War Cry THE
Est 1879 No 7010
FIGHTING FOR HEARTS AND SOULS
23 April 2011
salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry
Defeated. Down. Dead. Doom. Deserted. Spent Lamb of God, Outpoured through time. Unrepentant earth, Unearthing the fear That fought love before love began.
Unwanted. Left. Lone. Lorn. Abandoned. Spurned gift of grace, Shrouded in time, The Eternal waits, Awaiting the Word That spoke life before life began.
JustiďŹ ed. Real. Right. Raised. Exalted. One Word of God Thrust into time, Christ the Victor wakes, Awaking the saved To a life that will know no end.
20p/25c
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NEWS
The War Cry 23 April 2011
ACTOR TAKES EASTER MESSAGE TO THE HEART OF LEICESTER The crucifixion scene from last year’s Christ in the Centre
mrjonpaul
ANNE MELHUISH
ACTOR Walt Kissack is not afraid of a creative challenge. Last year he played the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, in the yet-to-bereleased independent film Peter. His latest role is another controversial character – the man Jesus Christ. For weeks, Walt has been preparing to portray the Son of God in Leicester’s annual Good Friday production Christ in the Centre. In the past this outdoor event has attracted up to 10,000 spectators. ‘Jesus has changed the lives of millions of people,’ says Walt, who is a Christian. ‘Each member of the audience has an idea of what this man was like, so my portrayal has a lot to live up to. But how do I – a sinful man – play the perfect man? I’m aware
THIS ISSUE:
PERSECUTED FOR FAITH p8
OUTSIDE THE BOX
PLUS Front page poem was written by Nigel Bovey
p16
MEDIA p6
Centre stage
by CLAIRE BRINE that I need help and instruction from God.’ During rehearsals Walt reflected on the nature of Jesus: ‘Jesus cared deeply for people. He chose to die in the place of humankind so that we wouldn’t have to face an eternity without God. I believe that the cost of every bad thing we have ever done – and will do in future – has been paid in full, simply by that one moment on the cross. It is amazing to understand that I am not condemned for the wrong things I do.’ The Easter story played a vital part in Walt’s journey to faith. ‘I’d known about Jesus since I was a boy – but back then I wasn’t a Christian,’ he says. ‘At primary school all the children were given a Bible. I read mine, cover to cover. I didn’t
really understand it. ‘After I left drama school, I found myself thinking a lot about God. Later a friend told me that she’d put my name down for a Christian inquiry course. I went along and by the end of it I’d become a Christian.’ Today Walt’s faith helps him through the ups and downs of an actor’s life. ‘Before I became a Christian I had a lot of anxieties about my career,’ he confesses. ‘I can now let go of all that worry. I want to do God’s will in my life, so I have to trust that he will supply me with the opportunities. ‘My relationship with God gives me security. I used to find my identity in being a Yorkshireman or a Sheffield Wednesday supporter. Now I find my true identity in Jesus.’
Jesus chose to die in the place of humankind
LIFESTYLE p7
PUZZLES p12
Walt Kissack
CLAIRE BRINE
INNER LIFE p13
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
p14
RECIPES p15
23 April 2011 The War Cry
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IME changes one’s perspective, does it not? That is so for me and perhaps for many of you when you reflect on the Easter story. Maybe it has to do with our life experiences which make us see things differently. Or maybe the gracious way the Lord has dealt with us has taught us to read the Scriptures differently. Whatever the cause, the account of Thomas’s reaction on hearing that Jesus was risen illustrates this point for me. Many of us perhaps think he deserved the name Doubting Thomas. The Bible tells us that he was not with the other disciples when Jesus came, but they were quick to tell him the good news: ‘We have seen the Lord!’ (John 20:25 New International Version). Then comes his famous response: ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.’ Seeing is believing, or at least Thomas felt so. A week later, Jesus showed up again. This time Thomas was with the disciples. After greeting them all with ‘Peace be with you!’ (20:26), Jesus initiated the conversation with Thomas. He said to him: ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe’ (20:27). These words of Jesus are not written in our Bibles with exclamation marks, in bold print or in capital letters. Yet sometimes they are read as though they were a shout, a stern rebuke from the Lord to a stubborn disciple. Have you considered that this was no shout but a gentle invitation to a struggling soul? That day, Jesus showed up especially for Thomas. The risen Lord knew his disciple’s heart. Thomas truly wanted a personal encounter with Jesus, as his friends had experienced. He had been honest enough to
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Jesus is alive. He is real An Easter message from General LINDA BOND
Thomas truly wanted a personal encounter with Jesus
admit his struggle. He could not believe the impossible or comprehend the incredible. Having witnessed the miracles of Jesus, he should perhaps have seen this as yet another of those amazing moments. But for him, resurrection after crucifixion was beyond the realm of possibility. Maybe this was no embarrassing moment for Thomas, no public shaming in front of his friends. Surely Jesus did not expose him before the others as a ‘doubting Thomas’? Rather, don’t you think that as Thomas was invited into Jesus’ wounds, the Lord whispered a word of faith into his ear? It is true that we can’t go beyond what the Scriptures tell us. But we can read them with the knowledge of how Jesus deals with us. Knowing how understanding and gracious he is, we can read the story of Thomas as our story. How often have we heard others share their joy about their experience with Jesus and somehow we just can’t relate to it? Rather than declare our doubts, we have kept silent or even tried to express a conviction that we did not hold. But for those who truly want to know him, Jesus comes, doesn’t he? No rebuke, no word of condemnation, but a whisper. He gives us a moment so convincing that we know with absolute certainty: He is alive. He is real. Thomas’s response may surely also be ours: ‘My Lord and my God!’ (20:28). What a wonderful Saviour! What a wonderful Lord!
