12b by The Salvation Army UK and Ireland

War Cry THE

salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

Est 1879

No 7094

FIGHTING FOR HEARTS AND SOULS

s a m t s i r h C issue

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Christmas 2012 20p/25c

The War Cry Christmas 2012

Good news

You thought you were lost, didn’t you?

THE small boy was obviously lost. Standing in the shopping mall with crowds of people rushing by, he looked terribly anxious, glancing all around for a familiar face. It was Christmas-time and the worst time of year to be in the midst of a rushing crowd, disconnected from a family member. Yet, standing beside The Salvation Army’s Christmas collecting box, I could see what he could not – an elderly man standing not far away with eyes ﬁxed on the boy. I thought to myself that this was his grandfather. Sure enough, their eyes met and the older man ran to embrace the boy. ‘You thought you were lost, didn’t you? Well, I knew where you were all the time.’ No scolding the boy for wandering off. No embarrassing lecture in front of strangers. No reprimand of any sort. For so many people, Christmas-time only accentuates their sense of lostness – of being alone in the crowd. The emphasis on family, happy memories, celebration and giving reminds them of their isolation and that life has not been like that for them. Perhaps that is why The Salvation Army has made Christmas a major focus of its year. Perhaps that is why we arrange special meals in the community, Christmas assistance and the giving of toys. We want to replace the sense of loss or meet the urgent need and display the spirit of Christmas in the most practical ways. Yet, in spite of all we do, we

A seasonal message from General LINDA BOND, international leader of The Salvation Army

cannot fix broken lives or heal the deep wounds of the heart. Sometimes we are surprised to discover that the people who feel most lost in this Christmas maze are not the economically strapped. Sometimes the hurting, broken, lonely and lost are actually the ones who appear to have it all together. The Bible tells a story of such a man – Zacchaeus. He was actually very prosperous. However, his profession as a tax collector ostracised him. But Jesus, like the doting grandfather, saw where he was all the time and connected with him in a lifechanging way. When criticised

by the people because he was having a bite to eat with a ‘sinner’ such as Zacchaeus, Jesus declared emphatically that he had come into the world ‘to seek and to save the lost’ (Luke 19:10 New International Version). Zacchaeus changed from the scheming deceiver that he was to a generous, responsible citizen. Why? Not because he was publicly shamed, reprimanded or made to feel like an outsider, but because Jesus was on the lookout for him. Jesus gave him a sense of dignity. Jesus knew he could be different. It is so important that we don’t get carried away with nostalgia

when it comes to the Christmas story. We can romanticise the scene of Jesus’ birth and miss the power of its message. God took on human flesh, moved into our neighbourhood and spent his life in search of those who needed to reconnect with their Maker. Maybe some of us would never admit to being a lost soul, but we would admit to a loss of our idealism, values, faith or hope. Maybe we would even venture to admit that we have lost much of our love for ourselves or others. It’s not something we declare to everyone. We may feel like the young boy, unnoticed by the crowd but frantically needing to be found. Well, friends, Christmas is about the coming of the Saviour of the world – the loving Saviour – the one who searches out lost people, embraces them and gives them the best sense of belonging they could ever imagine.

Library picture posed by model

e c a r b m e s a m t s i r h C A

Christmas 2012 The War Cry

Interview

Joystrings to the world! In 1963, The Salvation Army hit the pop scene with the Joystrings. Their first release ‘It’s an Open Secret’ reached No 32 in the charts. For the next five years, the group made recordings, appeared on television and performed concerts in the UK and abroad, singing about the love Last year, the Joystrings re-released some of of Jesus. Each year, Christmas their songs on the album Joystrings marked a particularly busy time Restrung. How did the public respond to that? on the group’s calendar. Members Peter: I have been quite surprised by the success of the CD because it is almost JOY WEBB and PETER and 50 years ago that the Joystrings were formed. People who SYLVIA DALZIEL tell Claire weren’t even born that long ago bought the Joystrings Restrung album and made positive Brine why they are re-releasing a comments about it, which is amazing. selection of their festive songs on The responses from people have been contrasting. Some the album Joystrings Christmas have said that the CD is nostalgic because the music depicts the sounds of the Collection Sixties. Others have said that it is really up to date because the songs are relevant today. Joy: I was flabbergasted att the level of interest from thee public. The CD has sold ve eery ry very

