after was taken into Babylonian captivity.

As recorded in 2 Kings chapters 22 to 25, Judah is under increasing attack from Babylon. Jeremiah has the unenviable task of warning of impending national disaster and then seeing it come to pass.

A true prophet of doom, his name is synonymous with pessimism.

The reason for Judah’s downfall, says God through Jeremiah, is her unfaithfulness, idolatry, ignoring of his warnings and refusal to repent. Actions have consequences; punishment will follow (chapters 2 to 15). Unless the people of Judah repent, they will be held captive in a foreign land again (chapter 16).

A breaking of relationship with God on a national or communal scale is not the only factor for the growing crisis; there is personal responsibility. ‘Everyone,’ says Jeremiah, ‘will die for their own sin’ (31:30).

While other prophets insist that Babylon will not invade, Jeremiah warns that national hope lies in not resisting, saying: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives’ (38:2).

For such treasonous advice, he is incarcerated in an underground water tank and left to die. He is, though, rescued and witnesses the fall of Jerusalem (chapters 38 and 39). While being removed to Babylon, he is released and is eventually taken to Egypt (43:6 and 7).

While Jeremiah majors on punishment for sin, he also offers glimpses of the possibility of salvation. Nationhood, he insists, will be restored. God will raise a new king – a ‘righteous Branch’ (23:5). Babylonian captivity will be limited to 70 years, after which God will punish Babylon (chapter 25), and

Jeremiah’s name is synonymous with pessimism Judah and Israel will return and be restored (chapters 30 and 31). A new covenant will be made – God’s law will be written on people’s hearts (31:31–34). God ‘will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more’ (31:34) and bring ‘health and healing’ (33:6).

With Jerusalem besieged and Judah on the brink of annihilation, Jeremiah puts his money where his mouth is. He buys a field from an uncle, believing God’s promise that one day Judah would repopulate the land (chapter 32).

Key verse

find ‘You will seek me and with me ek me when you se 29:13 ah mi all your heart’ (Jere ) on New International Versi

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

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