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All the world’s a
HERE are still lovers, but they are Isaac and Rebekah rather than Beatrice and Benedick. There are memorable lines, but ‘All the world’s a stage’ has been replaced by ‘Love thy neighbour’. There is still royalty, but the King of Denmark has been usurped by Solomon. At Shakespeare’s Globe in London, the Bard is giving centre stage to the Bible. For a limited season only – in Holy Week and over Easter weekend – the theatre is presenting a recital of the whole of the King James Bible.
In the beginning the actors presented the opening scenes of Creation as described in the Book of Genesis. On Bank Holiday Monday they will reveal whether all’s well that ends well with the Book of Revelation. Sitting in an office behind the scenes at the Globe, Jacqueline Somerville, the director of The Bible, explains that the
theatre is putting on the recital because it wanted ‘to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible’. She adds: ‘The King James Bible was commissioned in 1604, the year Shakespeare wrote Hamlet – so the Globe is starting this year’s season by putting on The Bible and Hamlet.’ After she had been invited to direct The Bible, Jacqueline set about rediscovering the book that she had encountered at school. ‘We had an RE teacher,’ she says, ‘who used to read passages from it. He would talk about the Bishops’ Bible, a translation that was made not very long before the King James Bible, and how it was really badly written. He would read out passages from it and then read out passages from the King James Bible so we could compare them.’ As Jacqueline reacquainted herself with the book, she was sometimes surprised by the text. She recalls reading the Song of Solomon. ‘I had never come across these beautiful sensual words before, and I was just amazed. I was saying to myself: “That’s in the Bible!” Jacqueline and her colleagues had to decide how to transfer the lines from the page to the stage. They worked out that the entire Bible contained about sixty-three and a half hours of material. Realising that one actor could not recite all 66 books, they formed teams of actors and divided up the chapters between them.
As Shakespeare’s Globe stages a recital of the King James Bible, director JACQUELINE SOMERVILLE tells Philip Halcrow that the 400-year-old book can still speak to modern audiences
The ‘King James Bible’ is being recited at the replica of a theatre from its time
The actors are using a technique called ‘recorded delivery’. Jacqueline explains: ‘The actors don’t read from a book on stage. Instead they have recorded the text that they have to deliver. During the performance it is played back to them in their ear and they then say the lines. So the actors hear the words of God and then speak them.’ Sixty-six books of text presents the cast and crew with challenges. But Jacqueline was ‘surprised by how the
PHILIP HALCROW
23 April 2011 The War Cry
PHILIP HALCROW
language lifts off the page quite easily’. She says: ‘It is amazing how useful the punctuation is. I’ve spent a lot of time with the actors talking about colons and semi-colons. The punctuation is very precise, and the book’s arguments are structured by it.’ The language itself grips Jacqueline. ‘It is just enchanting. Even if you are not a believer, it is an incredible piece of writing. I was amazed to find that even in the densest chapters about pitching tents or about “so-and-so begat so-and-so”, it is actually gripping when an actor is bringing those words to life. I can see why it has passed the test of time.’ As well as the language, Jacqueline has found that many of the book’s stories and ideas have something to say to modern audiences 400 years after it was published. She read the Book of Exodus, about the Israelites escaping slavery in Egypt, while the news reported on unrest in Egypt. ‘Reading Exodus, I thought: This stuff is still going on today, and humankind still hasn’t learnt from it. ‘I was also really affected by the words about youth and age in the Book of Ecclesiastes. We put so much emphasis on youth culture. People spend time and money on injecting and cutting and splicing themselves to run away from getting older. Ecclesiastes says we have to embrace being older and embrace the wisdom that comes with age. We may not necessarily celebrate age, but we should listen to its wisdom rather than always be looking for the fresh young idea.’ The Bible is beginning a summer of productions
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Jacqueline is directing ‘The Bible’ at Shakespeare’s Globe
It is gripping when an actor is bringing those words to life
that will also include Anne Boleyn, which portrays the world of Henry VIII and James I in which the King James Bible was written. Jacqueline is glad to see a play about the history of the time, the words of the Bible and the plays of Shakespeare all come together at the Globe. ‘There is a wonderful sense of history in putting on The Bible at the Globe.
