War Cry 10 October 2020

Eighties turntables to celebrate album day

10 October 2020 20p/25c

Faith to face the future TV’s Katie Piper on following God’s plan

‘I couldn’t wait to float in space’

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity providing services in the community, particularly to those who are vulnerable and marginalised. Motivated by our Christian faith, we offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK to all who need them, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. To find your nearest centre visit salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church

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 7495

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 UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN Tel: 0845 634 0101 Helpline: 020 7367 4888 Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill Editor-in-Chief: Major Mal Davies Published weekly by The Salvation Army ©The Salvation Army United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland ISSN 0043-0226 The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.

Printed by Walstead Roche Ltd, St Austell, on sustainably sourced paper

ONLINE a warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk @TheWarCryUK TheWarCryUK

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salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry

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EDITOR From desk From the editor’s desk

SINGING goodjob forthey you.would So say quoted on the ASK a childiswhat likescientists to have when they’re older BBC Future The experts saidprompt that singing and there are website. some responses that will a wry can smileboost from the our moods and sense of socialPrime connection. grown-up asking the question. minister, astronaut and pop it is with benefits in mind people have been star,Perhaps for example, are these normally dismissed by that adults as childish flights ofjoining fancy.online choirs during lockdown. In this week’s issue, the War Olowofoyeku joins a virtual rehearsal of of theroles.

London ButCry’s someSarah children do grow up to take on these types International Gospel Choir to for herself the pleasures Nicole Stott was fascinated bydiscover space travel throughout her childhood people have she found of singing alone,woman yet together with others. and, in 2009, became the tenth to perform a spacewalk.

Meanwhile Austen has found similar value in running.

In this week’s War Cry,Hardwick the former astronaut talks about how she This week’s War Cryworking also includes interview with realised her dreams in a joban that was truly outthe of marathon this world. runner who found that his sport regain his after But not everybody manages tohelped realise him theirtodreams.

Forlife some he suffered three strokes his and earlythe forties. people life has more downswhile thaninups struggle to deal with However, it was only running thatoverwhelming. helped Austen’s recovery. disappointments andnot difficulties can be His Christianare faith a vital him takingAlthough a positivethey Christians notplayed exempt frompart this in experience. approach allto that heand faced. are able to to turn God ask for his help during tough times, ‘When I Christians was in hospital,’ Austenwhy says, ‘I asked God tothem take to what sometimes can wonder God has allowed I was Author going through to transform me through suffer.

Dr Amy and Orr-Ewing has written a bookit.’ entitled Where Christians believe that God canpeople take any situation anything is God in all the Suffering? to help wrestle withor that question. do orthis face and use to make a positive impactgointhrough others’ Inthat an they interview week, Amyitasserts that when people lives or theirthere own. isThat been the experience of painter Oliver tough times, helphas available to them.

Pengilley.

‘If you’re struggling and suffering, there is a God who loves you developed successful an artist with some andOliver cares had for you and it isa worth callingcareer out toashim,’ she says. ofTV hispresenter work selling forPiper significant sums of money.and But,emotional as he tells Katie experienced physical the War after Cry this he grew frustrated. suffering sheweek, was subjected to a vicious acid attack in 2008. In didn’t meaning of it,’ he says. he travelsGod to while the ‘IWar Crysee thisthe week she explains how sheNow encountered churches over the world during worshipwas lying in herall hospital bed and to feltpaint him pictures tell her that everything sessions faith-based artwork has helped other people in going to beand all his right. their faith journey.

Godown is willing to be with us in every situation – the good as well as is an amazing truth that God can take any skill athat person has if the Itbad – and we, too, can experience the difference makes, or turn any situation we to him. they are facing and can transform it into something that can change their lives and the lives of the people around them.

Contents

What is The Salvation Army?

FEATURES 3

Eighties in a spin Listening back on album day

4

A show full of kindness and love Katie Piper on Songs of Praise

6

The question of suffering Author examines God’s response to human hardships

8

Space, the final frontier?

Astronaut recounts her experiences

REGULARS 12

Team Talk

13

Puppy Tales

14 Puzzles 15

6

War Cry Kitchen

8

Front-page picture: DAN KENNEDY

15

FEATURE PHILIP HALCROW

Track back National Album Day celebrates the Eighties, reports Philip Halcrow

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HO can say … what lies waiting down the line/ In the end of ’89?’ asked Abba in ‘Happy New Year’ on their 1980 release Super Trouper – one of the shortlisted titles in Radio 2’s poll of Eighties albums, run to mark National Album Day today (Saturday 10 October).