Sylvia (left), Peter and Joy today

well. The only negative comment I got was: ‘But “A Starry Night” isn’t on there.’ Joy, you wrote the song ‘A Starry Night’ for the Joystrings in 1964. It went into the charts and remains a favourite at church carol services and among primary school children. It is also included luded on th the CD, Joystrings ngs Christmas Collection. What can

Turn to page 4

Interview

From page 3 you remember about writing the song? I wrote ‘A Starry Night’ in the summer of 1964, because our record company, EMI, said they needed a Christmas single from the Joystrings, to be released at the end of November that year. Our record producer, Walter Ridley, said to me: ‘I know you’ll want to get the Christian message across in your song, but you need to do it in a way that isn’t “in yer face” or it won’t sell.’ I wrote ‘A Starry Night’ but originally I gave it the title ‘King of All the World’. Those words make up the last line of the verses and chorus, and I chose to keep them relatively muted, so that they are not ‘in yer face’. I was also careful to choose the word ‘King’, rather than ‘Saviour’. Today, how does it feel when you hear this Joystrings song being played or sung at Christmas-time? Sylvia: A few years ago, Peter and I went to an exhibition of Christmas trees in a cathedral. The trees were all decorated to represent a particular carol. One of the trees was beautifully lit and depicted ‘A Starry Night’. I thought: “Oh my goodness! This song has really taken off.” Of course, the people there didn’t have any idea who Peter and I were. Joy: I can’t quite get my head around the fact that ‘A Starry Night’ is so popular among schoolchildren. It cheers my heart to know that. I thank God for it.

The songs contain the name Jesus

Joystrings Christmas Collection contains other songs written by members of the Joystrings and arrangements of Christmas carols. How did you come up with the material? Sylvia: Besides our own compositions, a lot of the songs on this new CD come from an LP we released in 1967 called Carols Around the World. It includes traditional carols from countries such as Spain, Germany and Australia, and we gave them our own arrangements and style. What is your favourite track? Joy: I like ‘Just Be Grateful’, written by our lead guitarist Bill Davidson, because it is very contemporary and tells it like it is. Peter: I like the songs where we are singing in four-part harmony, such as ‘Hush, Hush, Hush’. I remember that when we sang that live, it sounded beautiful. I also like Joy’s song ‘Christmas Can Be Every Day for You’. It is lovely. Christmas was a particularly busy season for the Joystrings, with appearances on television and radio programmes. What overriding memories do you have of those times? Sylvia: Christmas was – and still is – my favourite time of the year. In Christmas 1964, the Joystrings were invited to sing in Trafalgar Square for the switching on of the Christmas tree lights. We performed along with other acts, including the Hollies and the Tremeloes. Thousands of people were there. It was a The Joystrings

Christmas 2012 The War Cry

Above: Joystrings member Bill Davidson meets Cliff Richard Below: Peter, Sylvia (centre) and Joy stir a large Christmas pudding