What would it have been like if the people who translated the King James Bible knew that 400 years later every single word of their book would be read from a platform at a building which aspires to be a replica of a theatre from their own era?’ G The Bible runs at Shakespeare’s Globe until Monday 25 April
MEDIA
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MICHAEL SHEEN is taking the lead role in The Passion, a play in his home town of Port Talbot this weekend. The actor, whose film roles have included Tony Blair in the Oscar-winning The Queen and Brian Clough in The Damned United, is portraying a character who is described by the play’s codirector Bill Mitchell as ‘a man without memory’.
Sheen shares passion for community spirit
STEVE TANNER
The drama – which has parallels with the original story of the Passion – began yesterday (Friday 22 April) and runs continuously through to Easter Day. It takes place at various locations across the town. ‘We are telling a story in 72 hours over Easter,’ Bill tells The War Cry. ‘A man without memory comes into town, and people tell their stories to him. Over the three days, he’s seen to be a problem to one group of people or another. He will end up being crucified at the end of the story on Sunday night. ‘It’s not the Easter story, but it touches on it to amplify the story of the town and the sense of community that the town has.’ Bill, who is directing the play with Michael, says that the concept of community has been important throughout its development. ‘There used to be a very traditional passion play that happened for about 20 years in Port Talbot. Michael remembered seeing the play as a boy. It moved him that everybody in the town came out and worked together to tell a story.’ The new play, staged by the National Theatre of Wales and landscape theatre company WildWorks, is intended to highlight the ways in which people care for each other. Careful not to give too much of the plot away, Bill says that the central character’s lack of memory and need to listen to stories ‘is a device to enable the people of the town to say who they are, what they’re proud of, Bill Mitchell says the what their memories are, what play touches on the their values are. Because he original Easter story has no memory, he has an innocence; and innocence is dangerous in the situation we professional actors who are have imagined for this town.’ from the town. The staging of the play has ‘There are a lot of itself highlighted the power of memories in Port Talbot of memories and community. performing the old passion ‘We have about a thousand play. The person who played people taking part in some Jesus and the person who way. A fair number of those played Judas in the passion are part of the storytelling. play are in the new There’s also a core team of production.’
Codirector Bill Mitchell teams up with film star for new Easter play writes PHILIP HALCROW The play’s performance runs across the weekend. Bill explains: ‘Michael will stay in his role for the whole 72 hours. There will be sightings of him here and later somewhere else. He will eat whatever people give him. He will be arrested and spend Saturday night in a police station before being tried in the morning. He will be telling the story throughout.’ Scenes in the new play contain echoes of the original Easter story. But does the central character really – as Bill mentioned – ‘end up being crucified at the end of the story’? Is there any kind of resurrection? ‘There’s no way we would be disrespectful to the story or to the town,’ says Bill. ‘I would say that our story ends in a mystery.’ G For more information visit nationaltheatrewales.org
Michael Sheen plays ‘a man without memory’
GARETH PHILLIPS
LIFESTYLE
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CHOCOLATE manufacturers are making a mint out of Easter. As UK Easter egg sales are worth some £200 million per year, chocolatiers are keen to let chocolate-lovers know that their favourite seasonal confection is available as a fairly traded product. The Co-operative has been using Fairtrade chocolate in all its own-brand bars since 2002. It launched its own Fairtrade Easter egg in 2004. This year its offerings include Truly Irresistible milk chocolate and butterscotch half-egg with mini eggs. All of Green and Black’s chocolate and beverages are Fairtrade-certified, in accordance with a pledge made by the
The Co-operative has been producing Fairtrade eggs since 2004
company in 2009. ‘We have been Fairtrade accredited in the UK since January this year and will be Fairtrade globally in 2012,’ a spokesperson tells The War Cry. Thorntons has been producing Fairtrade Easter eggs since 2009. Waitrose, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have all entered the Fairtrade Easter market with their own-brand eggs. Divine is a chocolate company which is owned by cocoa farmers in Ghana. A total of 45,000 members own a 45 per cent