A lot lay down the line, in music and the wider world. Abba may have been ringing in the new decade but their song was far from a ringing endorsement of humanity. ‘Man is a fool,’ Agnetha sang, ‘dragging on, feet of clay/ Never knowing he’s astray.’

They followed up Super Trouper with The Visitors, made up of tracks reflecting the pain of break-ups, parental regrets at the passing of time and Cold War anxiety. It was the kind of album that, in building a mood, highlighted the strengths of that format – which is what, through re-releases, Twitter parties and radio features, National Album Day celebrates.

Kim Wilde, whose self-titled debut album reached No 3 in 1981, looks back on the decade fondly. She tells the War Cry: ‘Everyone I knew in the Eighties bought vinyl. My precious collection is still intact, from Dare by the Human League to Graceland by Paul Simon.

‘Albums sold in millions. The incentive for

making albums was strong from an artistic perspective and a financial one, so everyone was happy.’

Kim’s dad, musician and songwriter Marty Wilde, agrees that Dare was a high point. He says that, when frontman Phil Oakey ‘took on a pioneering synth and electropop sound, it paved the way for many artists throughout the Eighties. It was truly genre defining.’

Kim points out that the Eighties’ music ‘wasn’t all synths’. Hard rock bands enjoyed success and ‘punk reverberations continued from the late Seventies with new wave sounds’ from groups such as Blondie.

‘My music was a hybrid of pop, punk and rock,’ she says, ‘but it is my “pop” label that I’m most proud of.’

There were some joyful pop sounds echoing round, including danceable numbers on Kylie Minogue’s 1988 debut and what became the world’s biggest-selling album of all time,

Thriller by Michael Jackson.

But music could also reflect troubles.

Even the recording of Graceland was controversial because of Paul Simon’s decision to travel to apartheid-era South Africa during a cultural boycott to work with Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

On Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen was expressing his unease with American society.

Bob Dylan lamented on Oh Mercy that ‘we live in a political world/ Where peace is not welcome at all.’

Mixed with all the songs about jealousy, anger and betrayal, albums from the Eighties and any decade seem to highlight the truth of Abba’s observation about the human capacity for going ‘astray’.

But music has another recurring theme. It can be heard in ‘40’, the last song of War, which in 1983 became U2’s first No 1 album.

‘I waited patiently for the Lord,’ sings Bono. ‘He brought me up out of the pit/ Out of the miry clay.’

The song is quoting Psalm 40, which is found in the Bible.

It’s a psalm about being rescued. It’s about God’s love, mercy and faithfulness giving us a new start, a ‘new song’.

Many people have sensed that it sounds like a reason for hope.

The incentive for making albums was strong

10 October 2020 • War Cry • 3

KATIE PIPER talks to Claire Brine about finding faith after a traumatic acid attack

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DAN KENNEDY

ARLIER this year, on Mother’s Day, writer and television presenter Katie Piper appeared on BBC One’s Songs of Praise to share a significant personal experience that was a stepping stone in bringing her to faith in God. She told presenter Pam Rhodes that after suffering a vicious attack in 2008, in which a stranger threw acid in her face, she was lying in hospital when she heard the words: ‘All of this is going to be OK, but not immediately.

Please let go, please trust and surrender. Go on this journey but know that the outcome will be OK and that your life will be purposeful.’

Katie said: ‘I have no idea why, but I actually believed it and let go.’

In the years that followed her attack, Katie came to learn more about God. She started attending church. Last month, she was back on Songs of Praise to talk about faith – but this time as a presenter. She tells me that her new role is ‘a dream come true’.

‘Without sounding clichéd, I really feel like it is God’s plan for me,’ she says. ‘It has given me a brilliant opportunity to meet some incredible people and hear their faith-related stories.

‘Songs of Praise is such a special show because it really connects you

4 • War Cry • 10 October 2020

INTERVIEW

‘Presenting Songs of Praise was God’s plan for me’ not just to faith, but to others who share that with you. The stories are engaging, as are the beautiful hymns and talented musicians. I find a regular show full of kindness and love to be such a great calming mechanism.’

Katie’s first presenting assignment for the programme was to interview a Christian farmer from Wales who had lost his wife to suicide. His faith in the face of suffering had a strong impact on her.

