LIBERTI magazine : April / June 2014

APR - JUN 2014 • £3.50

EQUALS

6

What does that really mean?

When the ground beneath you gives way

ways to Save for Summer

Arianna Walker

Mary J Blige CHOOSING LIFE

QUIET

Is Introvert the new extrovert?

Entertainment • Fashion • Health • Interviews • Movies • Shopping • Sex • Travel • TV

Youthwork Magazine.pdf

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CMY

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26TH 27TH MAY 2014 WISTON HOUSE WEST SUSSEX

MATT REDMAN

ALL SONS & DAUGHTERS

JASON UPTON

MATT MAHER

UNITED PURSUIT

A STIRRING TWO-DAY CONFERENCE AIMED AT WORSHIP LEADERS, WORSHIP TEAMS, CHURCH LEADERS AND PRETTY MUCH ANYONE WHO IS PASSIONATE ABOUT WORSHIP. A DEEPER JOURNEY IN WORSHIP, HANGING OUT TOGETHER IN GOD'S PRESENCE IN A CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT, WITH PLENTY OF TIME TO GET 'UNDER THE SKIN' OF THE GUEST WORSHIP LEADERS.

REUBEN MORGAN

NEW

FOR

2014

LIBERTI features 30 C hoos ing L ife

Mary J Blige reveals how finding God was her first step towards finding peace and comfort in life.

37 Q uiet. . . th e n e w l oud

A moderate extrovert’s response to the power of introverts…

42 E at, P ray, S a il

First timer to full sail in forty eight hours.

LIBERTI women

63

LIBERTI living

LIBERTI culture

17 Exerci se

8

19 Li f ecoach

1 1 A pp A le r t

22 Leadershi p

1 2 Ch e c k o u t Gadg e t s

55 Am I Beauti f ul ?

51 M u sic t o o u r e ar s

60 Fi nance

53 A t t h e Cin e m a

LIBERTI faith

5

F irs t Word

21 Anxi ous f or H ea v e n

7

Ch a ngin g th e worl d

47 Prayi ng through the pai n

I n side O u t

63 Gam e O n !

15 G reenmum 48 Skyf al l 2 5 E quals 7 0 L as t W ord

30

CONTENTS APRIL - JUNE 2014

60

STEVE

LEGG 25th Anniversary Tour

International baffler and funny guy Just perfect for your next After-Dinner, Alpha meal, Cabaret, Family Service and Fun Day

Don’t miss him!

EDITOR

Bekah Legg

bekah@libertimagazine.com

MARKETING & ADVERTISING

Duncan Williams

MARKETING & ADVERTISING

Fiona Hinton

PROOFING

DESIGN

williamspublishing@yahoo.com fiona@hintonmediaservices.com

Katherine Kane

katherinekane@live.com

Tina Grobler

tina@pegasusgraphics.co.uk

PRINT

Halcyon

DISTRIBUTION

COMAG

CONSULTING EDITOR FOR SCM

www.halcyonline.co.uk

Steve Legg

steve@libertimagazine.com

© Liberti Magazine 2014 Liberti is published by Son Christian Media (SCM) Ltd. The acceptance of advertising does not indicate editorial endorsement.

SCM holds names and addresses on computer for the purpoe of mailing in accordance with the terms registered under the Data Protection Act 1984.

Liberti is protected by copyright and nothing may be produced wholly or in part without prior permission.

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SQUARE FIRST WORD:

I

BEKAH LEGG

I don’t often talk about that last one. I learned, many years ago, it wasn’t something to boast about. Somewhere between the euphoria of coming top of my class in primary school and being called everything from a geek to a nerd to a, and I can hardly bear to admit to this, square at senior school, I learned to keep my head down and not let on that not only could I do maths – I positively enjoyed it.

letter from the editor

wear many hats. Not literal ones - although on another note entirely, I do love hats but have an enormous head (no comments thank you) and very few fit me – no, what I mean is; I have many roles. I’ve talked about it before; mother of a million (exaggeration), wife of a magician (a fairly unique position), editor of Liberti Magazine (obviously) and teacher of Maths (geek).

But there it is; I do. I love it. I love the logicality of it; love that even if you don’t know how do it, you can work it out and I positively find sanctuary in the fact that there is always a right answer.

You know where you are with an equation. Even if you can’t see it at first, the left hand always has the same value as the right hand – even if they look wildly different. Even if it takes pages of working out to prove, the equals sign is a guarantee that the digits it’s sandwiched between have the same value.

It’s what equal means – things that are equal have the same value. At Liberti we firmly believe that all people are equal – regardless of their race, their background or their gender. Women have the same value as men. Women are gifted equally and women are anointed equally. We believe that women should have the freedom, the liberti, to use those gifts and live out that anointing to the best of their ability.

We’re going to start looking at what that means for different women in different contexts. We’ve invited Jenny Baker, author of Equals: enjoying gender equality in all areas of life to start us off by expanding on the meaning of equality in gender issues and we’re going to carry on the conversation in editions to come.

In the meanwhile, I may have ‘outed’ myself as a maths geek – but please don’t call me square. Square is a quadrilateral with four equal lengths and four 90° vertices; I’ve way too many curves for that.

Bekah Bekah Legg | EDITOR BekahLegg

Some recommended reads in the Spring Edition:  Equals (pg25), Jenny Baker talks to us about what it means to be equals in the gender game  Mary J. Blige (pg30), reveals how finding God was her first step towards finding peace and comfort in life.  Quiet is the new loud (pg37), A moderate extrovert’s response to the power of introverts…

Spring 2014

5

2 thousand years ago

JESUS

went out of his way

Honour, Restore and Release women He still Does. to



It’s time to RING THE BELL for women to live in freedom.

W

e have a dream to reach women all over the country with the liberating message that Jesus is good news for women; we’d love you to help us.

Will you become a LIBERTI BELLE and actively promote the vision and values of Liberti Magazine.

• • • • •

Become a subscriber. Every subscription enables us to give copies of Liberti away to women in the armed forces, women in refuges and women in prisons.

Become an ambassador. Tell the women in your church about us and encourage them to subscribe too.

Become a distributor. Buy a bumper box of 50 magazines for just £50 to give away to the women in your community.

Become a sponsor. Take out a subscription for a girl who needs to discover release for herself.

Become a prayer supporter. Sign up to receive regular emails so that you can pray for us as we determine to take this Liberti news to more and more women. © Dule964 | Dreamstime.com

Liberti

www.libertimagazine.com 6

Spring Spring 20142014

© Dule964 | Dreamstime.com

Fast-forward to 2014 and my yawns are more frequent and deeper. I sit in front of the mirror a little (lot) wider, wrinklier, a parent of 3, unemployed and living in rural Gloucestershire. No more important meetings, just the school run. No smart clothes, just cleanish ones. No more campaigns to plan, just playground politics. It’s way too easy to look at my life and wonder where I went wrong.

Why I sacrificed my dreams for a better world to simply parent. © Thinkstock | SvetlanaFedoseeva

Not every parent makes the same choices as me. Many of you will have been able to return to work in the same

or similar capacity. Yet I know that when I talk to my friends (those who do and don’t work) and look at conversations on twitter or articles in various publications, there is a sense that, to some extent, we feel our world changing lives have been put on hold while we parent.

this parenting malarkey is in fact world changing Yet watching my fellow parent friends, and simply looking at the increasing number of little lives I’m surrounded by, it becomes increasingly clear that this parenting malarkey is in fact world changing. A better thinker than I, Gandhi no less, said, “If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children.”

This isn’t just about taking your kids along to protests (easier before you’re outnumbered and they get fast), helping them be ethical consumers (because they become consumers oh so quickly) or filling Christmas shoeboxes

with them (though a great way of helping them think of otherness in the midst of so much stuff). That’s all well and good, but the very act of loving our children, letting them see us love others, showing them our world, talking with them respectfully, encouraging questions, giving them freedom to play and learn, could be enough to change the world all by itself.

JOANNA TAYLOR

I went to my hairdresser of 12 years for a cut and colour the other day. We started discussing how things had changed since he first brought life and loveliness to my hair (too much? He is fab, get in touch if you want his number).

Back then I was a young newlywed, studying theology completely committed to giving every waking hour to changing the world. My work, the busyness and pressure of trying to end world poverty, gain equality for women and seek justice for the marginalized meant our conversations were interspersed with a few yawns but I was passionate, driven, motivated and making a difference.

women in the news

Changingonethe world sleepless night at a time

As I sit here exhausted, with my sleeves rolled up to hide yesterday’s soup stain and rice crispies covering the floor around me it’s so easy to want for more, to feel like I’m not doing enough. But I am. For me, and maybe you right now, we are doing the best we can for the world we have.

Don’t believe me? How about Mother Theresa? A man once asked her; “You’ve done so much to make the world a better place, what can we do?”

He clearly wanted to assist her work. She smiled and said simply “Love your children.” The questioner seemed perplexed and was about to speak again when Mother Theresa raised her hand. “There are other things you can do,” She said, “But that is the best. Love your children as much as you can.

Love your children. That is the best.”

Who am I to argue?

Spring 2014

7

LIBERTI

Tesco Direct Potting Table: £25 Wood & Stainless Steel Digging Spade: £15 Dobbies Digging Fork: £15 Dobbies Transplanter Trowel: £4 Dobbies Hand Fork: £4 Hose & Reel set: £15 Cream Compost Bin: £7.

Stripe Kneeler: £3 Floral Ladies Gloves: £2 Garden Sign: £8 All items are available from: Tesco SS14 Homes & Outdoor Living www.tesco.com

culture

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Bow Hammock

The contemporary design will complement any garden or patio and the ample canvas will provide the perfect place to take an afternoon nap.

From: Living It Up www.livingitup.co.uk

£17.95

Rainbow Glow String Lights - 5m

The super bright LED’s work great as a feature light scrunched together suitable for inside or outside the house. From: REDS | www.red5.co.uk

LIBERTI

culture

Inside Out Whether you have a small courtyard or a large garden, now is the time to make the most of outside, and to bring some of the summer back inside.

£16.95

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Thoughtful Gardener Flask

Fire Bowl

Cast iron, heavy duty fire bowl with removable tripod stand.

Size: 60cm x 35cm (Ø x h) From: The Great Gift Company www.thegreatgiftcompany.com

£59.95

Personalised Raised Planter Crate A great design feature for any size garden or patio.

From: Plantabox www.plantabox.co.uk

Fabulous gift for a garden enthusiast!

Flask holds 500ml.

From: Urban Cuckoo urbancuckoo.co.uk

£19.99

Crate of Mini Twine

This wooden crate of 23 mini twine spools makes a unique and desirable gift for any budding gardener!

From: The Oak Room | www.oakroomshop.co.uk

Spring 2014

9

WHEREVER GOLF TAKES YOU, YOU’LL HAVE THAT EXTRA EDGE. GET SERIOUS.

