War Cry 4 May 2019

4 May 2019 20p/25c

ALL IN THE LINE OF DUTY BEST FOOT FORWARD Dance company that is making a difference

Arresting TV series reaches dramatic conclusion

Look who’s Tolkien NEW FILM FOCUSES ON ‘LORD OF THE RINGS’ AUTHOR

2 COMMENT AND CONTENTS • WAR cry • 4 May 2019

What is The Salvation Army?

The Salvation Army is a church and 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 over 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

From the editor’s desk SOMETHING new is coming to a computer near you on Friday (10 May). Microsoft is releasing an update on Windows 10, the most popular computer operating system in the world.

One of the new features, called Dark Mode, changes the colour scheme from white to black in an effort to reduce eye strain particularly when the user is looking at the screen at night.

However, some old favourites remain. Last week many users were delighted to discover that Microsoft Paint will still be available on the new operating system after rumours circulated that it could be removed. First launched in 1985, Paint has built up a dedicated army of fans despite now being considered a very basic program, and there are many online illustrators who specialise in using it to create their artwork.

Despite being old in technological terms, Paint is still a relatively new way of creating pictures. Last Thursday (2 May) was the 500th anniversary of the death of the artist Leonardo da Vinci. Using far more traditional techniques, he painted some of the world’s bestknown religious works including The Baptism of Christ and The Last Supper.

In this week’s War Cry, we mark this anniversary by speaking with Sarah Owusu, a contemporary painter. She became an artist after a sudden period of ill health, brought on by a routine dental appointment.

Sarah’s story reminds us how, in one moment, the course of a person’s life can change without warning. But Sarah also explains how it is possible for something positive to come from tough times and difficult circumstances.

As we go through life, and encounter the challenges it can bring, it is good to know about the experiences of people such as Sarah and to draw hope and inspiration from them.

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 7421

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow Production Editor: Stephen Pearson Assistant Editor: Claire Brine Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku Staff Writer: Emily Bright Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston Graphic Designer: Mark Knight War Cry office: 020 7367 4900 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@sp-s.co.uk Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Secretary for Communications: Lieut-Colonel Dean Pallant

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 and Wales 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

Contents FEATURES 3

Breaking the thin blue line Police corruption is under investigation in TV drama

5

Up with the larks Listening to the dawn chorus

6

Change of step Dance company transforms lives

8

Drawing on the pain How ill health inspired art

10

Through the myths of time Uncovering the life of Middle-earth author

6

8

REGULARS 4

News and media

12

Browsing the Bible

13

Book review

14 Puzzles 15

What’s cooking?

Front-page picture: Fox Searchlight Pictures

15

4 May 2019 • WAR cry • TELEVISION 3

BBC/World Productions Ltd

After his arrest, Ted’s future is called into question

ON THE LINE H

OLDING more tension than a suspect squirming under interrogation, Line of Duty’s arresting series finale could at last reveal the identity of mysterious criminal mastermind ‘H’ on BBC One tomorrow (Sunday 5 May).

Detective Sergeant Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) and Detective Inspector Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) from AC-12, the police’s anti-corruption unit, are hoping their investigations will unmask a police insider running an organised crime syndicate.

Throughout the past four series, the detective duo have uncovered a plethora of police officers who have made grave errors of judgment.

Mugshots of the guilty boys and girls in blue are plastered over AC-12 investigation boards, indicating a long line of questionable characters.

This series has been no different, with PC Maneet Bindra (Maya Sondhi) being compromised by her corrupt cousin, and rogue undercover officer John Corbett (Stephen Graham) taking drastic and ultimately deadly measures to destroy a network of crooked coppers. Both, though, paid with their lives as they got caught up in a web of deception and brutality spun by the organised crime group.

Even the ‘Gaffer’, Superintendent

Police anti-corruption unit closes in on criminal coppers, writes Emily Bright Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), looks as if he has stumbled into some trouble, casting furtive glances across the office, deviously ditching his laptop and giving questionable orders as the investigation progresses.

Indeed, as Ted faces a charge of conspiracy to murder, his past decisions threaten to ambush him and steal away his future.

Many Line of Duty characters have struggled to escape the cycle of bad decisions, with their actions robbing

Ted’s past decisions threaten to ambush him and steal away his future them of hope for the future. Whether it’s for accepting bribes, surrendering to blackmail or subverting police protocol, all corrupt characters seem to face either a lengthy jail sentence or a grisly end at the hands of criminals.