Cocoa farmers own the Divine company
Divine
The Co -operati ve
FAIRTRADE eggs-plained share in Divine. ‘Whereas fair trade ensures farmers receive a better deal for their cocoa and additional income to invest in the community, company ownership gives farmers a share of Divine’s profits and a stronger voice in the cocoa industry,’ says a Divine spokesperson. This year the company is offering a wide variety of products in milk, dark and white chocolate, including the Dubble Hunt Kit, which contains six milk chocolate eggs and instructions for organising an Easter egg hunt. All Divine’s Easter eggs are free from artificial flavourings, colourings and preservatives and are suitable for vegetarians. In 2008 Divine chocolate was declared Good Housekeeping magazine’s Favourite Fairtrade Product. The Fairtrade Foundation emblem is the sign of an independent guarantee that the ingredients are sourced under internationally agreed fair trade terms and conditions. These include a guaranteed, secure minimum price, an extra social premium payment for the farmers to invest in their own community programmes, long-term trading contracts, and decent health and safety conditions. The aim is to empower farmers to make their own improvements to living standards and prospects for the future. According to the marketing research group Mintel, the UK chocolate market alone is worth approximately £3.76 billion a year.
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pic credits
NIGEL BOVEY
Brought up in the Middle East, MIRIAM faced persecution in her home country for being a Christian. She rejoices, though, at the new life she experiences through meeting the risen Jesus
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Jesus my life when he appeared in a T HE basement was very hot. I was made to sit on a metal chair. A man locked my left wrist to the chair. They removed the blindfold. The man was standing behind me. ‘Don’t turn around,’ he said. ‘If you understand why I would not do, I will smash your head in.’ Iseecouldn’t my friends at school any more.
He told me to write down my name and the names of my family. He asked: ‘Who told you about Jesus? Who introduced you to Christianity?’
I didn’t catch one of the questions, so I started to turn to ask him to repeat it. As I did so, he hit me across the head. From the size of his shadow, I sensed that he was a very big man. I cried. The pain in my head was excruciating. He said: ‘I told you not to turn around. If you do it again, I will kill you.’ His last question was: ‘What’s your religion?’ This was the first time I had been directly asked about my faith by the authorities. I thought about how best to answer. I thought maybe he will kill me, but this is the time when – whatever happens – I must trust God. God chose me with all of my sin; now I must choose him. I wrote: I am a Christian. I had grown up surrounded by people of various faiths. We got on well together. My parents were nominal Muslims. Then the Government forbade all Baha’is from going to school. As a child
When my mother explained, I reasoned that the Baha’i God must be very weak if he let his people be treated like this and the Muslim God must be very bad if he was treating people in this way. So I decided I’d hate God. My mum encouraged me to have a good relationship with God, but I didn’t want anything to do with him. When I was 18, I moved away to university. My mum told me that God would be with me because he loved me more than she and Dad did. ‘Have a deep relationship with God,’ she said. I said: ‘OK, Mum.’ But I didn’t want to know God. In the first year, all Muslim students, whatever their academic subject, had to study the Koran and learn about Islam. If we did not pass the course, we would not graduate. One day the lecturer compared Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. He said that when Fatima was born, the angels rejoiced, but when Mary was about to give birth to Jesus, God told her to leave the Holy Land, and Jesus was born out-
side the Holy Land. I was not happy at this. I asked him about the role of prophets in Islam. He said that a prophet is the only one who has direct contact with the angel Gabriel. I pointed out that Mary must therefore be higher than Fatima, because Gabriel visited her to tell her that she would be the mother of Jesus, but he never appeared to Fatima. The lecturer became very angry. He asked me if I was a Muslim or a Christian. I replied: ‘Nothing’. He could not believe it. He told me to see him after class. He said that if I didn’t remove my nail polish, wear the hijab properly and read the Koran, he would see to it that I failed the course. So, for the first time in my life I started reading the Koran. I opened it and said to myself: ‘OK, if there is a God, I must find out once and for all. If he is here,
The man hit me across the head. He asked: What’s your religion?