‘David had become a volunteer after the loss of his wife, helping his local church and a mental health service for farmers,’ she says. ‘He used his faith

to help and give to others. He turned his grief into healing and I admired that immensely.’

While Katie enjoys hearing people’s stories of how they came to faith, she is also willing to open up about her own experiences and struggles. She tells me that she began exploring Christianity in her twenties, after the attack which left her face severely scarred and blind in one eye.

Back in 2008, the story of a young woman whose ex-boyfriend hired an accomplice to throw acid in her face made national headlines. The year after the attack, Katie told Sky News: ‘I’ll never forget the pain … I thought I was going to die in the street that day.’

In 2009, Katie waived her right to anonymity in order to raise awareness about burns victims. She told her story and how she was moving forwards in the Channel 4 documentary Katie: My Beautiful Face. That same year, she also set up the Katie Piper Foundation, a charity which supports burns victims through their recovery.

Katie says that it was during her own recovery that she found faith.

I really love listening to others and learning from them

‘I didn’t grow up in a religious household at all,’ she says, ‘but in my twenties I regularly visited a local church who showed me so much kindness. They were a huge part of setting up my charity.

‘Faith is a very personal journey, and I am cautious not to push it onto others. I still go to church now and encourage faith activities with my children. I follow lots of faith accounts on Instagram, because it’s important to acknowledge that faith looks different to everybody.’

Through her work with the foundation, Katie has helped many burns victims who had lost faith in humankind to find hope again. Her campaigning and her books – including her autobiography Beautiful, and the self-help title Things Get Better – inspire thousands with their message of positivity and body confidence.

‘Hope drives everything’ she says.

‘And confidence is a pillar in my life.

I have coping mechanisms for peace and clarity which include running, mindfulness exercises, meditation and reading. But I really love listening to others and learning from them. My charity and our volunteers give me hope and confidence – of kindness, selflessness, progress and recovery.’

10 October 2020 • War Cry • 5

Hope found in Dr AMY ORR-EWING, president of OCCA The Oxford Centre of Christian Apologetics, tells Sarah Olowofoyeku how faith can answer the problem of pain

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MID a global pandemic that has taken the lives of more than a million people, Amy Orr-Ewing has responded to a question that many may be asking: Where is God? Her book, Where is God in All the Suffering? seeks to offer an explanation for the existence of suffering in many forms, including grief, violence, natural disasters and systemic suffering.

‘In the book, I wanted to explore how the Christian faith responds to this question through the lens of love,’ she says. But rather than beginning with an answer to the question itself, Amy first takes a step back to ponder why we even ask it and what that reveals.

‘People assume that the question of why is there suffering is the starting place, and that’s people outside the church and the Christian world view too. But if you look at other approaches to suffering, it doesn’t make sense to ask why. From a karmic world view, what goes around comes around and you get what you deserve, either from this life or a previous life. You can’t rail against it, because it’s what you deserve.

‘Similarly, without God in the picture, from an atheist point of view, we are just a bunch of cells, we’re here by chance and all that exists is the physical. It doesn’t make sense to be concerned with the pain, suffering and injustice that happen

to people who aren’t connected to us and who we have no evolutionary benefit from helping.’

She believes that the human reaction to suffering reveals ‘something fundamental’ about being human.

‘Our asking of why, and our feelings of rage and anger when great injustices happen point to the fact that we are made in the image of God, that life is sacred. Whether we believe that or not, it shows up in our response to suffering.

The Christian faith uniquely explains why we respond the way we do.’

Over the past 20 years, Amy has supported many people through her Christian ministry. In the book, she acknowledges that everyone’s experience of suffering is different and that there are many different kinds of suffering. She writes about hard examples and shows that a loving God has something to say to each of them. But whatever it is that people are going through, the Christian faith says that God is with them.

‘All of us are going to suffer,’ Amy says. ‘The question is whether the way we view the world can give us a framework to explain what is happening to us as people and whether there’s any power in that view to help us in that place of suffering.

‘The Christian world view shows us from Genesis that God made a good world and he made human beings with the capacity to love, which means having the capacity to make decisions. We can make decisions for good and ill, and that’s how suffering and evil came into the world. But we don’t just have an explanation, we also have an encounter.’

That encounter was through Jesus, who Christians believe was God himself, who suffered when he was crucified.