bitterly cold night. Because the event was being filmed for television – and we knew we would be hanging around for a long time – we prepared flasks of coffee. As we stood around having our hot drinks, the guys from the Hollies and Tremeloes came over to ask if they could share our coffee. Joy: I remember singing at lunchtimes in Selfridges department store. People would pack themselves in to hear us. I really enjoyed those occasions. Peter: One particular event I remember was stirring the world’s largest Christmas pudding. The Peek Frean’s factory in South London made a gigantic pudding – weighing more than a quarter of a ton – and the Joystrings were photographed stirring it. It was later donated to homeless people. The story hit all the papers. What do you hope listeners will gain from listening to the songs on Joystrings Christmas Collection? Joy: I hope people pick up on the fact that the songs contain the name Jesus. Then, I hope people find they like the tunes and listen to them. I think the Joystrings’ music can introduce people to God. I don’t think the songs on the CD are overtly preachy. We tried to promote the Christian message gently in the songs we composed, but the words of the traditional carols speak for themselves. Peter: I hope for three things. First, that people hear the Christmas story. Secondly, that they begin to understand the joy of Christmas. And thirdly, I hope people pick up the message that Jesus came to bring peace to the world. What does Christmas mean to you? Sylvia: Christmas is the celebration of the Christ-child coming to earth. It is a time of hope, love and goodwill to all men. Joy: The festive season is about more than presents and trimmings. I believe that at Christmas-time, Jesus came to be the saviour of the world. Joystrings Q Christmas Collection is available online at sps-shop.com

The War Cry Christmas 2012

Interview

Nativity scenes are shopfront news, GARY GRANT tells Claire Brine

S founder of the toyshop chain The Entertainer, Gary Grant is used to a busy Christmas. But, as shoppers hustle and bustle their way along the high street to buy presents, Gary’s stores invite them to take a moment to reﬂect on the meaning behind the festivities.

‘When I became a Christian, I realised that a lot of people were missing the reason for the season,’ says Gary, who opened his first Entertainer toy store in 1981. ‘Christmas is about Jesus, so back in the early 1990s, I decided to buy five nativity scenes and display them in the windows of our stores. One of my senior managers questioned how sensible an idea that was. He thought I should use the display for toys. But I did it anyway. ‘That year, I watched people as they stopped outside our window. I saw lots of grandparents talking to their grandchildren about the Christmas story.’ Over the years, Gary opened more toyshops. Today, there are 78 Entertainer stores across the UK. But Gary has only 20 nativity scenes, and each year his management argue over which store gets to use one in its window. ‘Unfortunately, the supplier does not make the nativity scenes any more,’ he says. ‘But most of my managers want one for their shop window. It has got to the stage where some of my stores don’t send their nativity scene back to head office, in case I allocate it to someone else the following Christmas.’ mas.’ Last year, G Gary arry also displayed a poster about tthe he Christmas story in his shop windows. dows. It said: ‘Life has never been ssoo uncertain. Take a ct on the one thing moment to reflect that will never change. The real stmas – the birth of meaning of Christmas Jesus.’ cene provokes a The nativity sc scene from the public. mixed response from re angry, asking Some people are arrth Jesus has to Gary what on eearth as. Others write to do with Christmas. isplay. thank him for thee ddisplay. as, a woman wrote ‘Last Christmas,

‘

You stopped my life going into meltdown

E R MinO TORE S

tto me: “I do on’t have a faith, but don’t m daught my ter and I fou daughter found your w wi ndow di isplay so ref window display refreshing.” ‘Anothe er letter I received ‘Another was from m a shopper explaining that she hadn’t been in the moo od for Christ mood Christmas, but she foun nd herself lo found looking at our nativ vity scene. She met nativity another woman – w who was aalso al so looki king at our ddisplay – looking aand nd they en nded up go ended going for a ccoffee co ffee togeth her. She w together. wrote that looking at the manger manger scene scen helped her to feel a bit bit better. She S ended hherr letter by saying: “Th he “Thank you, be eca c use yo ou stopped my life because you ggoing oing in into nto meltdow meltdown.”’ Gary wishe wishes that more m ore high street

shops would celebrate Christmas rather than a ‘winter holiday’. He says: ‘Some stores are so politically correct and choose not to celebrate Christmas in case they offend people of other religions. But, whenever I speak to people of other faiths, most of them are supportive.’ For those in the toy business, this is the busiest time of the year. And there is plenty of competition among traders. But Gary has no qualms about making the nativity scene the main focus in his window display, rather than the latest musthave toy. He trusts God with his company. ‘In the Bible, God says: “I will honour those who honour me”, and that is what I’m trying to do.’

Christmas 2012 The War Cry

Puzzlebreak

Put on your seasonal thinking cap and try these teasers!

DRUMMERS DRUMMING EIGHT EIGHTH ELEVEN ELEVENTH FIFTH FIRST FIVE FOUR FOURTH FRENCH HENS GAVE GEESE 1

E H V I N E T D I E R A N E V E L E N

E I T N W N T F P S R E M M U R D L N

F R M N I I E V E T H U I L H A R E E

P V L P E A R T R E E R O G Y E I F V

T O O E H T X I S L V T O F H S H M T

T U R T L E D O V E S L M E U T T I E

S H D G T G A A A V D G E E S E M I S

GOLDEN RINGS LADIES LORDS LOVE MAIDS NINE NINTH PARTRIDGE PEAR TREE PIPERS PIPING SECOND SEVEN 4

T F S N E H H C N E R F S W N V P H E

C T T I A S T H N N I N T H T O H T V

M T F M X W F R R T B I R D P L A F E

T H R M O N I I L H G G S A I S I L N

T S R I F N F S H N N D R N P P L E T

V E S W G S E T I I I G R C I N M W H

SEVENTH SIX SIXTH SWANS TEN TENTH THIRD THREE TRUE TURTLE DOVES TWELFTH TWELVE TWO

S V L S W C R M P A L A Y I N G H T T

H E W A O U M A M I L K I N G E H E M

M N N N O U E S E V A G H G I G I E W

T S D F R L C G I F C K A I I N E A M

S E I D A L F 1. What is the only recording to S have been the E UK Christmas D No 1 twice? saint ion, which ing at it d a tr E k e 2. In Gre iated with gift-giv M is assoc s-time? Christma L 3 . When wa E Charles s A Christmas Ca Dickens E publish rol by ed? T E E E

Three questions

Sudoku Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 Solution on page 15

Honeycomb 1. The singer who had a Christmas No 1 with ‘When a Child is Born’

8 9

2. The ﬁlm title: Miracle on 34th ________

11 12

22 23

30 31 32

Crossword ACROSS 1. Scour (5) 4. Glimmer (5) 8. Be ill (3) 9. Brutal (5)

10. 11. 12. 13.

Permit (5) Supplement (3) Consumed (5) Game of chance (7) 16. Put on (6) 19. Busy (6)

23. 26. 28. 29.

Blurred (7) Foundation (5) Centre (3) Female relative (5) 30. Truck (5) 31. Regret (3) 32. Thick (5) 33. Disprove (5) DOWN 2. Stir up (5) 3. Weigh (7) 4. With pleasure (6) 5. Precise (5)

6. 7. 9. 14. 15. 17. 18. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 27.

5. According to the song, the gift given on the eleventh day of Christmas 6. The carol: ‘_______ Night’

3. Jesus was placed in one at birth

28 29

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

4. They told the shepherds about the baby Jesus

Brawl (5) Humble (5) Board game (5) Small child (3) Accelerate (3) Male cat (3) Deity (3) Shoe repairer (7) Composition (5) Stick (6) Scorch (5) Overturn (5) Inexperienced (5) Dwarf tree (5)

ANSWERS

Library picture posed by model

E E Look up, down, I forwards, E backwards V and diagonally on the grid L to find these T words found in H the song ‘The P Twelve Days of G Christmas’ A R A-LAYING P A-LEAPING T A-MILKING H A-SWIMMING CALLING BIRDS N H CHRISTMAS DANCING A DAY E

CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1 Scrub. 4 Gleam. 8 Ail. 9 Cruel. 10 Allow. 11 Aid. 12 Eaten. 13 Lottery. 16 Staged. 19 Active. 23 Smudged. 26 Basis. 28 Hub. 29 Niece. 30 Lorry. 31 Rue. 32 Dense. 33 Rebut. DOWN: 2 Roust. 3 Balance. 4 Gladly. 5 Exact. 6 Mêlée. 7 Lowly. 9 Chess. 14 Tot. 15 Rev. 17 Tom. 18 God. 20 Cobbler. 21 Essay. 22 Adhere. 23 Singe. 24 Upend. 25 Green. 27 Shrub. HONEYCOMB 1 Johnny Mathis. 2 Street. 3 Manger. 4 Angels. 5 Pipers. 6 Silent. THREE QUESTIONS 1 ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. 2 Basil. 3 1843.

Wordsearch

January M

Febru uary

March

Aprill

May

July

June

PETER COX

20 6

The Lord remembers us and will bless us Psalm 115:12 New International Version

September M

Octo ober M

November M

August

Dece ember

The War Cry

Interview

NONE MISER E

ARLIER this year, Penguin Books published the ﬁndings of a poll to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’s birth. The survey showed that, of all the author’s characters, people’s favourite was Ebenezer Scrooge.

Biographer CLAIRE TOMALIN tells Philip Halcrow about Dickens and his tale of the villain who reforms – Scrooge

ANGUS MUIR

The miser who undergoes a change of heart after being visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come will this year again grab the attention of readers of A Christmas Carol, as well as those visiting Scrooge – The Musical at the London Palladium, a puppetry adaptation at the Dickens House Museum or catching a film version on TV.

‘I know people who reread A Christmas Carol every year,’ says biographer Claire Tomalin. The author of Charles Dickens: A Life tells me about the man who invented Scrooge, those Christmas ghosts, Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. ‘Dickens had more energy than anyone else I can think of,’ she says. ‘Writing about him was like writing five biographies, because he crammed so much into his life.’ Claire talks about how Dickens wrote his first book while he was working as a parliamentary reporter and of

Claire Tomalin

Christmas 2012 The War Cry Albert Finney as Scrooge (left) in a musical ﬁlm version of the story written by Charles Dickens (inset)

PA photo

He wrote it with a sort of fervour

how, when his later books were being published in monthly instalments, he was sometimes working on more than one of them at a time. ‘When he was halfway through The Pickwick Papers, which is the book that made him famous, he started writing Oliver Twist. Then, when he finished Pickwick Papers, he started writing Nicholas Nickleby. So he was writing an instalment of Oliver Twist and then an instalment of Nicholas Nickleby.’ He tried to run a magazine, wrote more stories and spent six months in America, where he hoped to find an ideal society. But he left feeling disillusioned. ‘He couldn’t stand slavery among other things,’ notes Claire. ‘When he came back, he started writing Martin Chuzzlewit, his sixth novel. Without breaking off his monthly instalments for that book, he had an idea for a Christmas story, and he wrote A Christmas Carol. ‘It obviously just came to him. He wrote it very fast and with a sort of fer-

vour. He talks about walking through the streets, laughing and crying as he thought about it.’ Soon other people were laughing and crying because of it. ‘Everybody loved it. It was a huge success – but he didn’t make much money, because he wanted it to be very nicely produced. He wanted it to be a nice little book, so all the money went on that.’ Dickens insisted that the book have fine coloured binding and endpapers. ‘Readers felt that in the story he had gone to the heart of something,’ says Claire. ‘I don’t think anyone complained that it was sentimental – except for one or two economists.’ Claire feels that Dickens got to the heart of something in one particular scene. She says: ‘Everybody remembers “Bah! Humbug!” and Scrooge being taken back to his childhood, but they sometimes forget a great scene at the end of the time that the Spirit of Christmas Present spends with Scrooge. Out from his cloak come two “wolfish” children – what we would call “feral children” – a boy and a girl. Scrooge is disconcerted by them. ‘The Spirit of Christmas Present says

Turn to page 12

The War Cry Christmas 2012

From page 11

‘

that one of the children is Ignorance and one is Want. ‘Dickens was writing this in the middle of the Hungry Forties – 1843 – when there was recession and starvation. ‘Scrooge asks what can be done for them. ‘The spirit speaks back to Scrooge the words he said at the beginning of the story when asked to make a charitable donation for Christmas: “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?” ‘I think it is the best moment in A Christmas Carol. It is very apposite to the modern situation when people think you can deal with poverty and the social gap between rich and poor by talking about prisons. And, although we don’t have workhouses any more, there is a similar view that you can demonise the poor.’ Dickens himself got into the spirit of helping people. He was charitable towards individuals. He raised money for polytechnics and mechanics’ institutes, which provided lectures, libraries and study opportunities for working men and women. ‘And about the time he wrote A Christmas Carol,’ says Claire, ‘he visited a Ragged School. There was no state education at the time, so people set up schools for street children in derelict houses. ‘Dickens described his visit in a letter to Miss Coutts, who was the richest woman in England. She was a friend of his and they worked together a lot doing good. He wrote that when he went into the school, he took off his hat as a sign of respect to the teacher, and out from underneath it fell his beautiful, glossy, curly hair.

Interview

It’s a Christian tale of the man who is redeemed He wore his hair down over his shoulders – he was more like a Regency man than a Victorian. One of the little boys was very surprised to see all this curly hair on a man, because it was not the fashion, and said: “Well, you can tell he ain’t a barber!” ‘These children in the Ragged School had hardly any clothes. Some of them had neglectful parents and others had no parents at all. The teacher told Dickens that the boys and girls would sometimes be off school for a week or two and would then come back and say: “Sorry, I was in prison.” The children were prostitutes, pickpockets and thieves. Dickens was very keen to help them, and Miss Coutts stumped up. ‘Dickens was also practical. Miss Coutts was keen on instilling religion into the children. But Dickens said to

Q Charles Dickens: a Life and A Christmas Carol are published by Penguin

her that the most important thing to do in the school was to provide some water so that the children could wash.’ But Dickens’s priorities for the school did not mean he was uninterested in religion. ‘Dickens was a Christian, but he wasn’t a very formal Christian,’ says Claire. ‘At one time he went to a Unitarian church, but mostly he didn’t go to church very much. However, when his sons left home, he wrote them letters in which he said he prayed every day. He also wrote an account of Jesus Christ for his children, though it was a private piece of writing. ‘He pretty well believed in an afterlife and he did believe that Jesus was our Saviour, but beyond that he wasn’t interested in theological points. He forgot to have one of his children christened for a long time. He wasn’t keen on bishops and things like that. In his last finished book Our Mutual Friend he does draw a picture of a hard-working London vicar who obviously did represent a good aspect of the Church. He acknowledged that there were people in the Church who did good things, but he really didn’t like all the flummery.’ In Claire’s eyes, A Christmas Carol is ‘a Christian tale of the man who seems really awful but who is redeemed. ‘And it is very interesting how he is redeemed. The first spirit takes him back to his childhood, which is rather like modern psychoanalysis. He is asked to see his own unhappiness and when he pities himself, he begins to see that he has some connection with other human beings.’ Dickens wrote other Christmas stories, ‘but none of them was as good as A Christmas Carol’. Claire suggests that, because of such stories and festive scenes in books such as The Pickwick Papers, ‘Christmas tends to be associated with Dickens’. But, among all his works, ‘A Christmas Carol stands by itself’. And perhaps it gets to the heart of something to do with Christmas. ‘Dickens is very good at villains,’ says Claire. ‘He loves creating villains. But Scrooge is unusual. Unlike Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop, Mr Murdstone in David Copperfield or Jonas Chuzzlewit in Martin Chuzzlewit, Scrooge is a villain who reforms.’

Inner life

Christmas 2012 The War Cry

In this Advent series, RON THOMLINSON takes a look at the ON THE nativity story in the light of today’s technology