With the high-tech functionality of

www.galvingreen.com

{app} alert

by SUE RINALDI

Let’s get organised

LIBERTI

culture

Being stuck on level 142 of Candy Crush for a second month gets you thinking... maybe there are better things to do on your tablet, phablet or smartphone! As we shed tears over the demise of pen and paper, pull up a chair and let’s explore the app-desk of productivity...

Evernote

Dropbox

Todoist

75 million registered users can’t be wrong about the beauty of Evernote, allowing you to take notes, capture photos, record audio, sync across devices and easily organise by notebooks and tags. With plenty of sharing options and a paid Premium feature unlocking more goodies, it’s best to jump right into the ocean and swim around.

A perfect ‘drop off, drop in and share around’ solution for documents, photos, videos and music. Drop in a file and access from any dropbox-dressed device or even choose to share a folder with friends or colleagues. Files are secure and the basic 2GB package is free with payable upgrades.

Definitely the type of cloud I enjoy...

This ‘to-do list and task managing’ app is a bit like the Tardis… open the door and you will be amazed at the huge array of features inside. The free service is a clean looking to-do list and task manager, able to sync across devices and set priority level and dates, but the paid upgrade provides an outstanding digital assistant!

Released free for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry and Mac and Windows Computers.

Released free for Android, iOS, Blackberry and Kindle Fire.

    

And as a reward for being so productive… batter yourself with fish n chips…

Released free for most devices and web browsers.

Dragon Dictation Now it’s possible to eat lunch and type an email simultaneously! Speak into this easy-to-use voice dictation app and instantly see your text content appear.

Copy notes to the clipboard, post updates to Facebook or Twitter, or send a quick SMS. Apparently it’s 5 times faster than typing, so get talking!

Released free for iOS

Google Drive This alternative to Dropbox lets you create, share and keep files in one place and access them from anywhere. By installing Google Drive on multiple devices, you enjoy the cloud-storage wonder of intuitive synchronicity. The first 15GB is free but that includes Gmail and pictures stored on Google+.

Released free for Android and iOS and Windows and Mac desktops.

iFish4Chips Search for quality fish and chip shops in the UK, find map locations, parking details, nutrition and special dietary requirements and add your own favourite and share with others. Database fairly low right now but growing…

Released free for iPhone and Android

Spring 2014

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Wearable Tech

{gadgets}

SUE RINALDI

CHECK OUT:

I remember my early ‘firsts’ so well…Kodak Brownie, cassette player, Trimphone, calculator, Walkman, Nintendo Game Boy (no Girl model!)

Many more gadgets have come and gone, but I’m still wideeyed in wonder at the incredible pace of change, design and possibility. Looking into 2014, what new tech is making Scifi so ordinary and fantasy so real?

The floodgates have opened, and tidal waves of wearable tech transforming everyday items like rings, watches, glasses and even hairpieces are rolling in. Kickstarter funded NFC Ring can unlock mobiles and NFC (Near Field Communication) enabled door locks, share and transfer information. Looks like we really are on the 2nd stage of the tech-evolutionary line of use, wear, become!

Lumus DK-40 Eyewear

Expect plenty of competition in the smart glasses department.

Lumus’ DK-40 Android powered eyewear is stylish, looks like Google Glass but functions differently. Instead of notifications on your peripheral vision, the entire right lens is a see-through display screen. There is a motion sensor and 5MP camera. Early days but looking spectacularly good!

into the future...

Curvy Phones

Curves are in! The LG G Flex is a forerunner and curves from top to tail and Samsung’s Galaxy Round joins the race by turning in from the edges. Significant steps toward bendy displays and bendy bodies that will fold to fit pockets or adapt to facial contours. You’ll soon be reminiscing over flat screens!

4K

12

Spring 2014

HD is old age now that 4K has arrived!

More than four times the resolution of standard high definition, your 4K TV screen will light up the room with cosmic colour, radiant brightness and pin-sharp image. Although 4K content is limited at present, investment is increasing. Smartphones and tablets will also see the dawn of 4K.

I’ve been tracking my steps, distance, calories burned, stairs climbed and sleep patterns for two months and find this activity monitor addictive. Easy set-up, small and discreet, syncs with your computer or smartphone to a dashboard where you set goals, alarms and study progress. Log food, weight and more for a deeper experience. Measuring sleep quality has been revealing, aiming for 5 miles a day beneficial; my only negative is the way it mistakes driving for steps, so remove from pocket otherwise your step-data is inflated. Enlightening!

Available at Amazon £59.96. Info and details at www.fitbit.com

CHECK OUT:

SUE RINALDI

FITBIT ONE

{gadgets} GARMIN HUD

The future of sat-nav…navigation information projected onto your windscreen! The unit clings to your dashboard and beams journey details onto a transparent film or attached reflector lens from smartphone tailored apps available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone over Bluetooth. Turn commands, lane assist, current speed, ETA, speed camera and traffic alerts are communicated with automatic light adjustment for vision clarity. Very Star Wars!

Available at www.garmin.com £129.99. Navigation apps extra

Spring 2014

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CHECK OUT:

If you miss exercising those writing muscles, try this elegant smartpen that works and writes like a premium ballpoint. An infrared camera, processor, Bluetooth chipset, flash memory and lithium ion battery all work together to bring your notes to life on your paired tablet or smartphone.

Use with Livescribe Dot Paper.

Available at Amazon £112.00

{gadgets}

LIVESCRIBE 3 SMART PEN

connect with us

Jess Cook

Presents the UCB request hour

3-4pm Every weekday.

on DAB, UCB.CO.UK and iPhone app

Company Registered in England 2182533 Registered Charity 299128 Registered Office: Stoke on Trent ST4 8RY

lady doth protest too much?

I was always going to be a weeper. The minute anyone stands up for a cause my tear ducts open. I’ve been known to single-handedly reverse hosepipe bans whilst watching the six o’clock news.

I can, as usual, blame this on my mother. Although the street where I grew up is a million miles away from the affluent Cherry Tree Lane of the Banks family, the children’s passionately campaigning parent strikes a chord. Protest concerts, demonstrations, marches and the Bobs (Dylan and Marley) were the lifeblood of my childhood. There was even a poster of Che Guevara on the toilet wall in case I decided to undertake a little capitalist dreaming while having a wee in the months leading up to my birthday.

Before I hit nine, I’d Banned the Bomb, Saved the Whales, Rocked against Racism, Greenpeaced and told Margaret to stand down more times than I remember. I knew catwalk models wore coats made from baby seals; that the government had a bunker where they could hide in the event of an enemy

I’ve been known to single-handedly reverse hosepipe bans whilst watching the six o’clock news attack; and that I – living in London – would be incinerated immediately if the bomb fell so I needn’t worry that atomic radiation would fry my skin.

I was unhappy for the whales and the sad-eyed seal pups, but it was the bunker that really got my eight year old goat. Why should the ones who cause all the trouble get the safe place to hide? It just wasn’t fair! That bunker had me wearing my CND badge with pride and loudly voicing my newly formed notions of justice.

Recently, protest has made a return. There’s been the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, the Arctic 30 and

anti-austerity demonstrations and while it’s easy to look at current protest movements and reject them as misguided or extreme, to focus on fringe violence or controversial actions, hindsight has a way of revealing the truth.

greenmum

We’re five minutes into Mary Poppins and, much to the amusement of my kids, I’m crying already.

Katie Nanna’s storming out the door; Ellen and Cook are catching ornaments; and Mrs Banks is marching round the hallway, heroic and radiant, singing ‘Well done Sister Suffragette’. I resort to surreptitious eye-dabbing and furtive snooking back of snot.

EMMA GREENWOOD

greenmum:The

In 1964, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment for what amounts, pretty much, to terrorism. Nearly three decades later, he walked to freedom, picking up the Nobel Peace Prize on his way. At his funeral, a few months ago, the whole world hailed him a hero. @emmajgreenwood

Emma Greenwood is the Green Columnist and Fashion Editor at Liberti magazine. She joined Greenpeace protests aged 8 and has been wearing pre-loved vintage chic since she was 14. She eats the end of the cucumber, boycotts slave-chocolate and restricts meat to weekends. When she’s not writing for Liberti, she writes fiction for young adults and has mentorships with two publishing houses. Emma is married to comedy guy Mark Greenwood and has two young crazy-girl children.

Spring 2014

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Imagine the world

W I T H O U T. . .

greenmum

EMMA GREENWOOD

1. Rosa Parks In 1955, Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a seminal event in the US Civil Rights Movement, by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. She said she was ‘tired of giving in’.

2. Emmeline Pankhurst The controversial actions of Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragette Movement in the early 1900s make for challenging reading. Nevertheless, they raised the campaign for women’s votes high up the political agenda.

3. Nelson Mandela Imprisoned for 27 years, Nelson Mandela was one of the key figures involved in vocal and active protest that helped bring down the anti-apartheid regime in South Africa.

4. Mohandas Ghandi In 1930, Mohandas Ghandi led a procession of 80,000 marchers 240 miles to collect salt from the sea in defiance of unfair British salt laws. This now-legendary protest was a significant step towards achieving Indian independence.

5. Alexanderplatz One million protestors rallied at the Alexanderplatz in East Berlin on 4th November 1989. Five days later the East German government opened its borders with West Germany and the Berlin Wall fell.

16

Spring 2014

© text to go here

Each of us can come up with a hundred excuses for not visiting the gym or putting on our trainers and going out for a run sometimes we just don’t think we’re cut out for it. We picture ‘other’ people doing it - people who don’t look like us. Truth is, exercise is for everyone but here are some reasons to get you going:

Exercise pumps blood to our skin, brightening it and encouraging it to deal with any breakouts and dry patches quickly and easily. Sweating also helps to unclog pores reducing the risk of breakouts. Just make sure that you shower afterwards!

Less Period Pain Exercise ensures that the delivery of blood around our body is more effective and eases the tension in our muscles therefore alleviating cramps. It may be the last thing that you feel like doing when you’re facing that time of the month but gentle exercise does help on a short term basis and a regular exercise pattern makes a difference on a longer term basis too; it makes our body more effective in dealing with pain.

fitness

IS FOR GIRLS

Glowing skin

GAYNOR BURTON

EXERCISE

Time Saver So we’re great at multi-tasking anyway right?

So why not utilise your exercise sessions that you do alone to get other things done? If you’re walking take a notepad and write to do lists or shopping lists or just dream and plan and make notes as they come. If you’re running listen to the latest podcast or audio book you’ve been meaning to read.

You can also catch up on jobs by doing a walking tour of your own town or village. Tick off the to-do list and get some exercise at the same time.

Social Life Lifter Sweating with people whether you know them or not is a sure fire way to break down barriers and build close relationships. Don’t be shy about suggesting a date with your girlfriend as a walk or an exercise class instead of a coffee. Why not try out that new bowling alley/ski slope/ice rink/ cycle route/dance class together?