‘Jesus came and voluntarily took on suffering,’ says Amy. ‘He has suffered with us and for us – as an act of redemption.

We are offered relationship with our Creator, who doesn’t empathise from a distance, because he entered into this world.

‘Because Jesus rose to life, Christians believe in the promise of eternal life,’ Amy adds.

‘At the end of the Bible, we have a promise of hope, a promise that one day every tear will be wiped from our eyes. There

All of us are going to suffer

Amy Orr-Ewing

6 • War Cry • 10 October 2020

suffering will be no more pain, no more injustice and no more suffering.

‘Christians are living in relationship with a God who loves us, redeems us and gives us purpose. His presence is with us as we suffer. And we’re living towards a future hope of this season one day being over.’

Amy, like many Christians, has not been immune to suffering, having had ill health and bereavement.

She has also supported those close to her through trauma.

But she has experienced what the Christian faith claims to offer. She gives one example.

‘I had a friend called Brenda who had

INTERVIEW

three children. The youngest was a baby when Brenda was very quickly diagnosed with cancer, then died. I was very close to her family, so I was walking behind her coffin at her funeral, holding her baby, and just felt such grief and sadness – for her husband, the children, the baby who won’t remember her mother. I felt really overwhelmed.

‘But in that moment of hopelessness and feeling overwhelmed, I expressed how I felt to God and I experienced his presence and hope for them. The hope that we would all one day see her again.’

That hope is available to everyone, whatever kind of pain they might be dealing with. Amy says: ‘If you’re struggling and suffering, there is a God who loves you and cares for you and it is worth calling out to him.’ l Where is God in all the Suffering? is published by the Good Book Company

Library picture posed by model

10 October 2020 • War Cry • 7

OUT OF THIS As World Space Week comes to an end today (Saturday 10 October), Nasa astronaut NICOLE STOTT tells Emily Bright what it’s like to live in space

W

ITH six seconds to launch, the space shuttle’s three engines ignited with a rumble. As the countdown clock hit zero, the white rocket boosters lit, triggering a shockwave throughout the shuttle while it soared upwards. Astronaut Nicole Stott remembers that her ‘body was shaking like Jell-O inside’. Adrenaline coursed through Nicole and her crew as the Discovery STS-128’s 7 million pounds of rocket thrust propelled them out of gravity and into space.

‘It was pretty intense,’ Nicole says of her first space flight. ‘It felt like three people were sitting on top of you as you were accelerating, but at the same time you had to keep an eye on the monitor and flick some switches or communicate with the ground. We went from zero to 17,500 miles an hour in eight and a half minutes.

‘Then all that weight and shaking stopped and I felt free. I couldn’t wait to float in space and get my face in front of a shuttle window.’

Nicole’s passion for space exploration dates back to her childhood. ‘I had always thought it must be really cool being an astronaut. Why would you not want to be one?

Growing up, I had watched the moon landing and had been inspired by it.’

Her curiosity was fuelled by her parents. Her dad built and flew small aeroplanes and the family

Nicole spent 104 days in space during her career as an astronaut

8 • War Cry • 10 October 2020

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RLD

INTERVIEW

t tot eS Nicol

spent a lot of time at the local airport.

Growing up in Florida, Nicole went to school just up the road from the Kennedy Space Center. She studied aeronautical engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, before completing a master’s in engineering management at the University of Central Florida.

‘While I was in college, the Kennedy Space Center was working on its space shuttle programme. I knew that was where I wanted to be. So I worked as an engineer on that programme from 1988 for about ten years.

It was wonderful to be up close with the space shuttle and its equipment.

‘I was responsible for attaching the orbiter (the aeroplane-looking part of the space shuttle) to the boosters and tank so that it was ready to go. I was also working in the launch control centre, out on the runway and in a hangar, as the space shuttle came together. In my last two years in the job, I focused more on what hardware we would need to build the International Space Station. I realised that what astronauts do was a lot like what I was already doing as a Nasa engineer.’

That revelation emboldened her to apply for the astronaut training programme in 1998. While her application was unsuccessful, she received a job offer

to work at the Johnson Space Center as a flight simulation engineer, where she taught astronauts how to land space shuttles. She later discovered that the role was a springboard for promising recruits to become astronauts. Nicole was selected for the astronaut training programme two years later.

