War Cry 4 March

WAR CRY

Taking pride in the picture

How an award-winning photographer puts wildlife in the frame

‘You can fully recover from eating disorders’

What is The Salvation Army?

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.

What is the War Cry?

The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

WAR CRY

Issue No 7617

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major

Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow

Production Editor: Ivan Radford

Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku

Staff Writer: Emily Bright

Staff Writer: Claire Brine

Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk

Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston

Graphic Designer: Mark Knight

Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 101 Newington Causeway London

SE1 6BN

Tel: 0845 634 0101

Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org

Founder: William Booth

General: Brian Peddle

Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill

Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn

WHEN Hope Virgo was asked to draw her idea of her body shape, she was shocked when she discovered how different her concept was from reality.

As she tells us in an interview in this week’s War Cry, Hope was living with an eating disorder that had been triggered by a childhood trauma.

‘I was driven to a place where I had to find a way to deal with how I was feeling, a way to numb all these emotions,’ she says. ‘The eating disorder became a coping mechanism.’

Hope goes on to explain that, although she received treatment which enabled her to ‘function’, she doesn’t believe that she has always been able to access the full support that she has needed.

When she decided to open up about the abuse that contributed to her developing an eating disorder, it made life challenging for her. ‘I was hurting so much,’ she remembers.

But during that time, she found her way to church and she became a Christian. Although her problems have not disappeared, she has found that following Jesus has changed the way in which she handles those challenges.

‘When I’m having a difficult day, I try to read Scripture, pray and listen to worship music,’ she says. ‘I’m not great at it, but I try to know that, when my struggles do feel impossible, God is there throughout.’

Hope’s honest description of her experiences of life and faith will be familiar to many Christians. Having a faith does not make anyone immune from challenging days or a sense of being overwhelmed by circumstances. But when Christians face such times, they know that God will always be there for them, ready to help them cope.

The good news is that, even if they feel – as Hope does – that they are not very proficient in looking to God for support, he will still respond to anyone who genuinely tries to reach out to him. And that is a reality we can all be certain of.

INFO INFO

Front-page picture: GREG DU

Kept at bay

How will a grieving family cope af ter loss?

THE sound of smashing glass startles

a mum of four as she brushes her teeth before heading to bed. When she goes downstairs to investigate, she discovers her kitchen is on fire. ‘Get everybody out!’ she screams to her son.

As her kids congregate on the pavement, fire engines pull up, sirens blaring. But Mum is still inside the house. She’s trapped. And when the flames can’t be tamed in ITV1’s Morecambe-based crime drama The Bay, which returns on Monday (6 March), tragedy hits the Metcalf family.

While firefighters tackle the overpowering blaze, Detective Sergeant Jenn Townsend (Marsha Thomason) arrives on site and introduces herself to Dean Metcalf (Joe Armstrong), a family man who is clearly reeling from the shock of losing his wife so suddenly. He had spoken to her on the phone moments before she discovered the fire, and had raced home from work to witness his house burning and his wife screaming. Overcome with grief, he doesn’t know

what to say to his kids.

Jenn offers to help where she can. As a family liaison officer, she informs the Metcalfs that she will arrange a safe place for them to spend the night and an armed guard for their protection.

‘We can’t rule out the possibility that this was a deliberate attack,’ she explains gravely.

Later, when Dean is talking with Jenn about the incident, he reveals that he has no idea who might have targeted the family – or even wanted his wife dead.

He doesn’t know what to say to his kids

‘We’re just an ordinary family,’ he says. ‘I can’t get my head around it.’

Nor can he get his head round the idea of raising four kids as a single parent. His wife did most of the childcare. She sorted out all the family and school appointments. Now that she is gone, Dean knows that he has no choice but to take some responsibility. Will he be able to cope?

‘That’s what his storyline is all about,’ says actor Joe Armstrong. ‘Not just about how he might cope but also about how

he might develop in the process. How he might grow.’

Only time will tell what Dean’s approach will be. He could work to build stronger relationships with his children, helping the family to process their loss together or he could continue focusing solely on himself and turn away from their pain. The choice is his. But it’s not easy.