© iStock | Maridav

Gaynor Burton is the founder of Fitfish, a Christian fitness organisation that helps people find a balance between the physical, spiritual and emotional. Retreats, recipes and the organisation’s popular ‘Your Plate of Plenty’ personalised eating plan are all things that Gaynor is massively passionate about. She loves seeing lives changed! Follow Fitfish on Twitter: @FitfishTweets.

Spring 2014

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tians Motivating Chris to be fit for God The Christian Fitness Company Fitfish is a unique and exciting initiative inspiring, motivating and enabling Christians to be physically, spiritually and emotionally fit for God.

ROYAL BATH & WEST SHOWGROUND, SHEPTON MALLET, SOMERSET

WEEK 1 Saturday 26 July – Friday 1 August

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Christy Wimber, William P. Young, John & Debby Wright, Ken Costa, Steve & Charlotte Gambill, Arianna Walker, Karl Martin, Robby Dawkins and Danielle Strickland.

See website for further details including prices, children’s groups, teams information and more.

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LocalFit Find Christians in your area who offer exercise classes, nutrition, personal training, coaching, counselling, massage, therapy and ministry..

The Fitfish team is made up of: REPs Advanced personal trainers and Nutritional advisers. International coach federation life coaches.

Chartered and clinical psychologists. CWR and NHS Counsellors.

National and international ministry leaders.

See www.fit-fish.co.uk for more details and to book

L I GH

Addition:

EN TENED EYES If like me you need to wear something to correct your vision, you know how interesting a visit to the optician can be. A variety of lenses are slotted into a functional and exceedingly unbecoming metal frame, both clear and coloured, to see which will facilitate the best vision.

We all wear lenses that shape our interpretation of life. Sometimes they need adjusting, or cleaning or changing altogether, the trouble is we don’t realise it because we often lack awareness. Our opinions, our world view, our prejudices are often deeply ingrained through our upbringing, our culture and a mixture of acceptance and ignorance.

Let me give you 3 simple ways to recalibrate our own perspective:

Take something away. In the heart-warming film ‘It’s a wonderful life’, George Bailey is granted a glimpse of what his family, friends and town would have been like, had he not been born. It gave him a unique insight into the significance his, seemingly insignificant, life had. Imagining our life without the people and the things that really matter saves us from taking for granted what we already have and instead makes us grateful.

lifecoach

Subtraction:

HEIKE PRENTICE

Lifecoach:

Add something. Some situations seem impossible to solve. Imagine ‘adding’ something to the mix, another person, a gift, a kind word or an invitation. God changed everything by becoming man, in Jesus. At the last supper, surrounded by friends who would shortly either betray or desert him, Jesus gave us the Last Supper, the ultimate meal of reconciliation. What could you add to the mix, to change the situation?

X & Y: Vary something. Algebra allows us to substitute numbers with letters in order to allow for variables. Ask yourself if your thoughts, feelings or actions would be same if you changed some details in any given situation. Last year at a large church leader gathering in London around eight short speeches were given by those who were prominent and involved in organising the event. All the speakers were male, and I didn’t even notice. However, I am sure I would have noticed, and maybe even found it strange if all the speakers had been women. So I regularly ask myself these questions: would I think, feel or act differently if the other person were a man, a woman, richer, poorer, of a different race or age?

© Thinkstock | Nastco

Heike Prentice is a direction and leadership development coach and currently exploring ordination in the Church of England. She likes to think through new ideas, concepts and strategies and believes it’s important to have a laugh!

Contact Heike: coaching@heikeprentice.com

Spring 2014

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COM100550

A N X IOU S

for He av e n

by KATE CAUSEY

Across the world, a Congolese mother ties her baby on her back and steadies a heavy water jug upon her head. She walks alongside her young daughter, dreading the day she will have to discuss with her the realities of when, not if, she gets raped or abused. A 20 year conflict ravages the country of the Democratic Republic of Congo and violence against women is a common weapon of war. A mother, longing to protect her child, wonders if rescue will ever come and her heart groans, anxious for heaven.

In A.D. 33, a Jewish mother watches in agony as her child suffers immeasurable pain. The baby formed in her womb now carries His cross to the place called Golgotha. Mary’s anguish overwhelms her as she watches her son die, unable to take away the pain. She longs for reunion with her son and her heart groans, anxious for heaven.

Because of the sacrifice made by this son, mothers around the world can know hope – in the middle of Calcutta, in the middle of the Congo, there is hope. We are called to be a

conduit of that hope so mothers like the ones pictured here can feed their children and learn about the Son who rose from the dead and embodies our hope.

LIBERTI faith

In India, a mother kisses her daughter and sends her out the front door.

Will she return safely?

India still weeps over women gang-raped on public transport buses. Young girls are kidnapped and sold into sex slavery and poverty – the poverty that makes this woman wonder how she will be able to feed her children this evening. A mother’s empty stomach growls and her heart groans, anxious for heaven.

Christians around the world are doing this through Compassion’s child sponsorship programme. One of the mothers who has known this transformation is Ganga Lama who lives in North Bengal, East India.

“My daughter Trisha is 7 years old. Because she is enrolled at the Compassion project, I got the opportunity to go through a six-month free tailoring course,” says Ganga, smiling.

Now she runs a small tailoring business from home, earning 250 Indian rupees every day. She has bought three pigs and two goats, and has even started giving tailoring lessons to a few women in her community, passing on the hope to others. Having struggled for years to educate her daughter and put food on the table, Ganga is now being helped to be the mother she always wanted to be.

Compassion is an international Christian child development and child advocacy ministry.

Partnering with local churches, we are committed to the spiritual, economic, social and physical development of children living in extreme poverty in 26 countries, enabling them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

To sponsor a child with Compassion, visit www.compassionuk.org or call 01932 836490.

Spring 2014

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The art of saying leadership

WENDY BEECH-WARD

yes

In life, sometimes you hear somebody say something and it resonates so deeply that it changes your perspective on everything. I had that experience when I was 11 years old; it changed everything.

I was a naturally curious child. I was always exploring, trying to find out how things worked and continuously asking questions.

When I was at nursery and we had our afternoon naps, I’d sleep for 15 minutes and then start waking all the other kids up so we could play again. My nursery teachers eventually made me sleep in the staffroom so I couldn’t wake the other children. It was heaven; I got to ‘earwig’ on all their conversations.

When I was growing up we had a family friend who was a selfmade multi-millionaire. I found him fascinating and always had a list of questions for him. Mum didn’t think that this successful man would be interested in the questions of an 11-year-old, so she often tried to limit my time

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Spring 2014

with him. I, however, would try anything to get to talk to him.

Women seemed to see the hundred reasons why they couldn’t or shouldn’t One day we all went for a walk and I decided that this was my opportunity. He was very rich; I was 11 and not rich so I, logically, decided that asking him how he became rich might help me to follow in his footsteps. My mum clearly thought this ‘So Wally, how

His response? He told her off!

It was a sweet moment for me I can tell you. He went on to give me some of the best advice I’ve ever received. He said, “Wendy, if you want to know the answer, ask the question.” and - more importantly - “If you want to be on the team, say ‘yes’ when they ask you to join.’

say yes and then find out more This simple and yet profound advice has stayed with me since then. His advice gave me the courage to ask questions and get involved in things I wouldn’t otherwise have dared to. The approach had worked for him so I figured it might work for me. This incredibly successful man had given me permission to take risks and to not fear failure.

What it means for us.

© iStock | Sergey Nivens

A recent survey found that successful CEOs were ‘more likely to say yes than to say no.’

This seems obvious, doesn’t it?

If you want to make something happen - anything happen you have to say ‘yes’, because saying yes opens a door for

you in a way saying no never will.

In my last job, part of my role was to invite people to speak at a conference. It was a privilege to do. Most people’s response was, ‘Yes of course, I’d love to do that.’ Pretty much the only people who ever said, ‘No thanks, I don’t think I can do that’ were women. Women seemed to see the hundred reasons why they couldn’t or shouldn’t take the opportunity while men seemed to see all the reasons they could and should.

One day I had to call someone I was just getting to know to ask them to speak. ‘Hi Rachel.

I‘m just calling to ask you to...’ before I’d finished my sentence, she said, ‘Yes, I’ll do it.’ I pointed out that she didn’t know what I was actually asking her to do but she replied, ‘whatever you’re going to ask me to do, I’m going to say yes to it.’

Rachel’s reply was, and is, unique. Her view is that women often say no and rule themselves out before they even know what they are being asked. So her approach is to say yes and then find out more. And if the opportunity isn’t right for her, she’ll find someone who can do it better than she can.

In very different spheres Wally and Rachel and their

say yes approach have made a significant impact. Wally’s company started with one lorry on a farm in East Anglia; it is now one of the largest haulage companies in the UK, employing thousands of people. Rachel started her career as youth worker on a Youth for Christ bus in East Anglia; she is now the National Mission and Evangelism Adviser for the Church of England.

leadership

come you’re so rich?’ approach incredibly rude and told me to be quiet and stop asking questions.

WENDY BEECH-WARD

This incredibly successful man had given me permission to take risks and to not fear failure.

It’s amazing where saying yes can lead you. So ask yourself; are you a yes person or a no person? Do you count yourself in or rule yourself out? Do you open the door or close it on yourself?

Wally and Rachel didn’t know where they’d end up when they started out. The same is true for you and I, but remember, if you say no you’ll probably never find out; you’ll just end up where you started - behind the door rather than through it.

So give it a go; say Yes. What have you got to lose?

Wendy Beech-Ward is the Events and Ambassadors Director at Compassion. She is passionate about justice, equality, leadership, friendship and seeing people fulfil their God given potential. Wendy is privileged to serve on the EA Council, the fusion council and YFC council. She’s often seen wearing Converse trainers. For more info on Malala visit www.malalafund.org @wendybeechward

Spring 2014

23

LIBERTI women

EQUALS

by JENNY BAKER

Š iStock | Ralf Kalytta

One hundred years ago, Emily Davison fought hard for women to have the right to vote. She was jailed and force-fed several times and eventually died from injuries gained when she stepped in front of King George V’s horse at the Epsom Derby with the hope of bringing more attention to the cause.

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25

E

mily and her fellow campaigners saw winning the vote as a vital step for women in gaining equality with men. I wonder what kind of society they imagined as they looked into the future, and what they would think of the way we live now.

LIBERTI women

Because even though men and women have the same rights under law, we still experience significant inequalities in different areas of life.

Nearly 100 years after the first woman took her seat in parliament, just over one fifth of our MPs are women. A recent survey of contributors to serious public debate through newspapers, radio and TV found that again just over a fifth of them were women. Women are in the minority in business leadership, and the recession has hit women the hardest with more of them losing their jobs as a result of cuts. Women still earn less than men over 40 years after the Equal Pay Act, with those working full-time earning 85p for every £1 earned by a man.