‘There was a lot of classroom work, learning about the space shuttle systems, the International Space Station and the different kinds of science we’d be doing,’ she says. ‘Learning Russian was the hardest thing for me. We needed the language to communicate with our Russian space rescue vehicle. We also worked in mission control and learnt how to do spacewalks.’

I wonder what practical preparation astronauts undergo for life in space. One resource that is available to them, explains Nicole, is a zero-gravity aeroplane. ‘It had the nickname “vomit comet” because you

I couldn’t wait to float in space

didn’t feel well most of the time flying on it,’ she remarks matter-of-factly. ‘Imagine going over the top of a rollercoaster continuously 60 times in a row. It gave you these little spurts of 20 seconds of floating, but you can’t really train for a spacewalk in that time.’

Mercifully for the astronauts, there were more effective (and less nausea-inducing) training alternatives. ‘We used virtual reality, which is quite effective. However,

Turn to page 10

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10 October 2020 • War Cry • 9

From page 9 one of the best ways of preparing for a spacewalk is this ginormous pool called the neutral buoyancy lab. It’s about 200 feet wide, 200 feet long and 40 feet deep, with a mock-up of the space station in it.

‘We got into that pool in the same suits we would use in space. Down here, it weighs about 300 pounds, so you’re lifted in cranes and put into the water. Moving against the drag of the water and gravity for a six-hour session is probably the most physically challenging thing I’ve ever done. Thankfully, it’s easier in space than in the pool.’

The astronauts train in extreme environments to build a cohesive crew who can work together well under pressure. ‘We do team building training in

the Utah Canyonlands or take part in cold weather survival exercises,’ says Nicole. ‘We even lived underwater for 18 days in the Aquarius habitat. That was the best analogue to what it was like to live in space.’

Before travelling outside of Earth, Nicole travelled across the planet to work with other members of the International Space Station.

She says that more than half of her time at one point was spent in six-week stints in partner countries such as Germany, Japan, Canada and Russia.

Training to become an astronaut requires a certain mentality, Nicole explains: ‘You have to have this marathon attitude in mind. When we joined in 2000, we were told it would be three to five

The way I wash my hair in space is different

Nicole and her crew trained in a specialist underwater habitat for 18 days

10 • War Cry • 10 October 2020

years before our first flight.’

In February 2003, her space flight was delayed by the Columbia space shuttle disaster. The vehicle disintegrated on its return to the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.

Nicole and her crew were well drilled in the risks of space travel, having to deal with emergency simulations in their training. ‘In pretty much every training period, there’s going to be an emergency scenario to deal with as a team. There might be a fire, a toxic gas or hole in your spacecraft while the air is spewing out.’

The potential of being in a disaster may seem the hardest part of going to space.

However, when I ask her about the biggest challenges of her work, Nicole says that she was most worried about her family at home.

‘My son was seven when I flew the first time, so as a family, that’s a challenging thing to deal with. I was never afraid really of something happening to the vehicle, or the emergency that might occur in space.

When I was in space, my fear was more of something happening to my family down on Earth, and not being able to be there to help out with it.’

After years of intensive training, the day of Nicole’s space flight dawned. On 28 August 2009, the Kennedy Space Center launched Discovery STS-128 with Nicole staying on for a 91-day research mission.

Despite the extensive training that Nicole received, she says that there’s nothing quite like the real thing. ‘Working out at Kennedy, I watched a lot of launches, I’d spoken to my colleagues who’d flown before me, I’d been in the vehicle, but nothing prepares you for being strapped in for real.’

Nicole says that being in space is an adventure.

‘You’re moving in this graceful and free way. If you don’t Velcro your stuff to the wall or yourself, it floats away and you probably won’t find it again. Even the way I wash my hair in space is different.

‘What’s amazing is how quickly our

INTERVIEW

bodies and brains adapt to environments like that, although you need to deliberately do things that counteract bone and muscle loss.’ Nicole was the first of her team to try out the high-tech Colbert treadmill in space, named after the US TV chat show host Stephen Colbert.

She recalls that every day is different on the International Space Station. ‘There are science activities to do in the laboratory.

We also maintain the space station, so if a spacewalk needs to be done or that robotic space arm needs to be flown, we’re doing it. We’re also trying to communicate with the team on the ground in creative ways.’

While out in space, Nicole became the tenth woman ever to do a spacewalk. She was also the first person to grab on to a cargo vehicle using a robotic arm and the first person to create a watercolour painting in space.