Although we may not all face such drastic consequences for our actions, we can still feel haunted by our past. It

can seem that no matter how hard we try, we cannot escape our previous pain or mistakes. Whether we’re struggling with our finances, trying to repair broken relationships or recovering from an addiction, it can sometimes seem that the future looks bleak.

But Bible writer Paul, who made many bad decisions before deciding to follow Jesus, explains that God offers us the chance to start again.

He says: ‘Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.

The old life is gone; a new life has begun’ (2 Corinthians 5:17 New Living Translation).

Paul explains that, instead of seeking human approval and chasing after our own desires, we can instead look to trust God, who through his Son, Jesus, offers us unconditional love and forgiveness instead of judgment.

No matter what we may have done, God invites us to break free from the prison of our past and pursue a life following his guidance.

A relationship with God is surely something worth investigating.

4 NEWS AND MEDIA • WAR cry • 4 May 2019

Measures show churches outnumber pubs National Churches Trust

PUBS are now outnumbered by churches, according to new figures published by the National Churches Trust.

The research, conducted by the Brierley Consultancy, found that there are 43,000 church buildings in the UK, compared with the 39,000 pubs listed in the latest Office for National Statistics figures.

More than 11,000 pubs have closed in the past decade.

The study explored how an increasing number of churches are becoming community hubs, hosting concerts, exhibitions, children’s nurseries and lunch clubs for older people.

It found that some church buildings double up as post offices, GP surgeries and farmers’ markets, and host as many as one in five polling stations in the UK. ‘As well as being places of worship, church buildings also play a vital role in activities for the benefit of the wider community,’ said a trustee of the National Churches Trust, the Rev Lucy Winkett.

‘It is estimated that nearly 90 per cent of churches are used for community purposes such as playgroups and lunch clubs and for social and cultural activities including concerts and exhibitions.’

A farmers’ market in St Giles’s Church, Shipbourne

Car wash offers staff clean break from past

Frelsesarmeen/KRISTIANNE MARØY

THE Salvation Army in Norway has launched a car wash that is designed to reintegrate into society former prisoners, people recovering from addictions and those who have faced other forms of social exclusion.

Offering training and employment for staff, the scheme in Tønsberg accepts people regardless of their past circumstances or mental and physical state.

The car wash is called Såpa meaning ‘soap’ to echo a Salvation Army motto – ‘soup, soap and salvation’. The saying refers to the organisation’s aim to meet all needs.

‘The only thing I demand of the others is that they don’t show up to work while under the influence of drugs or alcohol,’ says Henning Wick, a rehabilitated offender and drug addict who now runs the day-to-day operation. ‘If they happen to have a bad day, I send them home, but they are always welcome back.’

Sex education guidelines will help in smartphone age NEW guidelines on sex education will help young people develop positive relationships in the age of smartphones and social media, a Church of England bishop has said.

Writing in the TES, the Rev Stephen Conway, a church spokesman on education, argued: ‘The point of the new RSE [relationships and sex education] guidance is to update the existing legislation, which is nearly 20 years old. When that guidance was written, fewer than 10 per cent of households were connected to the internet, and connection speeds were snail-like.

‘There were no smartphones and no social media. Now, despite positive steps in regulating the internet, even primary school-aged children live in a world of rapid online interactions that those with a duty of care will never be able fully to moderate or even to understand. More and more young people are exposed to pornography, to practices such sexting and shaming, and inhabit an online world which has real-life consequences for mental health and the development of positive relationships.’

The clergyman, who is the Bishop of Ely, went on: ‘The new guidance is about promoting healthy resilient relationships … [with a focus] on respecting others, including the beliefs and practices of people with a specific faith commitment.’

ANTI-POVERTY charity the Trussell Trust provided more n three-day emergency food supplies between April 2018 and March 2019 than in any previous year.

Henning at work in Såpa

Figures released by the organisation, which is founded on Christian principles, show that during the period, it handed out 1,583,668 food supplies in the UK. It says that the main reasons for people needing emergency food supplies are shortfalls between the value of benefits and the cost of living and delays or changes in the payment of benefits.

Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, says: ‘Universal credit should be part of the solution but the five-week wait is leaving many without enough money to cover the basics.’

One former food bank user who has since become a Trussell Trust volunteer says that she ‘didn’t have any money for three months while waiting for universal credit’.