Library picture posed by models

WINDOWS WORD

WEEK 2: CHAT ROOM CAN we imagine a world without the internet? Its potential benefits and opportunities stretch across the globe. Those experiencing difficulties, such as depression, domestic violence or parenting a child with an addiction, can find support via the web. There is healing in being heard by someone who has gone through similar experiences. At the very least, the other person knows the questions even if they don’t know the answers. There are not many women who learn of their pregnancy from an angel, or that God has great plans for their yet-to-be-born. For Elizabeth and Mary, there was no global support network to click into – they had just each other. Luke’s Gospel opens with the miraculous circumstances surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. His mother, Elizabeth, was quite old when she conceived him. Perhaps needing to come to terms with this wonder, she shut herself away for five months. Six months into Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel visited her cousin Mary in Nazareth to make an amazing pronouncement. The full story is recounted in that beautiful first chapter of Luke’s record of events. After Mary discovered what God had in store for her, she set out as fast as she could to find Elizabeth. As well as people who share problems, those with similar destinies also seek each other out. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months. Wouldn’t you have loved to have been a fly on the wall when they discussed what had happened to them and the confirmation. Just like Mary and consequences that would follow! Elizabeth, we may need someone to How they must have supported each share our thoughts with. other in the extreme loneliness of the This Advent, God might also want role God had chosen for them. to use us to support someone who Many of us have difficulty is struggling to learn what his plan working out what is God’s will for is. Let’s make sure we have room to our lives. We look for guidance and chat with them.

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The War Cry Christmas 2012

Jesus

by BARBARA LYNE MY husband, Alan, and I were Christmas shopping in a factory outlet village, when we visited a china shop full of beautiful items at discounted prices. We entered with the intention of just looking. However, Alan was very taken with a china nativity set. He set about persuading me that we should buy it. Then he

in the noticed there was no baby Jesus in the scene. I went to speak to the young assistant, and he explained that, because the baby Jesus was the only movable figure in the sets, several had been stolen. As a result, he said, they kept Jesus in the box. I said that we would like to buy the nativity set, but asked the assistant to check first that Jesus was in the box. I added: ‘There’s no Christmas without Jesus.’ Quick as a flash, he told me I had made a political statement. ‘No,’ I replied, ‘it’s a statement of faith.’ I then asked the assistant if he knew that there was historical proof that Jesus

Food for thought

box? had lived on earth. He had a vague, but not very accurate, idea as he seemed to think that Jesus was part of some pagan belief. While this conversation was going on, he was checking the packaging, and triumphantly showed me that the baby Jesus was, indeed, in the box. This Christmas, our china nativity set graces our home – and it will give great pleasure for many years to come. I am happy to say that while the china Jesus lives in the box, the real Jesus lives in my heart, and not just at Christmas!

There’s no Christmas without Jesus

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LVATION

Christmas 2012 The War Cry

What’s cooking? I’M Michael Darracott. I have been an executive chef in several large establishments in charge of cooking for 200-plus people. I have also written a number of books. It gives me great pleasure to offer my recipes in The War Cry. I invite readers to send in recipe ideas,

to be considered for publication here. I would also like to offer help with any cooking-related problems you have. So send in your question and, if it is selected, an answer will be published on this page. Email your recipes and questions to chefmike56@chefmikedarracott.com

I hope you enjoy this cake, and that you have a very happy Christmas! ike Chef M

Cook with chef MICHAEL DARRACOTT chefmikedarracott.com

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300g butter 300g soft brown sugar 4 large eggs, beaten 1tbsp black treacle 2tsp mixed spice Pinch of salt 310g plain ﬂour 405g currants 3g desiccated coconut 310g sultanas 305g raisins Juice and zest of half a small lemon 55g mixed peel, chopped 60g blanched almonds, for decoration

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Method: Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2. Grease and line a 23cm round cake tin with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then stir in the eggs and treacle. Add the mixed spice, salt and ﬂour and stir well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spoon the cake into the prepared SUDOKU SOLUTION tin and arrange the almonds over the top. Cover the cake with greaseproof paper, then bake for 4–4½ hours. Slice and serve.

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A Christmas WITH a kiss, a mother welcomes warm Her child into a cold-heart world. With a kiss, the Magi faith-ﬁlled fall In worship of the newborn King. With a kiss, a father holds and heals His wayward son with broken heart. With a kiss, a woman gifts her life In offering for Christ’s gracious love. With a kiss, a friend betrays his trust; Condemns him into bloodstained hands.

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