‘Painting in space was a highlight, showing how we are putting the human into human space flight,’ she says.

‘There have been musical instruments on board, my friend Karen sewed and the photography from space has become more creative over time.’

She returned to space in 2011 in a 13-day space flight as part of the final mission for space shuttle Discovery. Then

Nicole founded the Space for Art Foundation, a children’s art therapy project in June 2015, she retired from a 27-year career at Nasa. Now Nicole channels her passion for space into her professional artwork, and has founded non-profit organisation Space for Art, which runs space-themed art therapy projects in schools, refugee centres and hospitals around the world.

Nicole says that her extraordinary experiences in space led her to reflect on

Nicole was the first person to create a watercolour painting in space

her Christian faith. ‘Certainly prayers are said as you’re sitting on the launchpad,’ she recalls. ‘When I was in space, there was definitely a spiritual sense there.

You’re looking out to see the expanse of the universe that seems unending.

‘It’s just a wonderful complement to faith in general. Space exploration underlines questions of who and where we are, and expands our knowledge of the universe. Meanwhile, my faith in God helps me make sense of it all. I don’t see a conflict between faith and science – I think we can merge the two to find answers.’

She adds that she was nonetheless surprised to find a ‘faith-centred group of people’ among her fellow astronauts. ‘The job is so technical and science-focused, and wouldn’t seem to involve religion,’ she says. ‘Yet I would say that those with a faith are in the majority. We even had our own Bible study and prayer group.’

Nicole found her faith in God as a child.

‘You can thank my mum for that,’ she says, then recalls being enthralled by a space edition of the National Geographic magazine when she was ten years old. As she read the poster pullout, she wondered what lay outside the known universe. ‘I remember looking at the edge of it, and thinking: “Is beyond that Heaven?” My mind was boggled by the idea of the unknown universe and for me, faith in God makes that all make sense.

‘As I grew up, it felt right to be a Christian and I think it’ll be that way for the rest of my life. My faith remains with me, regardless of whatever I’m doing.’

10 October 2020 • War Cry • 11

EXPLORE

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

j

Becoming a Christian

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

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

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

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit.

Team talk Team talk

talk ‘ ’ Examining the big questions Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

QUESTION one: is it time to scrap GCSEs? Michael Rosen thinks so. The children’s author – of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt fame – has written a letter to The Guardian, commenting on the ongoing disruption to schooling caused by the coronavirus, and warning the Department for Education that ‘the next round of exams could easily descend into chaos’.

After suggesting that ‘the easiest thing to do with GCSEs would be to suspend or abolish them’, Michael recommended replacing exams with a mixture of assessments. He wrote: ‘These one-off, end-of-course, do-or-die exams do not fully reflect what students can do.’

I think he’s right. Twenty years ago, when I crammed for my GCSEs, I remember feeling frustrated at the pointlessness of it all. Why did I have to memorise a bunch of facts, just so that I could be asked to recall a few of them on test day? Why did a stranger get to grade my ability for a certain subject, rather than a teacher who knew me and who could account for my accomplishments throughout the rest of the school year? Was my entire worth defined by how well I could perform in one exam in the summer?

The problem with exams is that they don’t tell the full story about the person sitting them. The final grades allocated so often miss the mark. Where exams fail is in acknowledging the value of certain life skills – those which can’t be learnt from a textbook. There’s no grade for being a good friend, for standing up for what’s right, for showing respect to those with a different point of view, for speaking honestly. And yet getting to grips with some of these behaviours would undoubtedly make the world a better place.

So said a great teacher.

A quick look in the history books shows me that Jesus didn’t lecture on chemistry, correct people’s grammar or grade them on their essay writing. But he did teach them the importance of loving one another. He showed them how reconciliation was a better solution to conflict than retaliation. He pointed out that giving our money away was more valuable than making it.

Question two: if we followed his teaching, can you imagine the results?

Exams don’t tell the full story

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

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a

War Cry 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN

Basic reading about Christianity Information about The Salvation Army

Looking for help?

Contact details of a Salvation Army minister Name Address Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

Or email your details and request to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk 12 • War Cry • 10 October 2020

EXPRESSIONS

puppy tales Life with a young dog leads Barbara Lang to look at the world from a new perspective

Jumping Jak W

q -

quick quiz 1

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What is IP short for in relation to the World Wide Web? Which sister does Pauline Quirke play in the TV series Birds of a Feather?

a 3

4

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What instrument did Pablo Picasso create out of cardboard in 1912?