She says: ‘I couldn’t pay my rent and I had to work out whether to eat in the morning or the afternoon, because I didn’t have enough money for the basics. The food bank got me back on my feet.’

4 May 2019 • WAR cry • FEATURE 5 A SALVATION Army superstore n and community hub has opened in Peterborough.

Two shops run by the church and charity have been consolidated into a single store (pictured) that sells clothing, furniture and household items.

In addition, The Salvation Army is seeking to use the superstore’s central location to connect more people with existing services such as free debt advice and befriending.

Decorated with reclaimed paint and using fittings donated by department stores, the superstore seeks to minimise environmental impact and will offer only paper bags at the tills.

Customers will also be encouraged to reinvent donated clothing items through upcycling workshops.

early bird special There’s reward for waking up with the larks, writes Sarah Olowofoyeku

n

A DEMENTIA care home run by The Salvation Army has received accreditation from charity Dementia Care Matters for pioneering a new approach.

Youell Court has worked in partnership with Dementia Care Matters to train staff in the ‘Butterfly’ model of care.

Staff members no longer wear uniforms and now work according to a more flexible schedule of activities designed to increase the time they have in which to interact with residents.

The home is decorated with bright colours to engage residents’ senses. There is also an old-fashioned shop, hairdressing salon and post office, which are designed to evoke memories.

Youell Court has become the first care home in Coventry to receive the accreditation.

‘Essentially we are moving away from providing task-based care, to building emotional connections in as many moments as possible,’ says The Salvation Army’s older people’s services director Elaine Cobb. ‘We also involve residents in small tasks to enable them to make a contribution.’

people can say they have attended a birthday party that FandEW started at 4.30 am. But friends and family of wildlife enthusiast broadcaster Chris Baines can. In 1984 Chris invited his loved

ones to celebrate his birthday by listening to the dawn chorus with him. Thirty-five years later, gathering to hear the birds’ first song has become an annual event. On the first Sunday of May people all over the world wake up in the early hours to meet and listen to the songbirds.

International Dawn Chorus Day is promoted by the Wildlife Trusts, a grassroots movement of people who believe that we need nature and nature needs us.

The idea of getting up at the crack of dawn to listen to birdsong may sound unappealing, but Tom Hibbert of the Wildlife Trusts explains that the experience is ‘surprisingly rewarding’.

He says: ‘Just a snatch of birdsong is enough to Through the raise a smile and create a connection to the wild dawn chorus, world around us. Through the beautiful sounds of the dawn chorus, nature is inviting us in.’ nature is This year dawn chorus gatherings will take on nature reserves across the UK, with inviting us in place many including a post-walk breakfast. Meanwhile art collective Soundcamp will be broadcasting a 24-hour live stream, which will feature birdsong picked up from people’s microphones at daybreak across the globe.

Many people find connecting with nature significant. For countless Christians, it can be a way of experiencing God, because he is the one who made all creation.

One of the Bible’s poets wrote: ‘How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures’ (Psalm 104:24 New International Version). When we acknowledge God’s hand in the world, an appreciation of nature can invite us to get closer to him.

Will we wake up to see all that God has done?

6 INTERVIEW • WAR cry • 4 May 2019

Artistic director RUTH HUGHES tells Emily Bright how dance can transform lives Springs Dance

ROBIN HALLS

W

HEN Strictly Come Dancing welcomed contemporary dances into last year’s competition, the cleverly choreographed routines introduced audiences to more candid performances. The heartfelt dancing allowed them to relate to the dances on a more personal level.

School students are experiencing similar connections with the Springs Dance Company, which is helping them to explore the complex issues they face. When the charity visits schools, dry textbooks are put away and squeaky whiteboard pens are discarded in favour of essential in schools today – particularly when giving the pupils a more interactive experience. lessons cover issues of faith.

‘Dance engages the person taking part and ‘There is a need for specialist teachers to the people watching because we are more than help schools explore religious education in a just eyes, ears and a brain,’ explains Springs much deeper way,’ she says.

Dance’s artistic director Ruth Hughes. ‘I think Since being launched in 1997, the faiththere’s a great capacity to communicate using based dance company’s school programme has more than words.’ blossomed. There are now more than six teams Ruth asserts that dance can powerfully of teachers engaged in contemporary dance communicate uplifting messages and spread workshops, tailoring their performances around positive ideals, something she believes is the specific needs of the schools.