Turn to next page
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From page 9 then I must know him or forget about him for ever. The more I read the Koran, the further I went away from a sense of God. The Koran portrays God as saying that if you want to go to Heaven, you must kill people. So I asked myself: ‘If Heaven is a good place, why do you get there by killing others?’ There is a saying in Islam that Heaven is a tree, and water for this tree is blood. When I read this I felt dreadful. One night I looked up at the sky and said: ‘God, I don’t know where you are. My lecturer says the Koran is the most complete book, but when I read it, I have a lot of questions. Why, if you made Eve, aren’t men and women equal in Islam? It isn’t fair. If this is how you really are, I don’t want to know.’ That same night I had a dream. I saw
My father hugged me and said: ‘You must go’
Library picture posed by model
a man. He was young, handsome and kind. It was so vivid that it woke me up. My heart was thumping. I thought nothing more about it. But two days later the same dream occurred.
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wo weeks later I’d finished reading the Koran. I said to God: ‘I don’t have any answers from you, so I definitely don’t want anything to do with you.’ That night I had the dream again. I saw the man. My dress was thin and I felt ashamed, so I turned from him and said I’d be back. He told me to stop. His voice was so lovely that I couldn’t walk on. I asked him he who was. He said: ‘I’m Jesus.’ I couldn’t believe it. Every time I’d turned to God I’d told him: ‘I don’t love
you.’ I felt guilty. I was a sinner. I told the man that Islam says God only speaks to holy people in dreams, so this was not possible. He said: ‘It is possible. I am Jesus.’ He told me to take off my shoes and kneel. He touched my chin, looked into my eyes and told me never to forget to believe in God, to hope and to love. Then he said: ‘Stand up and follow me.’ He pointed to a door. I followed him through it and saw a big mosaic with a fig tree. ‘This is your home,’ he said. ‘Never leave it.’ I woke up. My heart was bursting. I felt great and afraid at the same time. I called a Christian friend to tell her what had happened. She told me not to speak on the phone but to go straight to her house. When I got there I described my dream to her and her mother. They told me to say and do nothing. The next Sunday I went to church with them. Immediately I noticed the church door. There was a mosaic of a fig tree. I couldn’t control myself. I fell to the ground in tears. Some people came near me to see if I was all right. I heard a woman say: ‘Don’t touch her, she’s OK. This is the Holy Spirit at work.’ Some of the women gathered round and prayed for me in the name of Jesus. I didn’t understand what they meant or what was happening. My friend said: ‘Don’t worry, just know that God is touching you; you are becoming a Christian.’ I kept saying to God: ‘I’m so sorry. All this time I’ve been telling you that I don’t want you. I was guilty. I was sinning. I was angry with you. Why are you choosing me?’ I started to read the Bible. It told me that God is a friend to sinners, that he chose me, that he knocks at our door and when we open it he will come in and never leave us. As I read more of the Bible, I got to know Jesus better. Through him I knew that I’d found the real God. He wasn’t up in the sky. He was beside me, with me for ever. I didn’t need to pray to him five times a day, as Islam teaches; every time I want to speak with God he is there. He is with me, any time, anywhere. I was so happy. I was like a child. I had found my Father. I had found God. If I lose him, he comes to find me. If I do something wrong, he tells me to come to him and know his forgiveness. I love this God.
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Islam says God only speaks to holy people in dreams, so what was happening was not possible In my excitement, I didn’t think of the dangers of being a Christian. Then the troubles started. The Government punished me because of my faith. I did an extra three years at university, because they kept failing my thesis – I refused to write a dedication to Allah. Instead, I wrote an extract from 1 Corinthians 13 about love being patient and kind, and a prayer for peace. (A few months ago, I heard that a student found my thesis in the university library, read the Bible inscription and later became a Christian. She emailed me to thank me for helping her find God. Things like that help to wipe out the bad memories.) The Government increasingly made life difficult for Christians, so our church decided to meet in houses. Just after I graduated, I became a housechurch leader of 25 girls between the ages of 19 and 30. (Some of them have since been imprisoned.)
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s a student, I was signed up to work for the military upon graduation. I was to be posted to a dangerous border town. I said it was unlawful to send me there. They stopped my pay. The clerk who typed the letter told me that the bosses were going to send me there for ten years because I was an active Christian. It was a punishment – internal exile. I went to the headquarters to plead my case. I went into a room, a woman blindfolded me, and I was led to a lift and taken to the basement. It was a long way down. They tied me to a chair and started with their questions. After the interrogation, four or five guys came into the room, including the head of the military. This was when he asked my religion. He said: ‘OK, if you want to go to church, you can. But one day a car will draw up. Men will get out, take you and rape you. I will disturb your life.’ Then he started shouting: ‘You can’t be anything in this country. I will tell someone to rape you. Nobody will marry you. You will not get your qualifications. You will be nothing. Wherever you go we will control you.’ Then the men left. An hour later I was
taken up to ground level, where the woman who had initially blindfolded me released me. I was so upset. I asked God what I had done wrong. I told him that he’d told me to follow him, and look what had happened. ‘Aren’t you happy with me? They want to rape me. God, please, I’m just a girl, please!’ I went to see a lecturer friend. At first, I couldn’t tell her what had happened. I felt so ashamed. I just sat and cried. When I eventually told her she said: ‘This time they talked; next time they will do. You must leave.’ She then spoke with my father. They agreed that I
should get a student visa to England. At the airport, my father hugged me and said: ‘Miriam, I love you. No one can take you away from me. But this is of God, and God is a much better father for you. You must go.’ At Heathrow, I called my father, to tell him I’d arrived. He shouted down the phone: ‘You are safe, praise God!’ My father is now a Christian. G Miriam (not her real name) was talking to Nigel Bovey. For more information on persecuted Christians visit opendoorsuk.org
PUZZLEBREAK
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SUDOKU
WORDSEARCH Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these words connected with eggs Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9 Solution on page 15
BENEDICT BOILED CHOCOLATE CODDLED CUSTARD DEVILLED
QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Post (4) 3. Animal doctor (3) 5. Fasten (4) 7. Bought (9) 9. Retailed (4) 10. Compassion (4) 11. Fetch (5) 14. Town chief (5) 15. Magistrate (5) 17. Greek letter (5) 18. In no way (5) 19. Essential (5) 20. Loathsome (5) 23. Benevolent (4) 25. Cutlery item (4) 27. Intermediary (2-7) 28. Couple (4) 29. Pitch (3) 30. Young girl (4)
ANSWERS
O A E U E G O G I F L A I E S R C
O S M B E R N D Y D S T C C O O I
E P O A C H E D T U I S R D D C Q
S K R E I I T C N O S A N D C U O
C L N E R I I N Y R M O L H A S A
O O A D D D Y S N B C E O I P T P
DOUBLE YOLK DRIED EGG FRIED RICE EGG’N’CHIPS EGGS’N’BACON EGGY BREAD FLORENTINE FREE-RANGE
C Y Y U E S A C L A D C L I V A I
L E A N I E A E B S O E H E A R C
T L E D R E D N G L C C Y E T D K
A B E E F E S I A N N O Y A M T L
B U V O G G F T D G A L T G M E E
FRIED HARD-BOILED MAYONNAISE MERINGUE MORNAY OMELETTE OVER EASY PICKLED
P O E I G L E N G N S R C C T O D
C D I E E S D E L L I V E D H D L
E E E L D A E R B Y G G E E E E A
H F D E E I L O I E U G N I R E M
A A E C A D E L I O B D R A H F M
S E N S O U F F L E A F D H M N I
POACHED QUAIL SCOTCH SCRAMBLED SOUFFLÉ SUNNY SIDE UP
HONEYCOMB Each solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number 1. Agree 2. Swoop suddenly to catch prey 3. Debris from a demolished building 4. Person who cuts men’s hair DOWN 1. Heap (4) 2. Praise (4) 3. Parish parson (5) 4. Drill (5) 5. Ooze (4) 6. Idle (4) 7. Toy (9) 8. Course (9) 11. Colour (5) 12. Notions (5) 13. Meat juice (5) 14. Male (3) 16. Snake-like fish (3) 21. Avoid (5) 22. Turret (5) 23. Retain (4) 24. Grim (4) 25. Tumbled (4) 26. Caress by lips (4)
5. Dull and depressing 6. One of the Mr Men characters
SCREEN TEST 1. Who gave Jesus his voice in the animated film The Miracle Maker? 2. Who directed the film The Passion of the Christ? 3. What was the title of the TV mini-series which starred Robert Powell as Jesus? 4. In which year was The Last Temptation of Christ released? 5. What part did John Wayne play in the film The Greatest Story Ever Told? 6. Who wrote the music for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar?
QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1 Mail. 3 Vet. 5 Seal. 7 Purchased. 9 Sold. 10 Pity. 11 Bring. 14 Mayor. 15 Reeve. 17 Omega. 18 Nohow. 19 Vital. 20 Nasty. 23 Kind. 25 Fork. 27 Go-between. 28 Pair. 29 Tar. 30 Lass. DOWN: 1 Mass. 2 Laud. 3 Vicar. 4 Train. 5 Seep. 6 Lazy. 7 Plaything. 8 Direction. 11 Brown. 12 Ideas. 13 Gravy. 14 Man. 16 Eel. 21 Avert. 22 Tower. 23 Keep. 24 Dour. 25 Fell. 26 Kiss. HONEYCOMB 1 Concur. 2 Pounce. 3 Rubble. 4 Barber. 5 Dreary. 6 Greedy. SCREEN TEST 1 Ralph Fiennes. 2 Mel Gibson. 3 Jesus of Nazareth. 4 1988. 5 A centurion. 6 Andrew Lloyd Webber.
INNER LIFE
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Gardener’s question time
STEPHEN POXON continues his series looking for – and finding – Jesus in unexpected places
WHERE’S
JESUS
MY wife, Heather, is a dab hand at gardening. The last time I looked, she had successfully cultivated primroses, potatoes, mint, parsley, pansies, a rose bush and, not unsurprisingly, several varieties of heather in our small garden. I often see Heather with trowel or secateurs in hand attending to the herbaceous perennials. I am not anywhere near as skilled as she is and – as my lack of greenfingeredness would testify – I could never be mistaken for a gardener. The Bible tells us that early on the first Easter morning, Mary Magdalene met a man in a garden. She was one of Jesus’ followers and had made her way to the garden which contained the tomb where his body had been placed after his crucifixion. She stood by the tomb, weeping tears of grief because Jesus’ body was gone. In her distress, she had forgotten that Jesus had said he would rise from the dead. The story explains that ‘she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put
I could never be mistaken
for a gardener
PETER COX
Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, in a frieze in Notre-Dame, Paris
him, and I will get him.” ‘Jesus said to her, “Mary”’ (John 20:14–16 New International Version). As soon as Mary heard him saying her name, she realised she wasn’t speaking to the gardener but to the risen Jesus. In her grief she was reassured by his voice. In times of bereavement, Jesus is with us too. He knows about our pain and confusion. He understands our tears. He knows us by name. He stands beside us when we feel bereft and hopeless. In our darkest hours, when we think all is lost, Jesus is there at our side, on our side.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
14 The War Cry 23 April 2011
Young people gather round a portrait of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia earlier this year
Ready for
REVOLUTION by MATT
PA
Last December despair led CLIFTON Mohamed Bouazizi to burn himself to death beside a government Iraq, Jordan, Oman and building in Sidi Bouzid. Yemen. The 26-year-old Someone who would breadwinner of a large surely have felt deep family had been in trouble empathy for Bouazizi is with the authorities. On a Jesus. Like the brokennumber of occasions they spirited fruit-and-veg had confiscated his seller, Jesus was born unlicensed cart of fruit poor in a land ripe for and veg. He reportedly revolution. Specialists in refused to pay bribes public humiliation, his to a council agent. Roman rulers executed His family alleged he would-be revolutionaries was publicly humiliated by nailing them to large by an agent from the wooden crosses. council who smacked Smacked, beaten and him and beat him in insulted, the the face. revolutionaries hung Bouazizi could not have naked until they died. imagined the Little wonder the revolutionary blaze his crucifixion of Jesus led burning body would his followers to lament: ignite. ‘We had hoped that he North Africans, would be the one who enraged by the corruption was going to set Israel that produced such free!’ (Luke 24:21 Good hopelessness, rose up to News Bible). unseat President Ben-Ali But when Jesus rose to of Tunisia and President new life and appeared to Mubarak of Egypt. them, his followers Civil uprising followed realised that it was not in Libya. People have despair that dictated his taken to the streets in death. Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Jesus, the Bible tells
us, ‘did not give up because of the cross’. Instead he focused on the ‘joy that was waiting for
Jesus knew that he would ultimately overthrow the world’s evil
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D A ND
MY
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The War Cry
him’ (Hebrews 12:2). Whereas dictatorships rise and fall, Jesus knew that he would ultimately overthrow the world’s evil with an uprising – not of violence but of love. This Easter, will we allow that love to revolutionise our lives?
B LO
A MAN lit a flame in a remote Tunisian town. His actions ignited revolutionary fires across North Africa and the Middle East.