How many chemical elements are there in the periodic table?

Who played Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the 2014 film Selma?

What animal is described using the adjective ‘vulpine’?

ANSWERS

HEN our tiny, and sometimes naughty, puppy Jak discovered our daughter’s small trampoline in the garden he was most excited. What was this? What was it for? And, most importantly, what did it taste like? Thankfully, Jak learnt the answers to the last question by sniffing and licking rather than chewing! However, the whole family laughed when we saw him having a tentative and bouncy walk across the surface of the trampoline for the first time.

Today, fully grown, and far too big to curl up on the mini trampoline, Jak still sits on it looking, at times, like king of the castle, especially if he is out in the sunshine.

Learning new things can often be great fun and can change our behaviour for ever. People through the centuries have discovered this, as is shown in stories we can read in the Bible. There are accounts of people who followed Jesus, listened to what he said and had their lives changed.

Even today, when people read and act on what Jesus said they have found that his words have helped them through life’s journey.

If we’ll curl up somewhere comfortable and read the stories of Jesus, God’s Son, we will find that we too can be inspired to live each day differently.

‘If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here’!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (New International Version )

BOOK REVIEW Still Standing Tola Doll Fisher SPCK TOLA DOLL FISHER planned to be married with children by the time she was 24. As it happens, she was married at 26, bereaved of her baby daughter at 28 and divorced by 30. In her relatable book of 100 life lessons (each only a page or two long), she shares the wisdom she has learnt over the years.

What strikes me about Tola’s writing is her unflinching honesty. Her courage to own her life story is admirable. She describes in detail what it was like to lose her daughter, Annie, a few hours after birth, and how hard she found daily life after facing that loss, as well as the collapse of her marriage.

This week is Baby Loss Awareness Week (9-15 October).

As someone who has personally experienced baby loss, I find Tola’s words affirming. Even through all of the trials she has faced, her faith in Jesus remains intact. I hope that her words will be a soothing balm for others, as it was for me, reassuring them that God can be ever-present and good, even when life doesn’t go according to plan.

Linda McTurk

10 October 2020 • War Cry • 13

1. Internet protocol. 2. Sharon. 3. A guitar.

4. 118. 5. David Oyelowo. 6. A fox.

CROSSWORD CROSSWORD

PUZZLES

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Display (7) 5. Droll (5) 7. Faultless (7) 8. Writhe (5) 10. Slide (4) 11. Neck support (8) 13. Coddle (6) 14. Legal (6) 17. Pet name (8) 19. Region (4)

21. Performing (5) 22. Lower (7) 23. Tender (5) 24. Ingredient (7) DOWN 2. Bravery (7) 3. Sugar (4) 4. Tie (6) 5. Retract (8) 6. Clan (5)

7. Deferred (9) 9. Arouse interest (9) 12. Youngster (8) 15. Pardoned (7) 16. Stain (6) 18. Boss (5) 20. Terrifying person (4)

SUDOKU

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

HONEYCOMB HONEYCOMB

2 3 8 1

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

1. Young swan 2. Make different 3. Musical instrument 4. Capital city of the Republic of Ireland 5. Not far away 6. Money left in a will

9 4 8 6 7

8

1 9 6 2 3

9

8 3 4 7

3

Answers

Wordsearch AMSTERDAM

BRING UP THE BODIES DISGRACE

LAST ORDERS

GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER LIFE OF PI

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN MILKMAN

SCHINDLER’S ARK

THE LINE OF BEAUTY THE LUMINARIES THE SEA

THE SELLOUT

THE TESTAMENTS THE WHITE TIGER

VERNON GOD LITTLE

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1. Exhibit. 5. Witty.

7. Perfect. 8. Twist. 10. Skid. 11. Headrest.

13. Pamper. 14. Lawful. 17. Nickname.

19. Area. 21. Doing. 22. Degrade.

23. Offer. 24. Element.

DOWN: 2. Heroism. 3. Beet. 4. Tether.

5. Withdraw. 6. Tribe. 7. Postponed.

9. Titillate.12. Teenager. 15. Forgave.

16. Smudge. 18. Chief. 20. Ogre.

HONEYCOMB 1. Cygnet. 2. Change. 3. Guitar.