And it’s not just women who are disadvantaged through inequality. Men are significantly more likely to die from cancer than women, and three-quarters of those who commit suicide are male. Men make up ninety-five per cent of the prison population. Girls are out-performing boys at every level of the education system and more of them go on to higher education. There are considerably more women than men in the congregations of our churches, although the majority of church leaders are men.

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Spring 2014

equality is not a call for men and women to be identical And yet when I read the bible, I see a completely different vision of how things could be. God created both men and women in his image and together gave them the task of exploring and developing the world he had made as equal partners. That harmony and cooperation was disrupted when people disobeyed God, and conflict and competition entered the scene.

But God always had the intention of redeeming everything that was spoilt by sin, including the distorted dynamics between women and men.

Jesus related to women in a radically different way to the culture around him, treating them with respect, welcoming them into his wider community of disciples, taking time to teach them and allowing them to bear witness to his resurrection.

He modelled a profoundly different form of servant leadership that didn’t lord it over others or depend on hierarchy. The early church wrestled with how to enable these restored relationships between men and women to flourish, and women took their place alongside men as leaders and teachers in the community.

As followers of Jesus we are called to work out the redemption he offers in every area of life, allowing his spirit to transform our brokenness, demonstrating the wisdom of walking in God’s ways and modelling something profoundly different to the damaged relationships between men and women in the rest of the world.

© iStock | claire norman

These inequalities are damaging the quality of people’s lives, harming relationships between men and women, limiting the effectiveness of

businesses and institutions and restricting the freedom our children have to reach their full potential.

But it seems to me that equality is easily misunderstood and can be a slippery concept to grasp. For a start, are men and women really equal? We’re clearly different in lots of ways.

And aren’t the differences between men and women a good thing? Wouldn’t it be dull if we were all exactly the same? If women were really equal to men, wouldn’t there be as many of them leading businesses, taking part in government and writing opinion pieces by now? Maybe the fact that they’re still in the minority proves that actually they’re just not cut out for it. It’s important to explore what equality is, and what it isn’t, what it means to say that women and men are equal and what stops that equality being experienced in every area of life.

Equality is about treating people fairly without prejudice or assumptions What do we mean by equality?

Equality is the belief that all people have the same value, regardless of any other defining characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, or age. A society that values equality will work to eliminate discrimination, disadvantage and barriers to opportunities so that everyone can reach their full potential.

Equality is about treating people fairly without prejudice or assumptions. Equality, particularly when we’re talking about women and men, is

about being free to choose the direction your life takes and having the encouragement and opportunities to live out that choice, rather than being constrained by stereotypes or cultural convention. It’s about everyone being able to flourish.

True equality allows difference to flourish LIBERTI women

I’ve also seen the liberating impact of women and men who value equality and are proactive about dismantling the barriers that stand in its way – the churches that take time to nurture all the gifts that both men and women have to offer; the parents who make it a priority to share work and the care of children so that both can pursue their calling; the households where everyone does their fair share of the domestic work; the workplaces that root out sexism and aim to open up opportunities to everyone. Equality is not just a nice concept or an interesting idea; it’s foundational to true human flourishing, allowing people to experience life in all its fullness and pass that on to others.

To say that men and women are equal is to affirm that we are equally human and made in the image of God. We are of equal value and intelligence and should enjoy the same rights and responsibilities in our world. Women and men are equal in potential, with the same ability to lead, create, innovate, achieve and be agents of change.

At the same time, equality is not a call for men and women to be identical, but it is a call to think carefully about what any differences between women and men might mean. Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood and an advocate for equality in the US, says ‘I believe there are differences between men and women. Some are (clearly) biological, others are (possibly) biological and still others are socially conditioned… I do not believe those differences to be universal, prescriptive or indicative of hierarchy.’ In other words, any differences that there might be between women and men don’t apply to everyone, they don’t tell you what people ought to be like, and they don’t prove that one sex is superior in any way to the other.

True equality values and encourages difference but doesn’t legislate for how it is expressed.

It values the rich diversity of women and men and the different interests, gifts, personalities, talents and circumstances that they contribute to their families, communities, churches and workplaces without limiting who can do what.

It recognises that there can be more difference between two women who have had very different life experiences than there might be between a woman and a man who have been brought up in similar ways. True equality allows difference to flourish and doesn’t squash individuality by saying someone can’t be like they are because of their sex.

Spring 2014

27

So how can we create families, workplaces, churches and communities that value equality and enable people to flourish? My book, Equals, looks at this in detail, and explores how we can practice equality at home, at work, at church, in relationships and while we’re parenting. But here are a couple of things to start you on that journey.

Jesus related to women in a radically different way to the culture around him

LIBERTI women

Keep talking about what it’s like to be male or female It’s possible to say and think all the right things about the equality of men and women, but to act differently because patterns of behaviour and the influence of our background can be deeply ingrained.

We need to take time to reflect on the way we behave, and listen to the experiences of others to find out how being male or female affects the real-time activities of our lives. Let’s respond to the reality of who we are and what we are like, not the stereotypes of what men and women ought to be. We can allow space for diversity to emerge through listening to people’s different experiences, and by questioning and deconstructing the stereotypes that are often so limiting.

Be proactive about practicing equality in all areas of life.

Old habits die hard. If we want a more equal world, then we need to be intentional about doing things differently; things won’t just change. How we share things like housework at home or opportunities at church between women and men has an impact on the amount of free time we have, the role models we provide for others and our ability to use our gifts. What could you do differently to put equality into practice?

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Winter 2013

Jenny Baker has been an advocate and activist for the equality of men and women for many years. She is a host of the Gathering of Women Leaders in London and has an MSc in gender studies. She works for Church Urban Fund and is a marathon runner and keen cyclist. Her book Equals: enjoying gender equality in all areas of life is published by SPCK. www.jennybaker.org.uk

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LIBERTI feature

M

Mary J Blige

by FRANK GRICE

CHOOSING LIFE: Stepping away from the spotlight can be a struggle, even when it blinds its subject. But in Liberti’s UK exclusive with soul diva and born again Christian Mary J Blige, the singer and actress reveals how finding God was her first step towards finding peace and comfort in life.

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Winter 2013

Winter 2013

31 LIBERTI feature

LIBERTI feature

“I realised,” says Mary J Blige, “I wasn’t going to be around much longer if I kept going the way I was going.”

world, establishing herself as the ‘Queen of hip-hop soul’: but in reality, she was hurtling towards oblivion.

At the height of her drug addiction, the nine-time Grammy Award winner would spend days awake, hooked on cocaine and gin.

I decided to pray and to seek God on my own

Her struggles are well documented. She took drugs publically and she took them often. She was selling records – over 50 million of them – and charming the

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Spring 2014

When she talks, she talks candidly.

“I have nothing to hide,” she tells us. “I made some decisions

in my life that brought me towards the wrong direction but I rectified the negativity.

Now, I’m at a place in my life where I feel supremely happy and I’m very grateful and feel very blessed for that.”

In a nutshell, her life changed when she found Martin Kendu Isaacs, now her husband of 10 years, and when she rediscovered her love for God. She says that, for a long time, she had been praying to God to show her how to forgive herself.

“I didn’t want to go to rehab.

I believe that anything man himself can do for me, God can do for me in a greater way.

I decided to pray and to seek God on my own.”

MARY JANE BLIGE was born in 1971 in the Bronx, New York, before moving across the city to Yonkers. Her childhood was soundtracked by classic soul and jazz – the likes of Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Jean Carne made up her mother’s record collection and influenced Mary from a young age.

Blige didn’t, as she puts it, “have the best childhood” – music even then was her saviour: “No matter what was going on, that spirituality, that channelling of positive energy, that uplifting power. I was singing, so I was happy.

“I didn’t have the best time growing up, like so many people around the world, but it’s all about your experience and how you choose to use that to shape you as a person.”

Blige was sexually abused by a family friend from the age of five. Her mother, who suffers from alcoholism, was beaten by her father, a Vietnam war veteran, a sufferer of bloody flashbacks from the jungle, who spent much of life in and out of war veteran hospitals.

She dropped out of Roosevelt High School in the eleventh

Within a few years, Mary was recording her debut, What’s The 411? with Sean ‘Puffy Daddy’ Combs – now P Diddy – he was 22; she just 21. The album sold 3.4million copies and made her a bone fide star.

all I hear is imperfections. I’m constantly hearing bum notes and shaky movements Up and coming rapper Notorious BIG covered a track of hers, and she collaborated with Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah and on Jay-Z’s debut masterpiece Reasonable Doubt.

It was the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell-sampling All I Need to Get By with another Wu-Tang member, Method Man, that not only won her a Grammy, but basically wrote the blueprint for the ‘rapper and R&B singer’ format.

Even by the time of her fifth album, No More Drama, her collaborations with the hip-hop community continued, with Dr Dre producing the Number One single Family Affair in 2001. She helped invent the “sample-heavy sound that reinvigorated urban radio and became a blueprint for 1990

LIBERTI feature

grade before getting the biggest of breaks. She recorded a cover of Anita Baker’s Caught up in the Rapture, which – via her mother’s then boyfriend – ended up at Uptown Records.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

hip-hop and R&B,” as the New Yorker put it.

It’s a remarkable story of triumph against the odds, yet Mary J Blige – even to this day – is crippled by anxiety.

“I am really my worst critic,” she admits. “I listen to my songs, my voice, when I’m recording, when I’m singing in my home, in my shower and all I hear is imperfections. I’m constantly hearing bum notes and shaky movements and I just think, ‘Ooh, I need to work on this, I need to change that’, but I like that sense of constant improvement, you know?

“I’m my worst critic, but no longer to a point where I want to beat myself down. I want to fix what I see go wrong. I want to get better, be the best I can be. It used to bother me so much before.”

It was this anxiety, likely fuelled by her traumatic childhood, that led to her down the dark path of drugs. She nearly lost everything – but it was the deaths of a close friend and two of her heroes, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, both of whom struggled with addiction, that put things in to perspective.

In 2001, she met producer Kendu Isaacs, a devout Christian, who helped turn her life around. Not everything has been perfect – the pair have had tax troubles, but as she herself admits, he pulled her back from the brink. In another interview, she revealed: “I prayed to God to help me. He spoke to me and said you need someone who can deal

Spring 2014

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LIBERTI feature

honestly with who you are and challenge you. And, boy, did he send the right person.

“He sent me Kendu, and Kendu wasn’t afraid to challenge me or my environment.”

He opened her eyes to some of the more unsavoury characters who had latched on her – leeches as she now calls them – and told her she needed to get on the straight and narrow. The alternative was death.

She seems altogether in a better place now. Talking about it is therapeutic, helping her to put her troubles behind her.