SA
A
LVATION
Easter kedgeree Method: Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the cardamom pods. Rinse the rice in a sieve. Add the rice to the pan and leave to simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Add the peas to the pan, then bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Drain well in a colander. Place the eggs in a medium pan, cover with cold watyer and then boil for 6 minutes. Run the eggs under cold water until cool enough to handle. Peel, then cut the eggs into quarters and set aside. Place the salmon in a frying pan skin-side up, add just enough water to cover, then slowly bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 3–4 minutes or until the salmon is just cooked. Drain, then flake the salmon flesh, discarding the skin and bones. Melt the butter in a medium pan, add the onion and curry paste and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the rice, salmon, crème fraiche and half the parsley, then gently heat through. Stir the mixture until piping hot. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange the kedgeree in a THIS cake is flavoured with almonds and serving dish and top with the orange, making it a change from the traditional eggs. Garnish with the simnel cake. The 11 balls of marzipan placed remaining parsley and serve. on top of simnel cakes represent Jesus' eleven faithful Serves 4 disciples. Ingredients:
SWEET TREAT
Easter cake
SUDOKU SOLUTION
175g butter, softened 175g light soft brown sugar 3 British Lion eggs, beaten 175g self-raising flour, sieved 1tsp baking powder 200g mixed peel, chopped 100g ground almonds Juice and rind of 1 orange 1tsp almond essence To decorate 3tbsp marmalade, sieved 675g marzipan Icing sugar, for dusting 50g white chocolate, melted 50g plain chocolate, melted Ribbon, to tie round the edge of the cake
23 April 2011 The War Cry 15 Ingredients: 4 cardamom pods, split 225g basmati rice 75g frozen peas 6 large British Lion eggs 350g salmon fillet 25g butter 1 bunch spring onions, trimmed and sliced 1tbsp medium curry paste 3tbsp half-fat crème fraiche 4tbsp chopped fresh parsley Salt and freshly milled black pepper
Method: Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5. Grease a 20cm round, deep cake tin and line with baking paper. Place the butter, sugar, eggs, flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Using an electric whisk, beat the mixture until it is smooth and glossy. Fold in the remaining ingredients and spoon into the prepared tin. Bake for 45–50 minutes or until the cake has risen and is firm to the touch. Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. To decorate, take a sharp knife and cut the cake in half, leaving you with two rounds. Dust a work surface with icing sugar, then roll out two thirds of the marzipan. Use this to cut out two 20cm rounds. Brush the centre of one of the cakes with marmalade and top with a marzipan round. Brush this marzipan layer with marmalade, then arrange the other cake on top. Top with the second marzipan round, then crimp the edges. Roll the remaining marzipan into 11 balls and use marmalade to attach them to the top of the cake. Pour the melted chocolate into paper piping bags. Drizzle over the top of the cake and leave to set. Tie a ribbon round the cake before serving. Serves 10
Recipes reprinted, with kind permission, from the British Egg Information Service website eggrecipes.co.uk
WHAT’S COOKING? THE MAIN ATTRACTION
GET THE ARE you egg-cited? Tomorrow (Sunday 24 April) is Easter Day. After months of waiting, it is finally time to tuck in.
EANING! Library picture posed by models
According to the Meaningful Chocolate Company, each year more than 80 million chocolate eggs are sold across the UK. But, as cofounder of the company David Marshall found out, not one of them mentioned Jesus on the packaging. ‘Two years ago someone bought me an Easter egg,’ he says. ‘On the back it said: “Easter is the festival of chocolate and loveliness.” It bugged me. Easter is much more than that.’ In 2009 David produced the Real Easter Egg – a Fairtrade chocolate egg which explains the Christian meaning of Easter on the box. David planned for some of the proceeds to go to a charity which buys chickens for African villages. The project was well on the way to smashing its target of 1,000 orders – but then it fell to pieces. ‘The government office which controls the licensing of product names objected to the name of my egg,’ says David. ‘There were long arguments on what the real meaning of Easter was.’ David took advice from the Fairtrade Foundation and, together with business partners in Manchester, set up the Meaningful Chocolate Company, which aimed to bring the Real Easter Egg to market. Eventually, the name of the egg was approved. But then supermarkets would not stock it. Last September David decided to launch the egg as a mail-order product. In the first eight weeks customers ordered more than 30,000 of them. Today four supermarket chains stock the egg. The story has a happy ending. But the real story of Easter is even better. The Real Easter Egg box explains: ‘Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, then rose again three days later … on Easter Sunday. Many believe that chocolate eggs represent the boulder that seals his tomb.’ Through his death and resurrec-
Easter does what it says on the box writes CLAIRE BRINE
People celebrate with the Real Easter Egg
YOUR LOCAL SALVATION ARMY CENTRE
Easter is more than a festival of chocolate
tion, Jesus – God’s Son – gives people the chance of forgiveness, new life and fresh hope. We can tap into his unconditional love. Those who ask for his forgiveness will find that he egg-ceeds all their expectations.
The War Cry is printed on paper harvested from sustainable forests and published by The Salvation Army (United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland) on behalf of the General of The Salvation Army. Printed by Benham Goodhead Print Ltd, Bicester, Oxon. © Linda Bond, General of The Salvation Army, 2011