Choosing how we respond to difficult situations rarely is, especially when we feel utterly broken inside. But the choices we make in critical moments matter. And if we choose to go through life by putting our faith in God, asking him to guide us when all seems lost, then there’s no telling the ways in which we may develop. God can help us in ways we never imagined.

One Bible writer who lived through times of great hardship said that ‘those who trust in the Lord will find new strength’ (Isaiah 40:31 New Living Translation).

Though we can’t always change the bad things that happen in life, hope is not lost. God can bring healing to every broken heart and support us with his love through whatever lies ahead.

Dean is held back by firefighters as his house burns

Townsend supports a bereaved father and his children

TV preview by Claire Brine

WAR CRY WnRLD

Church leaders visit slave castle

THE Archbishop of Canterbury stands with the leaders of the Anglican church provinces of West Africa and the West Indies in one of the cells of a 17th-century castle where Africans were held before being taken on British slave ships to the Americas.

The Most Rev Justin Welby visited the castle on Ghana’s Cape Coast with Archbishop Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith and Archbishop Howard Gregory before joining with them at a service of reflection and reconciliation at the nearby Christ Church Cathedral.

Commenting on the visit, he said: ‘It is to the Church of England’s eternal shame that it did not always follow Christ’s teaching to give life. It is a stain on the wider Church that some Christians did not see their brothers and sisters as created in the image of God but as objects to be exploited. Our response must begin on our knees in prayer and repentance. But our response does not end there. We are called to transform unjust structures, to pursue peace and reconciliation.’

The Church of England has made a commitment to invest in communities affected by the transatlantic slave trade.

Do you have a story to share?

@TheWarCryUK warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

TheWarCryUK

B

salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

Monument for Lindisfarne’s Cuthbert

A MEMORIAL to Cuthbert of Lindisfarne has been restored after nearly 500 years, reported The Guardian English Heritage has unveiled the new monument at Lindisfarne Priory after the original was removed during Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.

HE daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed how she met her husband, actor Chris Pratt, at church, reported the Daily Mail.

The Drew Barrymore , Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt said: ‘We met each other at church. It was very sweet. But he didn’t like try and pick me up in church.’

Both Katherine and Chris (pictured) have been vocal about their Christian faith. In an MTV award acceptance speech in 2018, Chris said: ‘God is real, God loves you, God wants the best for you. Believe that. I do.’

‘This is the first time in 468 years that there has been something to memorialise the fact that Cuthbert was actually buried here,’ said Mark Douglas, senior properties curator.

Cuthbert was a seventh-century monk who became Bishop of Lindisfarne. He was famous for ‘his holiness, charm and teaching skills’, reported the newspaper, and he was said to have gifts of prophecy and healing.

The new memorial, designed by sculptor Russ Coleman, is a significant moment, said Mark, because ‘the presence of Cuthbert here is so, so important and it’s a mistake not to recognise that. He is not a sideline to the story, he is the story.’

SIPA US/ALAMY

‘I hid my anorexia from everyone for years’

To mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which began on Monday (27 February), HOPE VIRGO describes her experience of anorexia and how it led her to campaign for better treatment of the condition

Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

ON the cusp of her teenage years, Hope Virgo made a new ‘best friend’. This friend helped her to deal with how she was feeling and to choose what she would eat and how she would exercise. The more she listened to her friend, the better she felt about everything. But that friend wasn’t a person. It turned out not even to be her friend. It was her eating disorder.

‘The disorder was caused by different factors,’ she says, ‘predominantly by me not wanting to feel emotion. I had been sexually abused, and I was driven to a place where I had to find a way to deal with how I was feeling, a way to numb

all these emotions. The eating disorder became a coping mechanism. It gave me a sense of purpose. It helped me to keep going.’

Today Hope works as a mental health campaigner. During Eating Disorders Awareness Week, she will be running sessions in schools and visiting parliament to persuade MPs to support people affected by the condition. Her message is the same as every year: that people can fully recover from eating disorders and that these conditions are often hidden

Turn to page 6 f

Hope Virgo

in plain sight.

For a while, Hope’s anorexia was a secret problem.

‘I hid it from everyone for around four years,’ she says. ‘I didn’t want to talk about it with anyone, and I didn’t think there was anything the matter with me.’

By the time she was 17, people around her noticed that she was not OK and she was referred to the children and adolescent mental health services.