4. Dublin. 5. Nearby. 6. Legacy.

7 3 6 1 9 2 8 4 5

5 8 9 7 6 4 2 1 3

2 1 4 5 8 3 9 6 7

3 4 7 6 2 8 1 5 9

1 2 8 4 5 9 3 7 6

9 6 5 3 7 1 4 2 8

4 7 3 9 1 5 6 8 2

8 5 1 2 3 6 7 9 4

6 9 2 8 4 7 5 3 1

SUDOKU SOLUTION

WOLF HALL

6 5 3 7 9

8 9 8 2

14 • War Cry • 10 October 2020

8 9 8 2

ordsearch ordsearch ordsearch ordsearch ordsearch

6 5 3 7 9

Look up, down, forwards, backwards

7 and 5 diagonally 2 3 1on the 9 grid 4 to8 find 6 these Booker prizewinners 3 8 1 4 2 6 7 5 9 6 9 4 7 8 5 3 1 2 V N N P K C T 1 7 Z R 5 6 I 4V V M B G S W O 3 9 2 8 R E E Y T U A E B F O E N I L E H T 9 6 8 2 5 7 1 3 4 O D R A B E H T N I N L O C N I L H 2 4 3 8 9 1 5 6 7 Q T D N Q N K Z F X C X D T R D L E P H L E O T A J W V Y 8 2 9 1 3 I 4 L E F O A L 6 7 5 S E I K G N U M U Q S P H P D B H U 4 1 6 5 7 2 P X Q E 8 9 3F M T W H L R W G Q K G G T N H C A K A H O R L O A Z E U H L 5 3 7 9 6 8 2 4 1 I

E I S S A Q S A D N I L Z R Z T O N M T T T K M C R A L I M P Q H P W A A E H O Z E S M E F I O U E S U R R T T G R Q L O T E L A T S T F G D I S I I D X W Q O E Z D E T G Q N Z E E G N E L U F M Q R L N S L U I E S T E D R Z P I Z G L D Y I E E R R S E R I S I Z K I O P A A W H H B K F H G M K F A M U Q S Z U M M C T Z N T D L Z M Q T F M L Y D Y I M S P J

3 2

3

7

D Pasta salad with garlic and mustard dressing Ingredients

Salt and pepper

Method

300g fusilli

½ cucumber, seeds removed, cut into chunks

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/ Gas Mark 4.

½ tsp mixed dried herbs

400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed

3tsp soy sauce

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

2 red peppers, finely sliced

4tbsp olive oil

50g olives

While the pasta is cooking, place the aubergine on a baking tray.

Mix the herbs, 1tsp soy sauce and 2tbsp olive oil together in a bowl and then use to coat the aubergine.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for 30 minutes in the oven, occasionally turning.

1 large aubergine, cut into chunks

1 celery stick, finely chopped 20g capers 50g currants 200g fresh tomatoes, cut into small chunks 100g sundried tomatoes, sliced 50g pumpkin seeds 2 garlic cloves, crushed 2tsp mustard 1 lemon, juice 2tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped

SERVES

2tbsp fresh oregano, roughly chopped

6–8

Beetroot, Puy lentils and spinach salad Ingredients

Method

100g Puy lentils, rinsed

Place the lentils in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes until the lentils are tender. Drain and leave to cool.

1tbsp wholegrain mustard 1tbsp walnut oil Salt and ground black pepper 100g spinach, washed, roughly chopped 150g cooked beetroot (not in vinegar), cut into small cubes 2tbsp walnuts, chopped 2 slices wholemeal granary bread, to serve

Once the pasta is cooked and drained, place in a large bowl.

Add the baked aubergine, cucumber, butter beans, peppers, olives, celery, capers, currants and both types of tomatoes to the bowl and set aside.

In a dry frying pan, gently toast the pumpkin seeds for 5 minutes.

Pour in the remaining soy sauce and cook for 30 seconds. Set aside. Once cooled, add to the pasta salad.

To make the dressing, mix the remaining 2tbsp olive oil, garlic, mustard and lemon juice together in a bowl and pour over the pasta salad. Toss together.

Garnish with the herbs, to serve.

Meanwhile, to make a dressing, mix the mustard and oil together with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Place the lentils into a bowl with the spinach, pour over the dressing and mix well.

Stir through the beetroot and season to taste.

Divide the salad into bowls, sprinkle with the walnuts and serve with the bread slices.

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

SERVES

2

10 October 2020 • War Cry • 15

Tim Parsons