One area Springs Dance works in is Battersea, where an affluent estate sits alongside one of the most deprived communities in the area. Ruth says: ‘The communities have hugely diverse groups of children from lots of religions and backgrounds. We looked at how we could help them intermingle so that they’re growing with each other.’

At the end of last year Springs Dance choreographers created a dance interpretation of a book called Refuge, which follows the story of Jesus and his family Primary school children as they fled to Egypt to take part in a Springs escape the tyrannical Dance workshop King Herod.

The interpretation

Artistic director Ruth Hughes was designed to generate discussion around the treatment of refugees. ‘Through the dances the children explored what Jesus’ family might have encountered as refugees, and thought about what today’s refugees experience,’ says Ruth.

There’s a great capacity to communicate using more than words Two of the company’s professional dancers worked with almost 60 children once a week, providing the pupils with an opportunity to learn from experts. The piece spiralled into a larger event, drawing the neighbourhood together. Refuge author Anne Booth read from her book, a community choir sang and resettlement group Battersea Welcomes

4 May 2019 • WAR cry • INTERVIEW 7 PHILLIP BASHFORD

Dancers Steve Johnstone, Simon Palmer, Naomi Cook, Charlotte Brown and Claire Talbot perform ‘Bread of Life’ (above) and children take part in the Christmas play ‘Refuge’ (left)

Refugees invited speakers to talk about their experience of housing refugees.

As well as working in schools, Springs Dance has also staged theatre tours since 2007.

One such touring production has been The Magic Paintbrush. It tells the story of a young girl whose magic paintings clothe the cold and feed the hungry. ‘It’s a wonderful story, telling young children that they can change the world through doing what is needed,’ says Ruth.

Ruth enjoys expressing such ideals through dance. Her passion dates back to her teenage years, around the time that she became a Christian.

She recalls: ‘I’d always gone to church but, when I was 17 or 18, I remember just feeling that it was all real.

‘I didn’t set out to become a Christian dancer

but I had this urge to worship with dance and for that to be part of my life.’

Ruth now passes on her passion to the next generation through a dance programme called Elevate.

Elevate provides 18 to 25-yearolds with the opportunity to discover more about the Christian faith through a ten-month training programme. It combines contemporary dance lessons, choreography and community placements. Students are also supported in academic dance studies. The programme ends with a nationwide tour.

Ruth says that the programme boosts the confidence of young people, allowing them to put dance theory into practice through hosting workshops and engaging with the community.

These experiences teach them crucial skills such as problem-solving. ‘Every year, seeing their transformation and confidence is a joy,’ she says.

Elevate dancers come from all walks of life, some with faith and others without.

Ruth says: ‘We work with many

Seeing their transformation and confidence is a joy denominations. We also work with nonChristians.’

The sheer diversity of the team and their life experiences inspired a new production, based on testimonies of faith from strangers, called Inside Out. ‘We recorded people with vastly varied beliefs sharing what their faith meant to them, and we danced to it,’ Ruth explains.

Constantly evolving, Springs Dance is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2019. In its latest production, the company has returned to its faith-based roots. Bread of Life explores the theme of the Last Supper, and how Jesus invites people into a relationship with him.

There’s no complex theology, just storytelling.

Ruth says that the secret to sharing faith is to keep it simple. ‘Jesus taught by telling stories; he didn’t make it complicated at all. We’re simply retelling Bible stories through the medium of dance.’

8 INTERVIEW • WAR cry • 4 May 2019

Brush with ill health leads to painting ROBERT BINDA

As the world marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, it is a fine time to get acquainted with a young contemporary artist.

SARAH OWUSU tells Sarah Olowofoyeku about the experience that led her to paint Sarah Owusu

A

Nina Simone

LTHOUGH she enjoyed art at school and took the subject up to A level, Sarah Owusu did not begin painting seriously until she was in her twenties. The background to her becoming an artist was a sudden period of ill health.

Sarah explains how in July 2012 she went to the dentist.

‘I thought I was just going in for a standard filling,’ she begins. ‘But I got up and noticed that my face was a bit droopy.

The dentist told me not to worry, it was just the anaesthetic. I couldn’t feel anything, but I thought it was what everyone feels after the dentist.’

The next morning, Sarah woke up to find that the left half of her face was paralysed. ‘I could not move anything,’ she says.

‘It had drooped and I could only blink with one eye. My mouth was twisted, my nose was twisted. I was so frightened.’