‘Even then, I couldn’t accept I had a problem,’ she recalls. ‘I spent six months as an outpatient, but every week I would lie my way through, pretending everything was fine. But really I was struggling. I remember getting up in the mornings and weighing myself, looking in the mirror, berating myself and then going to school, putting on a happy face. Looking back, I was always cold, always tired and always thinking about food. But I didn’t see any of that as a red flag that something wasn’t right.

‘Eventually, after six months, I was admitted to a treatment centre, where I spent a year living in recovery, learning about food, exercise and how to talk about the eating disorder.

‘I spent the first three days so angry and frustrated. I couldn’t get my head around what I was doing there or what was happening. One night a nurse came to see me and she brought these massive pieces of paper. She marked my head and feet on one of them and asked me to draw myself.

‘I drew an outline of my body. I then had to lie down on the same piece of paper

and she traced round the outside of me. The images were so different. I remember at the time thinking that she’d lied to me. But I had this realisation that there was something seriously wrong with the way I viewed myself. That night I told myself I was just going to start eating a little bit and see what happened.

‘Over the next couple of months, I began to work harder at the programme. I did a lot of therapy and had a lot of additional support.’

That was about 15 years ago. Hope is doing much better now, but would describe her recovery as ongoing.

‘Something that’s worth saying about eating disorders is that physically people can change,’ she says, ‘but mentally it takes such a long time for things to catch up. I remember people would notice that I’d put on weight, but I’d be thinking: “Mentally I’m still really struggling.” You have to get to a place where you start to communicate what is going on and what your needs are.’

After a year in treatment, Hope was able to function, although the prospect of recovery was still scary. When she relapsed in 2016, she was refused help because she was deemed to be at a healthy weight. Hope’s experience with the mental health service and statutory treatment led her to start the Dump the Scales campaign, which wants to stop treatment decisions being based solely on a person’s weight.

‘So much of the time we get someone to a space where they’re functioning,’ she says, ‘but they’re not fully recovered. Their weight might be at a certain BMI, but they’ve still got work to do and they don’t know how to live in the real world. I didn’t know how to choose something off a menu, I didn’t know how to shop for clothes. And I think that then adds a level of shame to things.’

Hope had grown up in a churchgoing family, but her faith was impacted after she was sexually abused. By the time she was admitted to the mental health hospital, she says, she had stopped believing.

‘I couldn’t understand why God wouldn’t heal me, why God would put me through something, that God would

I was always thinking about food

Hope’s relationship with food has improved over the years

allow someone to abuse me and that this would be the outcome. I was so angry about it. I hated faith, I hated Christianity. I didn’t like the fact that no one had any answers to my

Some years after leaving the mental health hospital, Hope decided to open up about her abuse and take the matter to

‘I felt my life imploding,’ she says. ‘I was hurting so much and working 24/7 to cope. One day I was crying on the Tube and someone spoke to me about their faith. Then my godmother kept telling me to go to church, so I thought I would give it a go. The first time I went, I wanted what everyone I saw there had – they looked so at peace.’

Hope took part in a course that allowed her to explore more about Christianity. ‘I became a Christian a couple of years ago,’ she says.

Although her problems did not disappear, it did change her as a person.

‘I got to a space where I had to find a

way to move forward,’ she says. ‘Faith is a big part of that now. When I’m having a difficult day, I try to read Scripture, pray and listen to worship music. I’m not great at it, but I try to know that, when my struggles do feel impossible, God is there throughout.

‘Sometimes I’m at peace with not being completely healed and sometimes I’m not, but it has been important for me to make space where I can feel anger at God and be honest about that with people. I used to be afraid of being angry, thinking he would punish me, but the more I learnt about God, the less I felt that. I think it’s healthy to sometimes be angry with God.’

Thanks to her life experiences, Hope is able to help others.

‘For me, it’s about speaking up,’ she says, ‘sharing my experience, changing best practice and making sure that every single person can access support. It’s about making sure that they know they can change and things can get better. It’s about bringing those conversations into the light, because only when we are in the light can people really heal.’