For years she couldn’t touch drink – or even see it – she says without shaking: now she can enjoy a toast, but nothing more.

She returned in December with her festive A Mary Christmas album and a part in the film The Black Nativity. The film was poorly received, but Blige enjoyed the film’s spirituality where she played an angel.

“It’s a beautiful story”, she says, “a mother [played by Jennifer Hudson] is struggling to pay the rent and feed her child, whom she sends to live with his grandparents while she tries to get her life together. There are these magnificent musical, vocal moments and set pieces that are just mind-blowing. It’s a beautiful holiday movie.

“It’s been a real spiritual experience for me and not just the church part, which is what people do, but the actual life experiences where spirituality plays a big part. You know patience and love and coming together and forgiving each other, it’s been great for me.”

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Spring 2014

Her album featured everyone from Barbara Streisand to Jessie J. “I don’t just judge artists on their albums sales or how long they’ve been in the business, or you know, how many Tweets they have. I chose Jessie because she’s a strong vocalist, with a strong spirit and I thought the connection would be great. And I was right,” she says.

And Streisand? “An amazing experience, I’m speechless on that one. Barbara was one of my idols growing up!”

it’s all about your experience and how you choose to use that to shape you as a person.

It’s good to see her back and in good health, making music again and appearing on screen.

She has more plans to appear in film.

“Acting, even as a kid, was always in my heart. The transition is really, really cool actually even if I felt a bit out of my depth, if I’m honest. I’ve wanted to do it for so long but didn’t have the balls to just go for it. Either that, or couldn’t find the right script that wouldn’t make me look like an idiot trying to cross over like so many others have done already.

“It makes sense to go for more musical parts. It’s a nice cross between the two, between

acting and music. Too many singers, and actors for that matter, try to go from one extreme to the other, and as we’ve seen many times, it just doesn’t work.

She also nearly made an appearance on BBC’s The Voice – “I had several conversations and meetings because I was such a fan of the show, but ultimately, it came down to timing and scheduling and I had to say ‘no’. I would have loved to have done it.

“But I’ve talked to all the shows - X Factor, American Idol. I think everyone in the industry gets approached; I don’t necessarily feel special,” she says, putting herself down.

They did manage to recruit Blige as a mentor for Nicole Scherzinger for this year’s UK X Factor, where she mothered contestant Hannah Barrett.

“When the offer came through, I naturally said ‘yes’ - it made sense. And I remember Hannah; she just had this fire and energy and got so emotionally overwhelmed after her performance that I just had to stand up and embrace her afterwards. She’s someone very special. That girl has real talent, something within her. It’s rare,” she says.

But if you’re looking for women with raw, real talent – look no further than Mary J Blige. Her career, entering its 23rd year, has not been without drama or heartache, but the records will testify to her talent and her success.

“I’ve just been trying to do the best as I can as a vocalist,” she breathily explains, in a

“And in a sense it’s paying back the inspiration I’ve taken from the Lord. I think what faith and religion and belief is about is feeling a message within

yourself, yet having the courage and the generosity to pass that on.

“It would be very easy to take something and be grateful for it, but leave it at that. Yet if you

LIBERTI feature

detached, semi-emotionless manner. “I never laid out a blueprint for myself, never desired a legacy. But if some of my songs provide inspiration, then that makes me happy.

have the strength and compassion to share that love, you are ultimately doing the most generous thing possible, and that’s what inspires me now.”

Spring 2014

35

LIBERTI

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LIBERTI feature

QUIET

by SUE RINALDI

© Hemera | Fulya Bayraktaroglu

is the new

LOUD

A moderate extrovert’s response to the power of introverts…

Spring 2014

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LIBERTI feature

Extroverts are shouting about it from the rooftops, introverts are blogging about it and ambiverts are thrilled that their shape-shifting demeanor is being identified by such a magnificent word.

Susan Cain’s brilliant and perceptive book, ‘Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking’ is rocking the personality assessment world with all its grids, formulas and Jung-isms and injecting a fresh dose of identity oxygen into the clichéd and often airless behavioral boxes.

INTROVERT?

THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION At some point in our lives, most of us are asked whether we are extrovert or introvert. This question is akin to a doubleedged sword. It either opens the floor to those who relish the opportunity of describing their outgoing, multi-tasking, loquacious and risk-taking extroversion with a cultural nod and a wink to the many benefits of being so lavish and loud, or it whisks the carpet from under the feet of the not-so lavish and loud. For them, introversion has carried a cluster of social stigmas, including under-performing, shyness, compliance, inwardlooking tendencies and mildmannered conduct. If extroverts are deemed to be ‘make it happen’, ‘talk up a storm’ and ‘make the party go with a bang’ kind of peeps… why would anyone openly admit to being the mirror image of this?

Most of us have taken a personality test or two, or

attempted a few ‘How Well Do I Know Myself’ questions in a magazine while waiting for the take-away to be ready. It’s highly probable that next time you apply for a job, you will be given a personality test and, according to investigative journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, “You will be told that no one type is better than another and you should be spontaneous in answering the questions but in reality, they are not looking for introverts. Even if what you are doing is looking at figures all day. They want everyone in the environment to be perky and positive and upbeat at all times.”

ONE SIZE FITS ALL I must confess, I have dabbled….

I love questionnaires and analysis and especially when it’s about ME. (Smile.) Quite frankly, I am awash with letters and numbers describing me, explaining me, training me, excusing me, stylising my work patterns and

EXTROVERT?

© iStock | Brian Jackson

quiet friendly shy WHO LOUD mild mannered AM Livewire reserved I? sociable complianT

LIBERTI feature

they listen more than they talk, think before they speak and often feel they express themselves better in writing than in conversation advising me who to team up with. I am apparently an otter (and quietly glad I am not a beaver) and my taste for black coffee means I am a purist, often patient but with quiet and moody undertones. Perhaps it’s time to take up the Frappuccino, a drink preferred by socially bold trendsetters!

Myers Briggs, Strengths Finder, Bioenergetics, Galen’s Four Temperaments, DISC, The Birkman Method, Gary Smalley’s Animal Types are a few examples from an evergrowing list of personality tests, body psychotherapies and behaviour classifications. Does this cornucopia signal a new industrial revolution, quick to cash in on our fragile human ecology or supposed postmillennial narcissism or is it evidence of a healthy and holistic surge of self-improvement, mutual understanding and transformation?

© iStock | miflippo

Also, how reliable are the results and is it really possible to fit into a ‘type’ or ‘temperament’ when more often than not we feel more complex than straightforward and more fluid than fixed? Not to mention our seasonally-adjusted emotions and hormonal hijinks (oops the extrovert in me mentioned them)

and how our reactions and responses can differ according to context and circumstance.

risk taking and quick decision making is to be admired, even if they are the wrong decisions!

IDEALLY SPEAKING

Introversion however, is “now a second-class personality trait”, observes Cain, “somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology.”

A well-known word processing program provides alternatives for the term ‘extrovert’ - they include livewire, sociable, friendly, and gregarious. Alternatives for ‘introvert’ include reclusive, shy, withdrawn and self-absorbed.

Already I see a long line of contestants applying to take part in ‘I’m An Introvert, Get Me Out Of Here’, because there has been and still is (although light is dawning) so much more positivity towards extroverts!

High achievers, innovative, influential, the people’s choice for leadership…the labels attached to extroversion are largely upbeat and buoyant.

Susan Cain, once a corporate lawyer and negotiations consultant and now a successful writer, explains in her book ‘Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking’, “We live with a value system that I call the Extrovert Ideal – the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha and comfortable in the spotlight.” Cain identifies that in this extroverted ideal, action is preferred to contemplation and

INTROVERTS...

are drawn to the inner world of thought and feeling said Jung

EXTROVERTS...

are drawn to people and activities

INTROVERTS...

focus on the meaning they make of the events around them

EXTROVERTS...

plunge into the events themselves

INTROVERTS...

recharge their batteries by being alone

EXTROVERTS...

recharge by people and socialising

AMBIVERTS...

are a balance of extrovert and introvert qualities

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LIBERTI feature

MYTH BUSTING The brilliance of Cain’s book is her astute unfolding of some of the appalling myths surrounding introversion. She compassionately rebuilds a healthier and more enlightened picture of personality, challenging us along the way to shed our superficial, culturallyassembled baggage and reevaluate.

For example, Introverts may not be party animals, thriving smalltalkers or re-charged by large social gatherings. Instead, says Cain, they “prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak and often feel they express themselves better in writing than in conversation.”

I consider those to be extremely positive values and highly contemporary, given that our social media world is majorly influenced and populated by the written word. Blogs, Tweets, Facebook status updates and mobile texts seem the perfect domain for digitalised introverts!

Concerning the shyness myth, Cain suggests that introverts are not necessarily shy. She defines shyness as “the fear of social disapproval or public humiliation, while introversion is a preference for environments that are not over stimulating.” (Makes me wonder if happy hour was a ploy to disrupt an introvert’s peaceful post-work drink? Or whether IKEA’s floor plan was designed to reproduce an extrovert’s utopian dream?)

THE BIGGER PICTURE As Cain guides us through a few examples of the extrovert ideal - Harvard Business School,

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motivational speaker Tony Robbins and even an American evangelical megachurch – and as she considers whether or not school systems favour extroverts, she illustrates how much we have lost, individually and collectively, by undervaluing introversion.

From Rosa Parks, whose quiet strength roared like a lion on that Alabama bus in 1955 when she confronted racism; to Steven Wozniak, co-founder of Apple computer who preferred to work in solitude; and to Moses who was slow of speech and tongue but brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai using strengths “classically associated with introversion”, Cain reveals the power of the introvert. Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Ghandi, are just a few introverts who have shaped and influenced history, and Cain throws them out into our collective consciousness and awakens us to the potential of introverts.

A MESSAGE TO VERTS EVERYWHERE Putting famous names and history-making moments aside, the charm of this book is that even though Cain draws on research in psychology and neuroscience and provides excellent case studies to strip away some of the inaccurate stigmas and dogmas surrounding personality type, it really is about US. You and Me. Our intricate nature, our multilayered persona, designed by the divine and invented for purpose.

Living for all we are born for is more than discerning our ENTJ from our ISFP, and infinitely more than being a Golden Retriever or a Lion, sanguine or melancholic, dominant or steady. As helpful

as all that can be, and I sincerely believe it is, let’s not be bound by type or typecast others in a way that corrodes freedom or creates a personality-type caste system!

“Figure out what you are meant to contribute to the world and make sure you contribute it”, enthuses Cain.

Her ‘Quiet Quiz’, featured on www.the powerofintroverts.com rated me a moderate extrovert.

So as an extrovert I applaud this inspirational endeavor to change how introversion is seen and, indeed, how introverts see themselves. And wherever we fit on the personality scale, we each have immense strengths, vast potential and of course, several areas for improvement. Surely it’s about knowing ourselves, finding our centre, loving greatly, respecting others and realising that we are all works in progress.