On calling her dentist, 22-year-old Sarah was urged to go to A&E. There she was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a facial paralysis. ‘I was told that the dentist had hit the cranial nerve in the left side of my face, which is responsible for the reflexes and muscles on that side of my face.

‘I remember asking the doctor: “How long is this going to last?” He said that I had an extreme case, so it could be permanent. There was a high chance my face would never return back to normal.’

Sarah was put on a course of steroids, taking some ten pills every day.

‘It was the scariest thing I’ve faced in my whole life,’ she says. ‘I spent every single day crying, but after about two weeks I realised that I’d had enough of crying. Every time I felt sad, I would run to my laptop and put on some gospel music to lift my spirit. I began praying too.’

Sarah continued to listen to positive music and pray, but she soon felt a voice speaking to her – and it was telling her to paint.

‘Because of what I was going through at the time, I was weak in my faith,’ she admits, ‘and at first I shrugged off the urge. But I kept getting this feeling to paint. So I decided to obey that voice, which I now know was the voice of God. ‘I went to the store and bought two cheap canvases, paint and some brushes. I had no idea what I was doing. I painted how I was feeling and put my emotions on the canvas. There

4 May 2019 • WAR cry • INTERVIEW 9

A pastor (left) and Maya Angelou (right) was a lot of red, because I was angry and sad.

‘I was afraid to show anyone that painting, but when I went to the hospital for a check-up, the doctors were surprised that my face had improved so much and asked how.

‘I said it was because of God, and of course they laughed! As I was getting better and my face had significantly healed, I said to myself: “Sarah, God is clearly doing something for you. There’s no way you can keep it to yourself.”’

About a month after receiving the diagnosis and some two weeks after picking up the

I realised that what I was going through was to help others paintbrush, Sarah decided to share her painting and experience online. She soon received an email from a young woman also experiencing Bell’s palsy.

It was a turning point for Sarah in her faith, and marked the beginning of her career as an artist.

‘I knew it wasn’t a coincidence that the girl messaged me,’ Sarah says. ‘It showed me that God is real. I realised that what I was going through was not just about me, but so that I could help others. I thought it was important for me to continue painting and using the gift God had given me.’

After about a year, Sarah had completely recovered from Bell’s palsy, but she carried on creating works of art. Today she paints in a unique style that she calls Owusuism, an aesthetic characterised by bold colours and patching on the faces of her subjects.

Of Ghanaian heritage, Sarah primarily creates portraits of notable and ordinary people in black history, because of her desire ‘to educate and to allow black people to have a positive view of themselves’. She believes it is important for people to see representations of themselves in art.

‘In art galleries it’s rare to see paintings of black people or by black artists, so that’s another reason why I want to paint.

‘My art isn’t religious,’ she adds, ‘but I paint what I feel led by God to paint.

‘Going through facial paralysis helped me to discover my purpose, and I’m confident that I’m doing the work God has called me to do.’

Sarah adds the finishing touche s to a painting of Martin Luther King Jr

10 INTERVIEW • WAR cry • 4 May 2019

Hobbit-forming As a biopic hits cinemas, Philip Halcrow asks J. R. R. Tolkien biographer COLIN DURIEZ about the experiences that influenced the man who went on to write the globally known stories of Middle-earth © LANCIA E. SMITH

I

Colin Duriez

N a hole in the ground, the future author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is far from the comforts of home. At the beginning of the biopic Tolkien the young John Ronald Reule is in the trenches of the Somme during the First World War. He and the other troops are under fire. He is struggling with fever. He desperately wants to track down one of his boyhood friends.

The film – released at cinemas yesterday (Friday 3 May) – explores the early years of the author and hints at how they shaped his life and writing.

The war looms large in the film. And, argues Colin Duriez, whose books include J. R. R. Tolkien: the Making of a Legend, it did in his life too.

‘I think he was affected his whole life by his wartime experiences,’ says Colin. ‘When he was sent back from the Western Front with trench fever he wrote his first story about the ages of Middle-earth, which was called The Fall of Gondolin, and which was published last year, edited by his son Christopher.

‘The story was deeply influenced by Tolkien’s experience in the Battle of the Somme, the terrible slaughter, the cannons and the British tanks, which appeared on the scene – in The Fall of Gondolin there are some vehicles created by Morgoth, who is a kind of Satan figure. There is a battle to destroy the city of the elves, and there are elements of Tolkien’s memories of the war in that.’

The reverberations of the war can also be felt in the major works published in his lifetime.

‘In The Lord of the Rings Frodo and Sam are crossing the marshes, and they see figures in the water from an ancient battle,’ says Colin. ‘That section is almost certainly part of Tolkien’s memories of the trenches and the bodies sinking into the mud.’

‘The Fall of Gondolin’ was deeply influenced by his experience in the Battle of the Somme

4 May 2019 • WAR cry • INTERVIEW 11 J. R. R. Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult) and Edith (Lily Collins) in ‘Tolkien’

Fox Searchlight Pictures

‘When Tolkien lost two of them – one on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and the other who was wounded and died of gangrene – it left him desolate.

‘Later in his life, when he became part of the Inklings, it was important for him to have such a group of friends again.’

The Inklings was an informal discussion group among friends in Oxford. It grew up around Tolkien, who by then was a professor at the university, and fellow academic and author C. S. Lewis.

‘Lewis became something of the kind of person that Tolkien had known from the TCBS,’ says Colin. ‘They would read their work to each other.

‘There were similarities between Lewis and Tolkien.

They had both fought in the First World War and they were both interested in old myths.

‘Tolkien was also largely responsible for Lewis coming to the Christian faith.’

The biopic does not bring Tolkien’s faith into focus in The film shows the importance to the same way as it Tolkien of his friends in the TCBS does his status as

Tolkien lost two close friends in the war.

As the new film shows, Robert Gilson and Geoffrey Smith had, in their schooldays, formed a club with Tolkien and Christopher Wiseman. They called themselves the TCBS (Tea Club, Barrovian Society).

Colin says that ‘the group had been very encouraging to Tolkien. They regarded him as somebody who would develop into an important writer.

an orphan, his wartime experiences and his romance with his future wife, Edith. But, says Colin, ‘his faith was quite strong even in his schooldays and then at university. He had a deep understanding of theology.

‘In the war, Tolkien became very aware of the whole problem of evil in the world. He saw it first hand. But the fact that he had a Christian view of where evil comes from – that it is not something eternal but that it is the result of something good being twisted – helped him in coming to terms with the horrors of the war.

‘He would have viewed the war in a spiritual dimension as well. He would have seen that the

Tolkien found that myth was a good way of putting over the Christian faith world itself is in a war between good and evil, and that evil has come about because of the fall of human beings.’

While acknowledging the reality of evil in his stories, Tolkien’s works are also full of hope and ‘have a strong sense of providence’, says Colin. ‘His understanding of theology is in the background of his stories, even those that are set in a pre-Christian world.

‘Tolkien and Lewis were a bit like the modernists in that they were trying to find an alternative form from the Victorian period, and many avant-garde artists were using myth.

‘Tolkien found that myth was a good way of putting over the Christian faith. And through his work his faith has gone round the world.’

12 INNER LIFE • War Cry • 4 May 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

Esther

STHER is one of only two books E in the Bible not to mention ‘God’.

Nevertheless it is an account of divine

providence.

As it opens, Xerxes is King of Babylon.

His grandfather, Cyrus, had allowed a number of Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. Many Jews, though, still live in Babylon.

Xerxes is throwing a public banquet. He summons his queen, Vashti, but she refuses to appear. Enraged, Xerxes dismisses her from court (chapter 1). The search for a new queen commences.

Mordecai, a Jew whose grandfather had been exiled, takes his cousin and fosterdaughter, Esther, to the court with strict instructions that she should not reveal her ethnicity. Xerxes makes Esther his queen.

After overhearing conspirators, Mordecai tells Esther of a plot to kill the king. She tells Xerxes and the plotters are executed (chapter 2).

Xerxes orders his subjects to bow down to his newly appointed prime minister, Haman.

When Mordecai refuses to do so, Haman

issued orders for there to be a purge against all Jews (chapter 3).

Mordecai asks Esther for help, reminding her that if the king learnt about her heritage, she too would be killed (chapter 4).

Esther asks Xerxes to host a dinner with Haman as the sole guest. When Haman receives an invitation to a second such soirée, he is overjoyed, even though he is still irritated by Mordecai’s uncivil disobedience (chapter 5).

Mordecai is to be honoured for saving the king’s life

Haman plans to ask Xerxes for permission to kill Mordecai. However, in the meantime sleep-robbed Xerxes reads the report of how Mordecai unearthed the earlier assassination plot. With Haman ready to ask permission to kill Mordecai, Xerxes tells him that Mordecai is to be honoured for saving his life (chapter 6).