I want to bring these conversations into the light

Hope speaks at the House of Commons at the launch of the UK’s first eating disorder manifesto, which calls for a strategy to tackle the rise in people affected by the conditions

MANE THE

EVENT

World Wildlife Day, which took place yesterday (Friday 3 March), celebrates animals and plants and the contribution they make to our lives. GREG DU TOIT has spent two decades capturing the animal kingdom on camera. He recalls some of the close encounters he has had with animals in the African bush, talks about how he has prayed his way out of hazardous situations and explains how he experiences God through nature

Interview by Emily Bright

‘WHEN I got closer to the forest verge, I heard a twig snap. I looked into the foliage, and out of this gloomy interior, a buffalo bull was walking towards me,’ remembers South African wildlife photographer Greg du Toit of the time when he was out birdwatching on a game reserve.

‘The forest was so thick that it was an impenetrable wall to the buffalo. Inadvertently I’d cornered him, and he charged at me. I turned to run, tripped and fell, and I got up to run again. I tripped for the second time, and then I realised that there was no time to get up and try to escape. I covered my head, my binoculars snapped in half.

‘The buffalo ran past me, and then turned and went back into the forest. Because I’d tripped and fallen flat, he saw that any perceived danger had disappeared.

‘Here in Africa, I’d say 9 out of 10

dangerous wildlife encounters are with buffalo bulls, because when they get old, they become cantankerous and they lose fear.’

Having worked as a safari guide and camp manager for years, Greg is no stranger to close calls with African animals. He has also spent two decades photographing animals in the African bush, and in 2013 won the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, run by the Natural History Museum in London, with his photograph of elephants at a watering hole in Botswana.

home, when this bull charged,’ he says. ‘Normally you stand your ground. The golden rule out in Africa is never run. But I looked at the young bull, and he came running straight towards me.

Free-ranging lions symbolise the ultimate wilderness

‘I looked at the house, and I figured that I’d make it back in time. I came screeching round the corner with this elephant hot on my heels. My wife was sitting on the veranda, reading, and I dived and slipped through the doorway, and the elephant locked its legs and my poor wife got showered in dust. We laugh about it now.’

Over the years, Greg has had his fair share of close encounters with elephant bulls, including one in Ruaha National Park in Tanzania.

‘I was on a clearing in front of my

Many of his experiences of living and working out in the bush are detailed in his memoir, Wilderness Dreaming. His love for the African savannah, which sounds like his natural habitat, goes right back to his childhood in Pretoria.

‘From when I was young and going on

Greg du Toit

family holidays to the Kruger National Park, I developed a love for nature and the bush,’ he tells me. ‘When I finished high school at the age of 18, I left home and worked in a camp for lodging. But my goal was to be as close to nature as possible.’

After working for a couple of safari camp managers as their handyman and assistant, he was invited to film wildlife for a virtual safari website, during which time he fostered his love of photography. He also took on managerial positions at safari camps in Botswana and Kenya.

Throughout his career, he has had some strange experiences with the human species too. In his book, he writes about the time that a tourist leapt out of a safari truck to rescue her son’s jumper from

a herd of elephants and recalls a Marie Claire photoshoot held in a remote safari lodge.

‘When you choose a career in wildlife – whether that’s working as a safari guide, a safari camp manager or a wildlife photographer – you are always going to have to deal with people,’ he says, ‘and when I wrote my book, I included all the funny people stories, because human

beings are bizarre.’

While Greg ran safari lodges, his real love – photography – blossomed. There was one particularly elusive subject that he was keen to capture.

‘Free-ranging lions live outside of a park or a game reserve, on community land. For me, they symbolise the ultimate

Turn to page 10 f

GREG DU TOIT

Greg enjoys a close encounter with an elephant in a concession bordering Amboseli National Park in Kenya

From page 9

wilderness, because you only get these lions in small pockets across the continent. To get a photograph of one was something that I knew I would cherish for the rest of my life.’

Taking the prized photograph would be easier said than done.

‘These lions have learnt to avoid human beings at all costs,’ he says. ‘They’re strictly nocturnal – during the daytime they’re like ghosts – but I was still shooting on film and needed to photograph them in the daylight.’

Greg drove a safari truck to the floor of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, but the lions were nowhere to be seen. He then discovered lion tracks by a waterhole, decided to ditch his vehicle and dug a hole next to the waterhole, concealing his spot by putting a cover over it. But the lions never emerged.