VERTICALLY THINKING So, if we are all made in the image of God, extrovert and introvert, does that make God an ambivert? Just asking...

Written by Sue Rinaldi, worship leader, writer and creative trainer.

Inspired by Susan Cain’s book ‘Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking’.

All quotes by Susan Cain are from her book available at Amazon.co.uk Quote from Barbara Ehrenreich taken from BBC News Online.

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www.port.ac.uk

Constructing her own learning curve When Claire Cooper left school aged 17 she was sure of only one thing. She had no idea what job she wanted to do but she wanted to be really, really good at it.

Claire is a project surveyor at Harsco Infrastructure UK Ltd having risen through the ranks alongside gaining two degrees from the University of Portsmouth – one at foundation level and the other a Master’s.

A passion for construction and for seeing buildings rise from the ground has driven her since her first day working at Harsco, which is a global provider of construction and industrial maintenance services, nine years ago.

She said: I have always been fascinated by construction and engineering. Seeing the transitions of a project from a drawing on an A2 sheet of paper to an actual building site is very rewarding and I enjoy my part in that process.”

Claire graduated from the University of Portsmouth last summer with an MSc Project Management with distinction. She had studied parttime for three years while working full-time.

Before studying for her Master’s she had studied at Itchen College, in collaboration with University of Portsmouth, for a Foundation Degree in Business and Management, which also took three years part-time.

She said: “I have always been very enthusiastic about learning, but when I left school, I had little idea of what I wanted to do, except that I wanted to do well for myself.

For more information or to apply: T: +44 (0)23 9284 4888 E: mba.admissions@ port.ac.uk W: www.port.ac.uk/mba

studying and its benefits to my work so they offered to pay for me to study for my Master’s.”

Claire learned about different project management styles and best practice, and how to use project management tools and techniques.

Her employer could see the benefits almost immediately and she was promoted twice.

She said: “I love working in construction. I love seeing projects run from start to finish and projects are so much more than just bricks and mortar. This passion has definitely developed because of the combination of working and studying in this field.”

“As a result, I simply took up every opportunity and challenge that presented itself. If you do that then you’ll find something you enjoy doing.”

Claire self-funded her study for the Foundation Degree because she wanted a business-qualification and to widen her knowledge of operations, marketing and finance.

“Harsco saw my commitment to

Working hard, studying hard: Claire Cooper

LIBERTI feature

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first timer to full sail in forty eight hours

by EMMA GREENWOOD Photos EILEEN FLETCHER www.equinox.org.uk

It’s test day, I’ve just tacked solo, the wind’s smacking the sail like Mike Tyson in a winning round and I’m ripping up the water Bo Duke Hazard County styley. “Stand by to gybe,” yells Emily, my blonde-haired Oxford-accented instructor from an identical dinghy racing on the waves beside me. I grab the ropes, crouch in the centre of the boat, pull the tiller against the heavy weight of water and feel the stern start to turn; I’ve got to gybe to pass the test.

The wind catches the sail. I duck. The boom swings. The sails punches out. I straighten up, tighten the mainsheet and fist pump the air. YES! I’ve gybed solo and I’m sailing out across Aspat Bay on the sparkling blue Aegean. RYA, I am taking you DOWN! I’m just rehearsing my award speech when the sail rattles.

I glance up. The luff’s flapping. I’m supposed to... I’m supposed to... The wind snatches the boom, spins it 360, fires it at my head and SMACK! I’m overboard.

The boat tips on top of me and I’m under, drinking Turkish water like they’re gonna pull supplies.

APRIL

Bekah Legg (Liberti Ed) marches into the office with an alluring-looking holiday brochure in her hand demanding to know who sails. My heart drops and I start to wonder whether, like the law about eating hooves and walking backwards with your tongue sticking out on the 3rd day of the month, the 9th commandment can be relegated to the status of ceremonial and I can lie my non-nautical backside off and say I’m the love-child of Captain Nemo and Ellen MacArthur and spent my childhood on Wild Cat Island wearing a red bobble hat and calling myself Nancy Blackett.

Bekah throws the brochure on the desk in front of me. It’s all turquoise seas and cobalt skies.

“Can you sail?” she says.

“Oh... um...” I’m remembering that Sunday School talk where they said the Holy Spirit sits on your shoulder like a parakeet telling you what to do. “I... um... well... um... no.”

Bekah smiles. “Great. Take the assignment.”

I do have some experience with boats: I capsized a kayak in the rat-infested River Thames aged ten when I’d been specifically requested

not to; I snapped the rowlock off a rowing boat (I know! like how does that happen?) aged sixteen wearing a leopard print bikini, pretending to be Ursula Andress in Dawlish Bay; and I grounded a pedalo in a bevy of swans on the Serpentine in my first week of uni causing my new best friend Julie to get her perm wet and never speak to me again – but I’ve never actually done, like, proper boats.

LIBERTI feature

EAT PRAY SAIL

LIBERTI feature

LIBERTI ASSIGNMENT (should I choose to accept it – and I do, I most definitely DO): Royal Yachting Association Level 1 in 48 hours Location: Turkey Fellow Operatives: Richmond Holidays

JUNE

The transfer leaves the highway and winds through olive dotted mountains on oleander lined roads, past dusty melon trucks parked in dusty lay-bys tended by dusty old men wearing dusty black caps. I’ve got my nose pressed to the window and I’m scouring the horizon for a glimpse of the sea like the Famous Five at the start of their hols, and when I see it – The Aegean – in all its glinting turquoise glory, I can’t wait to get on it, in it, under sail. Forget

kayaks, rowboats and pedalpowered craft. Forget the murk of the Thames, the brine of Dawlish, the sludge of Hyde Park. This is it.

The ONLY thing. This is messing about in boats.

We arrive and the resort is a haven of relaxation: flagged pathways meander around eucalyptusshaded courtyards and sprinklers hiss over neat lawns that lead down to the beach. There’s a thatched bar and an open-sided restaurant, loungers arranged on the sand with salt-worn wooden

frames holding fat sun-bleached cushions. But ENOUGH! No relaxing! No lying around sipping iced tea from a condensationcovered glass. I’m on a mission.

Forty eight hours. RYA Level One. Frame yourself, Greenwood!

I unpack quickly and head for the pre-dinner meet on the deck by the pool. I’m expecting the obligatory notices, a few songs and a hurried sermon: a box to be ticked. Rob Baggaley, the Richmond pastor-teacher, however, has other ideas. He waits

LIBERTI feature

until we’re settled, then slips off his flip flops, picks up his guitar and starts a mellow acoustic set with bare feet and gravelly voice. Despite Rob’s infectious smile, I sigh quietly and check my watch – I’ve got sailing to do. But the music soothes me, a warm breeze stirs the tamarisk, the sparrow-like serçeler chatter in the rafters and I start to catch the vibe; I’m relaxing for the first time in months and ‘Majesty’ never sounded so good.

make acquaintance with those tempting sun loungers. Strangely though I’ve got this feeling I’m resting. Maybe it’s because, just for once, I’m focused on one thing: sailing. Maybe it’s because the Richmond staff have everything covered. I can sail and eat and sleep and pray and they do all the rest. There’s no worry about boat hire or itinerary or equipment (swans or rusty rowlocks) though there is a fair bit of capsizing.

After three songs Rob puts down his guitar. “God wants you to rest,” he says, and quite unexpectedly tears prick the back of my eyes.

My life jacket surfaces me and I bob in the sun-bright water blinking my eyes at the upturned boat. My sunglasses float a few metres away. “Alright?” Emily calls reining in her dinghy beside me.

I blow half the Aegean from my nose and nod. There’s a bump the size of Mount Aspat sprouting on my forehead but I clamber over the hull, yank the centreboard and

The next day I sail. All day.

And the day after. Each night I stay up until the early hours cramming theory. It’s full on.

No time to catch my breath or

right the boat. Emily checks her watch. “We’ve got 30 minutes.

Get back in. Go again.”

I pass the certificate, pull my boat up the beach and run round the neat-sprinklered lawns looking for people to hi-five. I baffle the gardener, bemuse the barman and bewilder the chef. Then I order an iced tea, grab my book and head straight down to the loungers.

(Ed: we don’t actually have a Liberti office but we allow Emma some poetic licence!)

Christian sailing and water sports holidays in Turkey and other overseas locations available from www.richmond-holidays.com starting at £441 for one week (flights not included).

Spring 2014

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Praying

through the pain My mood became worse and worse, and by the age of 16 I was diagnosed with Major Depression and severe Body Dysmorphic Disorder. I didn’t want to live.

I began overdosing, believing I had no purpose in life. I hated the way I looked and often struggled to leave the house.

By age 17, I dropped out of school, having spent so much time in hospital and not being able to cope with the stress that schoolwork brought. I was still alive but barely living.

I became a Christian not longer after this, and I immediately felt freer. I felt Jesus had healed me, but I was still struggling.

Eventually I heard about Mercy Ministries UK, a residential programme that works with girls who have life-controlling issues. I applied to go on the programme.

When I came to Mercy I was on four different medications. If I didn’t take the pill I would have horrible stomach pains at least three weeks out of four and I had even been hospitalized in the past because of it. I was also on the highest dose for anti-depressants; something I had been on for years.

During the last two months on the programme, I decided to pray when I was having a bad day. As I prayed, the pain went away and throughout the day whenever pain came, I used to pray. Now I’m hardly ever in pain and if I am, I just pray for it to leave and it does. I have gradually been reducing my anti-depressants, and as of two weeks ago, have stopped taking them completely.

LIBERTI faith

I grew up in a family that from the outside looked perfect yet it was in turmoil. I was bullied throughout school and at the age of 12 I began to self-harm and became addicted to it.

throughout the day whenever pain came, I used to pray Now, I work for my church’s charity, which supports people in need. We practically support them but also help to empower individuals and families to move forward with their lives.

When I look back on my time at Mercy, I realise that I learnt so much there practically, spiritually and emotionally. I am growing in faith and trusting God; I know now that I can trust God to provide for me.

Things are good now.

© iStock | DPhoto

Mercy Ministries UK is a national charity which provides a six-month residential discipleship programme for young women aged 18-28, who are suffering from life-controlling issues such as eating disorders, self-harm, depression, and the effects of abuse in all its forms.

The charity also works to help women around the UK find freedom and to walk in the fullness that God has for them through conferences, training and resources.

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LIBERTI faith

Skyfall

by ARIANNA WALKER

W 48

Spring 2014

Š iStock | Ewald Froech

hen it was my 40th birthday, I decided it was best celebrated doing something crazy; like a skydive. At 15,000 ft high, with a 60 second freefall of 130 mph it was, I calculated, just enough adrenaline to stop me feeling old.