At the second supper, Esther tells Xerxes that she is a Jew and that Haman is behind the purge. Xerxes leaves the room to think.

When he returns, he sees what he thinks is Haman attacking Esther. Haman is impaled on the pole on which he f relie , planned to kill Mordecai (chapter 7).

‘For if you remain silent at this time arise from Xerxes makes Mordecai prime and deliverance for the Jews will family er’s fath minister and, at Esther’s request, r you and you but e, plac r anothe allows his Jewish subjects to defend have you t tha but ws kno who And sh. will peri themselves against the purge. The h a time as come to your royal position for suc Jewish community celebrates with ) sion Ver al the feast of Purim (chapters 8 and 9). this?’ (Esther 4:14 New Internation

Key verse

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

"

Looking for help?

Just complete this coupon and send it to War Cry 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN Basic reading about Christianity Information about The Salvation Army Contact details of a Salvation Army minister

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4 May 2019 • WAR cry • EXPRESSIONS 13

BOOK REVIEW Absolute Proof Peter James Macmillan

Twitter: @TheWarCryUK

WHAT would it take to prove the existence of God to the entire world?

That is the question posed in this latest novel by an author who is perhaps best known for his crime stories. In this novel, Peter James drew inspiration from a real-life experience. Thirty years ago he received a ‘random’ phone call from an elderly sounding man who said he had absolute proof of God’s existence and that he needed the author’s help to be taken seriously.

Fast-forward across the years, and in Absolute Proof an elderly man phones an investigative journalist, making the same claim and requesting the same help. From thereon in, the book’s tale deviates from the author’s own experience as it takes readers on a journey that incorporates murder, theft, car chases and intrigues that reach to the very top of the Christian Church as well as big business.

It is a well-crafted story from an imaginative storyteller.

But it does also raise some questions – not only what would it take to prove God’s existence, but also what would the consequences be if someone could actually do it?

Absolute Proof is not a theological treatise; it is the work of a creative writer. But James has written it with the help of members of the clergy, and their influence can be detected in some of the conversations that the fictitious journalist has.

In one such conversation, a clergyman states that ‘proof is the enemy of faith’ and adds the warning: ‘I’m not at all convinced that absolute proof of God, if such a thing could be established, would put the world back on an even keel.

I think it would have the reverse effect.’

Whether our instinct is to agree with this sentiment or to reject it, the reader is prompted to think about the way faith infiltrates many and sometimes unobvious areas of society, secular as well as religious.

The book invites us to consider our own beliefs and understanding of God and whether we would be able to accept any one thing as the absolute proof of his existence.

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Nick Lamb

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14 PUZZLES • War Cry • 4 May 2019

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS

1. Happen again (5) 5. Vegetable pulp (5) 8. Cancel (5) 9. Tendency (5) 10. Sufficient (5) 11. Satire (5) 12. Weight-loss plan (4) 15. Sheen (6) 17. Nautical (5) 18. Rout (6) 20. Lofty (4) 25. Burial place (5) 26. Solemn promise (5) 27. Tasteless (5) 28. Twofold (5) 29. Corroded (5)

HONEYCOMB Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number 1. Hair over forehead 2. Stick of coloured wax 3. Out of sight 4. Short oar 5. Japanese hostess 6. Simultaneous action

Answers

Wordsearch BASSOON CELLO CLARINET DOUBLE BASS FLUTE FRENCH HORN GLOCKENSPIEL HARP MARIMBA OBOE SAXOPHONE TIMPANI TROMBONE TRUMPET TUBA VIOLA VIOLIN XYLOPHONE

13. Frozen water (3) 14. Headgear (3) 15. Slack (3) 16. Mat (3) 17. Disobedient (7) 18. Medic (6) 19. Renowned (6) 21. Disgrace (6) 22. Barely (6) 23. Custom (5) 24. Insurgent (5)

30. Roadside recess (3-2)

DOWN

1. Plump (6) 2. Invent (6) 3. Wireless (5) 4. Pry (5) 5. Frolicsome (7) 6. Reiterate (6) 7. Appear (6)

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

9

4

2

3

5

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8

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9

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3

1

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1

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6

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8

2

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1

3

6

7

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2

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8

1

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7

Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these orchestral instruments

9 4 2 3 5 7 8 6 1 N X U M R D M I 7 1 N U J C L G F H F P 6 4 8 9 2 3 5 I O P V C T G V J T R U M P E T X L 3 8 5 1 6 2 7 9 4 C C Z M I Q T V S D H W A Z L R Y B G C V U O O E N O B M O R T 6 5 7 8 9 4 3Y D H 1 2 J O T M I Z E L U L B A J N Z X D U V 1 9 3 7 2 6 4 5 8 Y T B Y O Y B A S S O O N R L R S N 8 2 4 5 1 3 6 7 9 A U E H L L B T O U N E W F B P F R Q W C N E M 2 I 7Q H Q R E 1 6 4 V O Z 5 9 8L T 3P A T J B I M L N L D C A L T U B A X 5 3 9 2 7 8 1 4 6 I B A R P R S U X E X X Z T Y P Z R N S A A S V A H L Y U N E Z Y J N Y 4 6 8 9 3 1 5 2 7 S M N E N E X L L A A W N L L S M Y Q I W Z E K O O C V Q Z L V Q E M D A Z X P K T P V Z Z I V F M V H C J F R E N C H H O R N S U X S M V T Y Q U K L O A O Z K N Z N Q S K Z N I I V F N L R N P J D W N M Q I J K W G E E V G P E W A H H L X F Y Q Z L

HONEYCOMB 1 Fringe. 2 Crayon. 3 Hidden.

4 Paddle. 5 Geisha. 6 Unison.

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1 Recur. 5 Purée. 8 Annul.

9 Trend. 10 Ample. 11 Irony. 12 Diet.

15 Lustre. 17 Naval. 18 Defeat. 20 High.

25 Grave. 26 Troth. 27 Bland.

28 Twice. 29 Rusty. 30 Lay-by.

DOWN: 1 Rotund. 2 Create. 3 Radio.

4 Snoop. 5 Playful. 6 Repeat. 7 Emerge.

13 Ice. 14 Hat. 15 Lax. 16 Rug. 17 Naughty.

18 Doctor. 19 Famous. 21 Infamy.

22 Hardly. 23 Habit. 24 Rebel.

6

4

3

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2

2

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9

1

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1

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8 9 1 4 3 7 5 6 2

9 2 6 5 7 8 1 4 3

3 7 4 1 2 9 6 8 5

1 8 5 3 6 4 2 9 7

5 1 9 6 4 3 7 2 8

2 4 8 7 5 1 9 3 6

7 6 3 9 8 2 4 5 1

SUDOKU SOLUTION

8 9

9 2

3 7

1 8

5 1

2 4

7 6

4 May 2019 • WAR cry • WHAT’S COOKING? 15

Gnocchi with lemon and kale pesto 2tbsp pine nuts 1 garlic clove, crushed 25g fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped 50g kale, stalks removed and discarded, finely chopped 2tbsp vegetarian Italian hard cheese, grated Serves

2

1 medium lemon, zest and juice Ground black pepper 2tbsp olive oil 400g gnocchi

Nutty tabbouleh 120g couscous 180ml low-sodium vegetable stock, hot 1tbsp unsalted pistachio nuts, shelled 1tbsp pine nuts 1tbsp sunflower seeds 1 small red pepper, deseeded, chopped

Cook the pine nuts over a low heat in a small frying pan, stirring occasionally until evenly browned.

To make the pesto, mix the garlic, parsley, kale, cooked pine nuts, cheese and lemon zest together in a small bowl. Season with pepper to taste and stir in the olive oil and lemon juice. Set aside.

Cook the gnocchi according to the packet instructions and drain well. Place the gnocchi in a serving bowl and add the pesto. Stir through and serve.

Place the couscous in a small, shallow heatproof bowl. Pour over the hot stock, stir and cover. Leave to sit for 5 minutes, then separate with a fork.

until they start to colour. Transfer to a plate and leave to cool. Place the cooked couscous in a mixing bowl and add all the other ingredients.

Combine well before serving.

Toast the pistachio nuts and pine nuts in a small saucepan over a medium heat for 2 minutes, turning constantly,

Recipes reprinted, with permission, from the Vegetarian Society website vegsoc.org

1 large courgette, chopped 2 large spring onions, finely chopped 10g fresh mint, finely chopped 15g fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped 4 dried apricots, sliced into thin strips 6 cherry tomatoes, halved ½ tsp ground cumin 1tbsp olive oil 2tbsp lemon juice Pinch salt and ground black pepper

Serves

2

Joyce Meyer