One stifling day, about a year after Greg had first built his photography hide, he jumped in the waterhole to cool off. Lying on his back in the water, he was amazed to see that a waterbuck bull walked into the waterhole and started drinking right in front of him.

‘When I was submerged in the water, the animals couldn’t smell me, and they also didn’t see me,’ he explains. ‘So I decided that I’d sit in the water and wait

for the lion to come and drink.’

Greg then spent six hours each day at the waterhole.

‘About three months later,’ he continues, ‘these lions came and drank right on the edge of the water. I was able to photograph two lionesses and then

eventually the two lionesses with their seven cubs, all drinking in a row with me sitting in the water in front of them. The lions were literally one leap away, and I felt my life was in danger.’

As a Christian, Greg decided to pray for his safety. ‘Prayer helps greatly in those

Free-ranging lion tracks

Greg in a waterhole while working on a project to photograph elephants in Botswana

sorts of scenarios, because when life’s circumstances become beyond you, it’s wonderful to be able to turn to God and just ask him for help,’ he says. ‘And every time I’ve been delivered. I’m still here.’

While Greg was delighted to capture the photo, a growing sense of dread crept over him when the sky darkened and the lions still hadn’t left the waterhole.

‘I was alone. There was no vehicle and there was no radio for me to call for help. With these two lionesses lying on the edge of the waterhole, I decided that I’d better get out of there before it was pitch-dark, because I wouldn’t be able to see a thing and they can see perfectly well at night.

‘So I slowly started inching my way out of the waterhole, because every time I moved, I attracted their attention. I would wait for them to just look away and then I’d move again. But as I got to the edge of the waterhole, the water

got shallower, and more and more of my body was becoming exposed.

‘These two lionesses were becoming more and more interested in exactly what type of creature I was. Eventually I put enough distance between me and the two lionesses, and I stood up. And when I stood up, they leapt to their feet and they got the fright of their life. They were surprised that the waterhole had spawned a human being. It was pretty tense.’

Greg escaped and ran home.

creative, which is something the Creator put inside of me. I’m also able to put my own spin on his work through my camera settings and how I use the light.’

Because of travel commitments, Greg is unable to participate regularly in a church community. But he says, that in a ‘very real way’, nature has become his church.

I felt my life was in danger

It’s sometimes said that people suffer for their art. That was certainly true for Greg, whose commitment came at a high cost.

‘When I was sitting in the water, the aquatic parasites thought I was manna dropped from heaven. I ended up having a worm that was living inside my foot, fly maggots hatching out of my back and bilharzia, a type of infection you get from parasitic water snails. I also had malaria a couple of times during the project.

‘As it turns out, human beings should not sit in a stagnant pool of water for months on end.’

But for Greg, it was a special project, and worth it. Kenya now has fewer than 2,000 lions.

Greg says that his wildlife photography and his Christian faith go hand in hand.

‘Photography is a way for me to be

‘It’s something that helps my faith,’ he says. ‘It’s like a pillar for me. There’s a verse, Romans 1:20, that I always think about, which speaks about how God has made his eternal power, his divine nature and his invisible qualities known through what he has created.

‘And these show up in many ways and forms, not just in the big, beautiful, charismatic animals, but also in the smaller things, like the little wildflower.

That’s my happy place. It’s something I take delight in.’

This image of free-ranging lions at a waterhole in Kenya was the culmination of 15 months of photography

THE War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances, for publication. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

jBecoming a Christian

There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God

Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

’

Team talk ‘TEA M TALK

Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

Words are of giganticus importance

‘WE can all challenge gender stereotypes, call out discrimination, draw attention to bias, and seek out inclusion,’ say the organisers of International Women’s Day, which takes place next Wednesday (8 March). ‘A focus on gender equity needs to be part of every society’s DNA.’

Hear, hear. I think many people would agree that stamping out misogyny is the right thing to do. Women deserve the same rights and respect as men – end of. But when publishing imprint Puffin announced that it had rewritten parts of Roald Dahl’s children’s books to remove language that could be deemed offensive to women and other groups in society, not all the reviews were positive. According to The Guardian, critics described the edits, which altered passages connected to gender and race, as ‘absurd censorship’.