You see, I have been married for 21 years and the only man I allow into my personal space is my husband. It hadn’t occurred to me (for some unknown reason) that being strapped to a highly trained professional meant that I would have a complete stranger tied to me. It wasn’t until the man introduced himself to me and showed me the harness we would share that I began to feel the butterflies of the awkward discomfort of close proximity.

However, during the training the instructor said something that changed everything for me. He said: ‘I do this all day every day. If you stay close to me, work with me and not against me and do exactly what I tell you to do, I will land you safely on the ground.’

It was in that moment that God showed me what the lesson was going to be; it wasn’t about fear, it was about control.

Why do so many of us insist on jumping out of the aeroplane of our lives alone and unaccompanied? Why do we put ourselves through the rigmarole of trying to remember the dos and don’ts, counting down the seconds until we hit the ground, hoping we do everything we are supposed to do to avoid serious injury or worse, death?

© Purestock, © Digital Vision, © Getty Images

God is an expert at living life: He wrote the manual! He will make sure we land safely, despite the obvious dangers.

When we hit free-fall in life - when the speed seems out of control and we can’t remember what we are supposed to do – then isn’t it worth pushing past our own personal discomfort to embrace intimacy with a God who has promised to land us safely?

There is such power in relinquishing our need to pull all the strings and trusting Him enough to listen to what He says;

to work with Him and not against Him. He is Emmanuel, God with us. But He is a gentleman and waits both for our permission and our compliance before He steps into our personal space.

Do exactly what I tell you to do, I will land you safely on the ground

LIBERTI faith

I had opted for the tandem skydive; the one where the risks are reduced by the fact that you are strapped to a highly trained professional. I arrived at the skydive centre and waited for the fear to set in, but it never came. It turned out that overcoming fear wasn’t going to be my lesson that day - it was something else entirely.

I will never forget those 60 seconds; that leap out of a plane into the clouds below. It took the breath out of my lungs, shook my body with the force of a tornado and sent my mind completely blank.

My initial awkwardness forgotten, I was so grateful for the man strapped close behind me whose strength I borrowed, who directed me with calm instruction and whose perspective showed me that we can see this either as falling or flying!

In the same way, when we feel we are in free-fall in our lives, we can reach to Him for the strength we don’t have, the patience we’ve run out of and the wisdom we’ve forgotten. We can allow Him into our personal space, allow Him to take charge and give Him the responsibility of landing our feet on solid ground.

Release yourself from the fear and the panic that can attack us when we face a seemingly impossible task - just let Christ take over!

Strap yourself to Him and you might find that what had the potential to kill you, turns out to be the most exhilarating experience of your life!

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MUSIC TO OUR

ears

The ‘Take That’ frontman’s insurance policy against career-theft from the next big thing has always been his ability to pen a good tune. After contributing towards the song catalogue for many other artists, he finally releases his own album fourteen years after his last solo outing.

SUE RINALDI

Stretching the imagination a little, Gary Barlow could be viewed as a musical version of Clark Kent… mild-mannered and dependable! Yet in the wink of an eye, transforms into a superhero, rescuing boyband dreams from the celeb landfill and possessing powers of cross-generational charisma and song-writing dexterity.

music to our ears

Since I saw you last - Gary Barlow

High charting ‘Let Me Go’ erupts into contagious folk, the brilliantly structured ‘God’ asks “ If you found God, would it be your secret”, and ‘Dying Inside’ unlocks a vulnerable element to the Barlow voice, possibly referring to the tragedy of his stillborn fourth child. This may not be kryptonite but it’s an enjoyable and well-crafted listen.

Glorious Ruins Hillsong Live Twenty-two albums to your name and still effective at writing and performing songs of faith that encircle the world is, quite frankly, astonishing and commendable. Their musical style may have expanded, personnel may have altered but a constant thread runs through every time-zone and title…a passion to pursue Christ and encourage others to do the same.

Recorded live in Sydney, Australia and London, air-thumping anthems ‘Christ Is Enough’ and ‘God Who Saves’ sit alongside less pacey, but hopefuelled; ‘Anchor’, ‘Glorious Ruins’ and the tender ‘To Be Like You’.

Hillsong’s musical canvas may be interpreted as formulaic but their persistent presence in album charts, playlists and congregations tells a different story - one of outstanding impact and influence.

I need you Seth and Nirva Uplifting, energetic and overflowing with the funkier side of soul, husband and wife duo Seth & Nirva will not disappoint. Touring for many years as background singers for artists including TobyMac and Chris Tomlin, they are now carving out their own recording path and deliver seven songs of great vocals and outright praise to their creator.

‘All Praise’ ventures unapologetically into electrodance territory, ‘Whole World’ explores a meeting point between pop and gospel; ‘Found A Love’ leans towards the reflective anthem, resonating with cries of ‘Hallelujah’, and a Hip-Hop remix of the title track confirms a very promising debut.

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AT THE

{cinema}

by SOPHIE LISTER

The Double

© Magnolia Pictures

SOPHIE LISTER

Richard Ayoade is best-known as socially inept Maurice Moss in Channel 4’s The IT Crowd. But the comic’s directorial debut Submarine (2010) was well-received, and now he’s followed it up with this surreal Dostoyevsky adaptation. Jesse Eisenberg is an office drone whose world is turned upside-down when he finds his own identical double working in the same building. A weird meditation on purpose and identity.

at the cinema

(4 April)

© Fox Searchlight Pictures

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Belle (13 June) Not much is known about Dido Elizabeth Belle, a young woman whose introduction into aristocratic society caused a stir in the 18th Century. The mixed-race illegitimate daughter of a Naval officer, she became the subject of a famous painting which has now inspired a film about her life.

Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is brought to England by her father (Matthew Goode), who wants her to be raised in privilege. But the Lord and Lady charged with caring for her (Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson) have many prejudices to overcome. As Belle finds her place in the world, she must fly in the face of social convention, changing hearts and minds along the way.

Sophie Lister is a writer with Damaris which provides free resources for Damaris Film Clubs as well as the Damaris Film Blog.

See damaris.org/filmclubs and damaris.org/filmblog

(22 May)

The X-Men franchise continues to roar along, with this latest instalment bringing together characters from all of the previous films. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back in time, where he must persuade disillusioned young Professor X (James McAvoy) to help him change history. Meanwhile, Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is intent on following a darker path. Expect mutants galore, portrayed by a blindingly starry cast which also includes Jennifer Lawrence, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. © 20th Century Fox

© Walt Disney Pictures

Maleficent (30 May) There’s been a trend in recent years for deconstructing villains. Stage show Wicked did it for the Wicked Witch of the West, and films from ParaNorman (2012) to How to

Train Your Dragon (2010) have been casting a new light on the traditional bad guys. Now, Angelina Jolie is Maleficent - villainess of Disney’s 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty – in a story which shows the origins of the ‘wicked fairy’.

Spring 2014

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CHINE MBUBAEGBU

Am I beautiful?

Was Jesus beautiful? © Getty Images | Jupiterimages

Picture Jesus. I’m guessing that, when you think about what he looked like, you think of the guy in Jesus Christ Superstar or The Greatest Story Ever Told. You’re probably thinking of an attractive man with luscious long locks, a beard trimmed to perfection and piercing blue eyes.

Oh and he’s definitely white.

Spring 2014

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CHINE MBUBAEGBU

Am I beautiful?

This guy is probably what the majority of us conjure up in our minds if we’re ever asked to picture our Saviour. Because that’s what an archetype of a hero might look like in our cultural context. The Jewish people would have been expecting their equivalent of a hero who looked the part when they thought about the Messiah that was to come.

But, in so many ways, the Jesus that came was not like the person that they had expected. Because Jesus was not beautiful. Not as the world expected him to be anyway.

If you think about it, Jesus probably would not have been cast in a movie to play himself.

He would not have been deemed pretty enough. Jesus was not George Clooney. He wasn’t Eric Bana or Brad Pitt or Robert Pattinson or any other of these beautiful male works of God’s creation. I know this because the Bible tells us so: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished

by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:2–4) I wonder whether I would give Jesus a second look if I saw him walking down the street.

I wonder whether he would be the type of person that would be invisible to me; or the type of person that I would avoid sitting next to on a bus.

The verses above tell us that

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at least during his crucifixion, people ‘hid their faces’ from him. Instead of being drawn towards him, he repelled people. Despised, rejected. We find it uncomfortable to believe that this passage is actually talking about Jesus’ physical beauty – or lack thereof. And that’s precisely because of the way we have been conditioned to believe that external beauty is equal to goodness.

And since Jesus was perfect, our minds tell us that he must have also looked perfect too.

That’s what artists throughout the centuries have depicted him as – beautiful. There is a beauty bias that exists in human societies in which people deemed more attractive do better in just about every area of life. In what has been described as the ‘beauty-asgood’ theory, we associate attractiveness with positive attributes. Attractive people earn more, they are assumed to be more friendly, they are less likely to be found guilty in court and are given more lenient sentences when they are.

we have been conditioned to believe that external beauty is equal to goodness.

Psychiatrist Dr Igor Elman has even suggested that prettier babies are more loved by their mothers. As humans, we associate beauty with goodness. And since Jesus was the ultimate example of ‘good’, our minds find it hard to believe that his appearance was not so good. But that in itself is beautiful. Because this man was our beautiful Saviour God. As fifteenth-century Nicholas of Cusa wrote: ‘O! Lord; and all beauty that can be conceived is less than the beauty of Your Face. All faces have beauty; but they are not beauty itself. But Your Face, O! Lord, has beauty, and this having is being. Hence, Your Face is Absolute Beauty.’

When we sing of Jesus’ beauty, we’re not talking about how great he looked.

Song lyrics speak of a beauty that can be found only in the majesty of the divine – the beauty that creates; the beauty that is light and power and sacrifice. Jesus’ beauty is beyond pretty. He, Beauty, is the one who gave his life that we might be totally free.

And this freedom includes a freedom from un-pretty thoughts – about ourselves, about our bodies and about other people. This God in his un-prettiness on this earth showed that it’s really not about the outward appearance.

It didn’t matter what he looked like. He was divine, inner beauty embodied.

In 2 Corinthians 4:6, we read that God, ‘made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ’.

Isaiah tells us that there was nothing special about him

When we talk about beauty as people of faith, we are really speaking about some ‘other’ beauty; beauty totally uncorrupted. Beauty itself.

It’s as if we are trying to peer through the outer layers into what it is that we are actually calling beautiful. Beauty, when it comes to God, means far more than beauty. That’s why Jesus could be unattractive in humankind’s eyes but yet at the same time be the most beautiful person that ever walked the face of this earth.

Was Jesus beautiful? No. Was Jesus Beauty? Yes. Walford writes in The Beauty of God: ‘A broken beauty can be a redemptive beauty, which acknowledges suffering while preserving hope . . . For the

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When we look in the mirror and those lies start to creep in about ugliness, we need to remember that, in that instance, we might not be beautiful. No, maybe we are not beautiful, not on the outside, not beautiful as the world might think. But do you know what we are? We are Beauty. We are Beauty because the one who created us and breathed his life into us is Beauty. So we have inside us an inner beauty. As I write these words, I hear how they must sound. It’s easy for me to type them and jump up and down inside and believe that I will never again think that I am not beautiful. I also know that it will take more than just reading a few words for it to sink in. But I pray that one day it will. I pray that one day we will all be free from the feeling that we are somehow inadequate or somehow not beautiful enough; free from thinking that it is outer beauty alone that matters.

I think there is a reason why Jesus was not beautiful. He could just as well have been a first-century pin-up if God wanted to reveal himself to us in that way. No one would have blamed him for casting a dreamy Jim Caviezel-type as Mel Gibson did in The Passion of the Christ. God was trying to draw people to Jesus, right?

He was trying to usher them into the Kingdom of God. And

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humans are drawn to attractive people.

We cry when beautiful people die: Diana, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean. We are outraged when blonde, blueeyed cute kids like Madeleine McCann are snatched from their parents. We feel more empathy because beautiful things shouldn’t suffer. But Jesus, the beautiful and unbeautiful, was like one from whom men turned their faces away, although he was God in human form.

CHINE MBUBAEGBU

Jesus probably would not have been cast in a movie to play himself

Christian artist the incarnation of Christ provides a basis to engage with integrity both beauty and ugliness, pleasure and pain.’

Am I beautiful?

physically, but the paradox is that Jesus’ face displayed God’s glory in all its brilliance.

Though mankind rejected him and turned their faces away from him, he was, and is, Beauty itself. The outward adornment was just a covering for something beautiful inside – something that had nothing to do with the physical.

What if we were to see the imago dei – beauty – in everyone; not just the Princess Dianas or the James Deans of this world? What if we were to take off the glasses that cause us to see beauty through an arbitrary, man-made, culturally defined lens and look purposefully for the beauty of God, to search for inner beauty in others? It could change everything.

This is an extract from Am I Beautiful? by Chine Mbubaegbu (published by Authentic).

Chine Mbubaegbu is a writer and journalist, and head of media & communications at the Evangelical Alliance, a trustee of the Bible Society, the Christian Enquiry and her local church.

For more info visit www.amibeautiful.co.uk

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Summer Looking forward to

by KATHY FREEMAN

LIBERTI finance

It might feel like a while away, but summer will soon be upon us. We all want to get the best deals so we’ve come up with some ways that you can get ahead and make your money go further. Whether you are looking to get away, thinking about how to entertain the kids, or you are just wanting to make the most of getting out an about in the British “sunshine”, there are ways you can be smart with your money.

Planning ahead If you know what you are likely to be doing, there’s no reason why you can’t start thinking now about how you can save money. First create a budget of what you can afford then, make a list of everything you would like to do and roughly how much it would all cost. Once you have done this, you will have a better picture of what you can and can’t afford. If you find yourself wildly off budget; be realistic about what you could cut out. For example, do you need to go abroad this year or could you try camping instead? Could you plan some fun activities at home instead of going away for the weekend? It is better to say ‘no’ now rather than find yourself in financial difficulty later.

Also, if money is tight, setting limits on activities is a good way to keep spending in control, leaving you guilt free to actually enjoy the things you do plan to do.

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© iStock | BlueOrange Studio

Once you have prioritised your activities, there may be other ways to reduce your costs further.

If you are headed abroad, have a look at price comparison sites for the best deals on airlines or hotels. TravelSupermarket.com or Skyscanner are a good place to start. It’s worth noting that budget airlines are cheaper when you book two or three months in advance, but package holidays are cheaper when booked last minute.

Also, have a think about when you travel because according to Which? Research, it’s 35% cheaper to fly on a Tuesday than a Friday and 45% more expensive to come back on a Sunday! Remember to book your airport parking in advance to get the best deal and try travelmoneymax.com for the best currency exchange rates.

Something for the kids MoneySavingExpert.com has a great list of free and cheap ideas to keep kids entertained over the school holidays. Things like free tennis and football coaching, £1 cinema ticket deals and fun ideas such as Geocaching (like treasure hunting using your smartphone GPS). Your local council or library may also list some free events happening in your area. If you do plan taking them to a theme park or major attraction, then see what deals and vouchers there are beforehand, and remember to take a packed lunch instead of spending lots on food.

Have a stay-cation

offer? Visitbritain.com is a great website for ideas that include all the best of British culture, countryside, heritage, food and entertainment and suggestions to suit your budget. There are also lots of websites offering discounts on eating out and activities such as Groupon or Vouchercodes. These savings can really add up so don’t be afraid to suggest cheaper alternatives to your friends – they will probably appreciate the savings too!

Save now and pay less LIBERTI finance

Shop around

With so much credit readily available, why would you bother saving when you can pay later? It may seem a quick fix to your financial situation, but a lot of us end up spending far more than we needed to. For example, a £900 holiday paid back on credit over a year could end up costing you £1,057. That’s £150 you could have put towards your next trip. Saving is effectively the same as paying back each month what you borrowed just the other way around and without the interest or the stress if you fall behind in your repayments. Use the savings calculator below to plan how you can start to save for the future.

It’s never too late to start saving, even if you only have a few months to go or you can only afford to put a small amount aside, it’s good to get in the habit. Paying for things out of your savings is not only satisfying, but it is a great way to prevent yourself falling into debt. If, however, you do feel the need to take out credit, always make sure you can afford the repayments. Getting into debt is very easy but a lot harder to get out of.

Similarly, if a holiday abroad is not on your agenda, why not see what this country has to The Savings Calculator Goal

Total cost

How much do I already have saved?

Amount to save (Column 2-3)

How many months can I save for?

Monthly savings needed (Column 4 ÷ 5)

e.g. Holiday abroad

£900

£200

£800

4

£175

Kathy Freeman is the Public Relations Officer for Christians Against Poverty. She is passionate about tackling poverty and injustice, and joined CAP 18 months ago after working for an international children’s charity. Kathy’s favourite part of her job is hearing from clients who have had their lives transformed by God and sharing their stories to inspire and bring hope to others.

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GAME ON!

wearable sports luxe

Here at the Liberti fashion desk we’ve been hiding under the table every time the sports luxe trend pokes its stretchy, shiny, comfortable yet ‘stylish’ (really?) head above the fashion parapet. But with the SS14 collections all awash with sporty ‘glamour’ our brave Fashion Ed has decided to tackle the trend head on and give us four winning tips to get us off the blocks.

spring fashion

on!

GAME

This page: Jumper, £12 Shorts, £10 Shoes, £12 Sunglasses, £2 all from Primark

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1. It’s a game of two halves: Sports and Luxe. Try top half sport: vests, sporty tees, sweat shirts, hoodies.

Bottom half luxe: skinnies and heels or minis and luxe hi tops.

GAME ON!

spring fashion

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Spring 2014

GAME ON!

spring fashion

2. Don’t keep seasoned favourites on the bench: Do golf, varsity, old skool tennis dresses, PE skirts, preppy collars, baseball jackets and cricket jumpers, but don’t forget the luxe, this isn’t a retro look. Team with ultra modern spike heels, wedge trainers or neon/metallic hi tops.

This page: Textured crew neck jumper with necklace trim,£40 Checked trousers from £35 Hats from £10 all from River Island Opposite: Vests from £7, La Redoute

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3: Put it in the net: Look for functional fabrics and styling influenced by the sports field: mesh, neoprene, nylon straps, exposed zips, clasp belts, panelling, bright block colours in simple outlines but with full luxe elegance.

GAME ON!

spring fashion

Check out Liberti fashion editor, Emma Greenwood, on Pinterest (this month’s Fashion Board: Game On!).

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Spring 2014

This page: Preen skirt, £55, Debenhams Opposite: Hat, £5.99 Sweater, 19.99 both Internacionale Hi tops, £16, Steve Madden Sunglasses, £35, Dune Open toe heels, £70, Wallis 0844 984 0266 www.wallis.co.uk

GAME ON!

spring fashion

4. Finish with style: Jewellery’s not big on the agenda with sports luxe, but it is accessories (as always) that make the look: beanies, visors, aviator shades, heels and hi tops. Think Victoria Beckham on a dressed down day.

Spring 2014

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Europe’s leading

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Last word:

A disorder-ly dinner Over dinner recently, my oh-so-witty teenage daughter announced that she had diagnosed me with a disorder. Here we go, I thought. Some syndrome that causes nagging about an untidy bedroom is it? A genetic condition that leads to moaning about being a taxi driver perhaps?

last word

CATHY MADAVAN

I braced myself.

“You have a classic case of Misophonia. “ “Okaaaaaay?”

“Which” she continued, “is an extreme intolerance to noises such as chewing, tapping and clicking leading to the need to leave or bouts of rage.”

his bag and removed a third, yes a THIRD packet of crisps!

My brain was yelling “Are you serious sir? Have you ever read about heart disease? Have you heard about having too much of a good thing? Are you trying to make me throw myself from this window?”

We all sat wide eyed, the hubster nodding knowingly, acknowledging the truth in her words - apart from the fact that the sound of scraping felt tip pens would also need to be added to the list.

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Misophonia: An extreme intolerance to noises such as chewing, tapping and clicking leading to the need to leave or bouts of rage

Consciously tuning out that which causes us frustration or anxiety; tuning instead in to hope or gratitude is the kind of medicine that can bring order into much of our disorder.

Hopefully helping us to loosen up a bit too.

Though obviously crisps should still be banned on trains.

Syndrome or no syndrome. Just saying.

Cathy Madavan works part time managing projects and speaking for Care for the Family, is on the leadership team of Spring Harvest and is writing her first book. She is also an ambassador for the charity Food for the Hungry. At home, Cathy is married to Mark who is the Senior Minister of a church near Southampton, and they have two busy and wonderful teenage girls. www.cathymadavan.com

© iStock | Igor Dutina

It might explain my desperation recently, as I sat on a train while the man opposite me proceeded to eat a bag of crisps. Crisps should definitely be banned on trains. There is no possible justification for eating crisps on trains.

Anyway... As the man munched through his crunchy carbs I felt my toes curling tighter under my feet. I took deep breaths until he finished, whereby he slowly and painfully folded the packet up and put it in his bag – only to remove a second bag of crisps. It took every ounce of energy I had not to physically wince as he ate; my body was so tense, you could have snapped it by the time he carefully folded the packet, and, I kid you not, went to

I’m not sure how you get Misophonia. But I’m fairly sure that rage is not a helpful response and leaving the room isn’t always possible. We all have to deal with our phobias, irritants, and people who make us bite our tongues until they bleed. Renewing our minds is a daily and sometimes moment by moment choice to do as Paul suggests in Philippians – “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about these things.”

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