Detailing some of the changes, The Telegraph pointed out that Mrs Twit of The Twits was now described in the text as just ‘beastly’ rather than ‘ugly and beastly’. In another of Dahl’s stories, the line ‘She really needs a good spanking’ was changed to ‘She really needs a good talking to’.

Though some critics are calling the edits ‘cultural vandalism’ and Puffin announced that the ‘classic texts’ without the recent revisions would be published under the Penguin logo, my own feeling is that it’s always valuable to reflect on literature from the past and ask ourselves how it fits in with the world today. Is the narrative from our favourite childhood book still relevant or have times changed? Are the characters we grew up with described with outdated words that promote unhelpful attitudes for modern readers? I also found myself wondering how the books that I read in my youth shaped my views of the world and the people in it, for better or for worse.

Whatever we make of the Roald Dahl rewrite debate, one point that both sides appear to agree on is that words matter. Books have the power to be educational and inspiring – but the words inside them can also be harmful and unhelpful. Whoever we are, and whatever our gender, it’s our responsibility to choose our words carefully so that, together, we can work to create a society that treats everyone fairly.

Books can be inspiring

QUICK QUIZ

1 2 3 4 5 6

On the London Underground, which line is represented by the colour red?

What is the biological name for the windpipe?

Which scientist received the Nobel prize for physics in 1921?

What is the common name for the Religious Society of Friends?

In which European city are the Rialto Bridge and Doge’s Palace?

Who plays Otto in the comedy drama film A Man Called Otto?

In this occasional series, Nigel Bovey unlocks the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus speaks to his disciples about in Matthew’s Gospel

The now and then Kingdom

THE Lord’s Prayer is probably the most memorised part of the Bible. Daily, millions of Christians implore: ‘Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven’ (Matthew 6:10 New International Version). But what does it mean?

In the teaching about prayer that Jesus gives his followers, he sets out a pattern for prayer (Matthew 6:9–13). The prayer starts with God –‘Our Father’ – the Creator and King of the universe.

So how does God the Father’s Kingdom come? In one way, the answer is in the subsequent lines – ‘your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven’. When everyone acknowledges, attunes themselves to and adopts the divine will in their every action and attitude, it will be Heaven on Earth.

Through word and deed, Jesus spreads the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven. His teaching is that the Kingdom ‘has come near’ (Matthew 4:17), but he also knows that the Kingdom has not fully come and will not fully come during his earthly ministry. There is more for him to do. There is yet a future stage when, as the promised Messiah, he will come to the Earth ‘in his glory, and all the angels with him’ and ‘he will sit on his glorious throne’ (Matthew 25:31).

There is, therefore, a now-but-not-yet aspect to the Kingdom. Praying ‘your Kingdom come’ can be a valid short-term request, such as a prayer for peace in a war-torn region, or a longer-range aspiration, such as: ‘Come, Lord Jesus, establish your spiritual reign here on Earth.’

The arrival of ‘Heaven’ to ‘Earth’ denotes different realms. Jesus also teaches his followers to pray that God will ‘deliver us from the evil one’ (Matthew 6:13). In doing so, he points to there being a different ruler of the earthly realm. The annihilation of evil is at the heart of Jesus’ coming. As one early Christian writer says: ‘The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the Devil’s work’ (1 John 3:8). When that happens, God’s Kingdom will have come to Earth.

A prayer for peace is a valid request

PUZZLES

Quick CROSSWORD

Look

Chicken and veg curry

SERVES 4

MONEY WISE MEALS

EQUIPMENT

Chopping board

Chopping knife Peeler

Large pan with a lid

Measuring jug Wooden spoon

INGREDIENTS

2tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1cm pieces

1 head broccoli,

Heat the oil in the pan and cook the onion and carrots for 15 minutes with the lid on. Stir occasionally until they are softened

Add the chicken and cook for 15 minutes, until slightly browned, stirring regularly to make sure nothing sticks to the pan. Then add the broccoli and cauliflower and cook for 5 minutes, until

Stir in the tomato purée, curry powder, garlic granules and chicken stock until combined. Let the curry simmer for 10 minutes, until slightly thickened and the vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

God heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds