13 April 2024

Audiences are still in step with Guys and Dolls

WAR CRY

The beat goes on

Police drama Blue Lights returns to BBC1

Folk singer turns to home for poetic inspiration

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.

Your local Salvation Army centre

WHO would have thought that a musical featuring an organisation that looks and sounds very similar to The Salvation Army would have audiences flocking to a large London theatre?

But that’s exactly what’s happening at the Bridge Theatre, where Guys and Dolls is enjoying a successful revival more than 70 years after its first performance in the UK. In fact, the new immersive production has been nominated in the best musical revival category at the Olivier awards, which are due to take place on Sunday (14 April).

In this week’s War Cry one of its stars, Jonathan Andrew Hume, tells us why he thinks a show set in the 1950s and centred on a Christian organisation trying to convert gamblers and crooks to the faith still resonates with audiences.

‘It’s about good versus bad,’ he says. ‘You’ve got gamblers and sin up against purity and redemption. But I think that the message at the heart of the show is that life isn’t as black and white as that. There are blotches on everyone’s lives.’

That’s a message most of us can relate to. While there can be areas in our lives where we may be pleased with the way we do things, we will also have other areas where we know we could be so much better.

The plot of Guys and Dolls, though, gives us a glimmer of hope that even the worst parts of our personality can be changed. Jonathan says in his interview: ‘Ultimately, the message of the story is that love wins over all.’ And in our own lives, God and his love can help us to overcome our shortcomings.

Even our worst blotches can be cleaned up if we ask him to forgive us and put us on the right path. There is always hope for us to become better people when we put God centre stage.

INFO INFO

Arresting drama

Storyline deals with dangers of drug-ridden district

TV feature by Emily Bright

SPIRALLING drug use is taking its toll on the streets of Belfast. It’s making the city less safe and adding to the daily dangers faced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in BBC1’s Blue Lights, which returns for a second series on Monday (15 April).

Police officers Stevie Neil (Martin McCann) and Grace Ellis (Siân Brooke) are called out to a homeless man who has taken an overdose. Then an incident occurs at a pharmacy, where an 18-year-old – with a history of theft and drug-related offences – has attacked a member of staff. When Stevie and Grace attend the crime scene, a confrontation with the culprit puts their working partnership on a knife-edge.

Such call-outs are the tip of the iceberg. Detective Sergeant Murray Canning (Desmond Eastwood) from the paramilitary crime task force has been drafted in after a spike in crime statistics. The supply of drugs in the city centre has increased dramatically over the past year, resulting in a rise in street crime and overdoses.

Canning had previously broken up the network of the main drug dealers on an estate, the McIntyre crime group. But the vacuum has been filled by opposing gangs, and he is determined to shut down the drug supply in the capital for good –demanding much of an already overstretched PSNI.

The police are not the only ones who feel they are approaching breaking point.

be in dangerous or illegal situations, but we can face challenges through strained family relationships, illness or trying to keep our heads above water financially.

Someone who had to fight his fair share of personal battles was a man called David. When he became King of Israel, he tried to uphold the rule of law and do what was right.

The police approach breaking point

Others are feeling the effect of rival gang leaders Jim Dixon (Chris Corrigan) and Davy Hamill (Tony Flynn), who are the drug kingpins in the area. Jim is planning to scale up his operations by recruiting his reluctant taxi driver Lee Thompson (Seamus O’Hara). But Lee – fed up with doing Jim’s bidding – is already pushed to his limits.

Perhaps it’s the case that being stretched to the limit is an experience many of us are able to relate to. It may not

In the times where he faced overwhelming odds, he turned to his faith for support.

He once prayed: ‘Save me, Lord; come quickly, Lord, to help me’ (Psalm 40:13 New International Version). David and many generations of people who have trusted in God since have found that he has come when they needed it the most.

We can all ask God for help. He will enable us to get through our toughest times, no matter how overwhelming our circumstances may seem. If we call on him, he will come to our aid – no questions asked.

Stevie and Grace face danger on the front line

talk talk Team talk Team talk ‘ ’

j TEA M TALK

Have you heard the word?

Claire Brine gives her take on a story that has caught the attention of War Cry reporters

‘LYRICS have become simpler over time,’ said a team of European researchers after analysing the words in more than 12,000 Englishlanguage songs.

According to the study – which I read after scanning the summary featured on the Guardian website – researchers studied the lyrics of songs across the genres of rap, country, pop, R&B and rock from 1980 to 2020. They found that over the 40-year time frame, song words had become simpler in terms of ‘vocabulary richness, readability, complexity and the number of repeated lines’.

Featured in the online journal Scientific Reports, the study also commented on the tone of lyrics and how they had evolved.

‘Lyrics seem to become more emotional with time for rap, and less positive for R&B, pop and country,’ it said. ‘Also, we observe a trend towards angrier lyrics across all genres.’

Simple words convey deep truths

I guess that as the world changes, our taste in music and the words we use to express ourselves are bound to evolve too. But I believe that choosing simple words as opposed to more complicated phrases is not necessarily a bad thing. In speech or song, simple words get to the point. They can convey deep truths. They are easy to remember –and also to understand.

Though the words of the Bible were written hundreds of years before any lyric study could take place, many of the songs it contains in the Book of Psalms stick in my mind for their simplicity. Psalm 136, in particular, uses repetition and easy-to-understand words to communicate the all-encompassing love of God.

It says: ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures for ever’ (136:1 New International Version).

Throughout the psalm, that first statement about how God’s ‘love endures for ever’ is repeated 25 times, leaving us no room to doubt or question the writer’s message. He believes that God’s love goes on and on, and he wants everyone to know about it for themselves.

In my own experience, I have found such words to be true. God’s life-changing love really does endure. It has a power that keeps going, no matter what the future holds. And it’s something that I know I’ll be thankful for – not just today, but for ever.

WAR

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SLEEP pods for rough sleepers have arrived at a Salvation Army church in Peterborough.

The three pods were installed outside Peterborough Citadel after the Light Project, a charity supporting people sleeping rough in the city, secured funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Peterborough City Council.

Each pod caters for one person and contains a single bed, shower, toilet, sink, window, storage and radiators. Staff and volunteers at Peterborough Citadel will support the people living in the pods by providing hot meals, regular visits and invitations to take part in church activities.

Major Gary Chaundy, who leads the church, said: ‘This project has shown that ending homelessness is about partnership and a recognition of the importance of providing safe, supported environments.’

WAR CRYWnRLD

Reparations will ‘build better future’

THE Archbishop of York has defended the Church of England’s £100 million slavery reparation scheme.

Writing on the Times website, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell said that the fund was designed to bring ‘healing, reconciliation, justice and repair’ in response to the church’s historical links to slavery. An investigation by its church commissioners last year discovered that the Church of England’s investment fund made money from the South Sea Company – which had an exclusive 30-year contract to transport slaves from Africa to South America from the 1710s onwards – from 1739 until well into the 19th century.

The Archbishop of York explained: ‘By creating this fund, the Church of England is acknowledging a shameful chapter in our collective history.

‘After much prayerful consultation, not least with the descendants of those who were themselves enslaved, we have come to believe that the best way of responding is to create a fund that will build a better future.

‘No amount of money will be enough to repair the horrors of the past, but to do nothing when we have the opportunity to act would mean we fail to be a church that looks like Jesus Christ, a church which loves justice, which seeks reconciliation, which binds up the wounds of those who are hurting.’

Nuns reprise their music habit

A GROUP of nuns whose debut classical choral album Light for the World reached the Top Five in the UK charts in 2020 are returning with a new album next month.

Recorded at the nuns’ convent in West Sussex and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in London, My Peace I Give You by the Poor Clares of Arundel uses references to biblical texts and musical influences dating back to the 13th century to provide messages about peace for a fractured world and the importance of caring for the planet.

At the heart of the album is ‘The Canticle of Creation’, written by Francis of Assisi in 1124 as a letter of thankfulness to God for Earth’s beauty.

Ahead of the release, group member Sister Graça explained: ‘My longing is for our music to touch people’s hearts, and that’s been the response. A lot of people are saying: “I don’t believe in God, but there is something about your music that takes me somewhere that I had never experienced before.”’

Hand of God

questioned by Pope

POPE Francis recalls meeting footballer Diego Maradona in his new autobiography, Life: My Story Through History The Times reports: ‘He was dying to crack a joke when he met Diego Maradona, the Argentinian footballer who thanked the “hand of God” after scoring a goal with his fist against England in the World Cup.

‘Receiving his fellow Argentinian at the Vatican years after the 1986 match, Francis initially avoided discussing Maradona’s notorious handball and the two talked about world peace. But as the footballer left, Francis asked him: “So, which is the guilty hand?”’

ABACA PRESS/ALAMY

ALAMY

CHRIS DONOVAN Poor Clares of Arundel on the steps of Abbey Road Studios

Bringing it all back home

In a musical departure, folk singer CARA DILLON has written a series of poems – made into an album and accompanying book – reflecting on the people and sense of place that shaped her Interview by

Philip Halcrow

‘IAM a youth inclined to ramble,’ sang Cara Dillon at the end of her self-titled 2001 debut album, in a song telling the story of someone leaving his sweetheart behind in ‘Erin’ and departing ‘to some foreign country’. It’s the sort of traditional song that Cara says she has been singing all her life – ‘songs about Ireland, emigration and unrequited love’. But her latest project is different.

On Coming Home, an album and book of poems, Cara – who has settled in Somerset and tours all over the world with her musical partner and husband Sam Lakeman – offers her own reflections on her roots.

‘I grew up in Dungiven, a small town between the big cities of Belfast and Derry,’ she tells me. ‘For generations, it has had a strong sense of culture, identity and tradition. In school everyone’s taught the local songs and legends, handed a tin whistle or fiddle and encouraged to play.’

Cara says she was ‘saturated in music’ at festivals and in pub music sessions during which ‘old men and women would sing songs passed down from their grandparents’.

She began making music with school friends. Then, when she was 19, she had

where I’m from and what it means to me.

‘I started writing poetry – just for myself. Then, after two or three months, I read it out to Sam, and he loved it.’

The couple turned the poetry into the Coming Home album, with Cara speaking and singing the lines over music, and a book containing the poems and the stories behind them.

to make a decision – whether to go to university or join a band.

‘I decided to be adventurous,’ she says. ‘I left home and signed a record deal. It was a big step, though it didn’t really seem like I was leaving home, because I was going back and forward all the time. When I was travelling the world, I was just kind of going with the flow.’

When her many years of touring and travelling back to Ireland were abruptly halted in 2020, Cara paused for thought.

‘During lockdown, I had this big stretch of time when I started to think about

‘The album and book are about my experience of growing up and the stories that I heard,’ says Cara.

‘My father passed away 20 years ago, and my mother is 92. They didn’t have electricity or running water when they were growing up. I’d always heard my mother talk about her mother – who would sing songs by an open fire – and about what it was like in this rural part of Derry, but I’d never really listened properly. During the stillness of lockdown, it was as if I was able to really hear my mother’s amazing stories and wisdom. I started to think about her and my own upbringing.’

Cara Dillon’s ‘Coming Home’ album and book

Such wisdom is captured in the poem ‘Giving’.

‘My mother has a great knack of being generous nearly to a fault,’ Cara explains. ‘People would come to our house, and she would give them her homemade soda scones or wheaten bread. She would say that you should never go to anyone’s house empty-handed. It’s where the line “Give anything, but give” comes from.’

As well as wisdom, Coming Home references faith.

priory,’ says Cara, ‘and people would come for cures for all kinds of skin ailments. But I also talk about the importance of being spiritual and quiet and taking time to reflect, because life can get busy.’

You feel like you’re not on your own when things get tough

‘I’m a Catholic, and was brought up with going to Mass every Sunday,’ Cara says. ‘But it’s more than that – I think the land is very spiritual.’

One poem, ‘The Well’, refers to a sacred site in Dungiven.

‘I write about the holy well, which is on the site of a 12th-century Augustinian

Another poem, ‘Mysteries’, reflects on prayer.

‘In our house there were lots of candles,’ says Cara, ‘which would be lit in times of need. If somebody wasn’t well, the candle would be lit and prayers said. It was wonderful to grow up with that: you feel like you’re not on your own when things get tough.’

In 2016 Cara used a suddenly remembered song from her past when she put together Upon a Winter’s Night, an album and live set – which she still performs – with the aim of telling ‘the story

of Christmas and the meaning behind it’.

She says: ‘There’s a song in the Irish language “Rug Muire Mac do Dhia”, which means “Mary bore the Son of God”. I grew up hearing it every Christmas. I’d first heard it sung with a harp. I had completely forgotten about it, but when we came to think of songs for the Christmas album, it popped into my head.

‘Every year people come back to our Christmas show, saying that it offers a spiritual side that sometimes gets lost.’

Currently touring the UK, Cara believes that all her music-making has a spiritual dimension.

‘Whenever we’re in the studio or on stage, I hope that if there’s somebody that needs to hear this music, that it will reach them,’ she says. ‘Music is healing. It always has been for me.’

l For more information visit caradillon.co.uk

Cara in front of Eslin, the cottage where her mother grew up

Show of faith

Guys and Dolls actor JONATHAN ANDREW HUME explores the role of sin and salvation in the musical

Interview by Claire Brine

FORGET rockin’ the boat, an immersive production of Guys and Dolls is rockin’ the theatre world. The Frank Loesser musical – in which the Save a Soul Mission seeks to convert a ragtag bunch of gamblers to Christianity – is currently playing at the Bridge Theatre in London. And on Sunday (14 April), the show’s cast and crew will find out if the production has won the Olivier award for best musical revival.

‘When audiences step into the theatre, they can taste the New York pretzels,’ says Jonathan Andrew Hume, who plays gambler Nicely-Nicely Johnson, when we chat over the phone before an evening performance. ‘They can read the city’s newspapers. They can sit down at Mindy’s Restaurant on Broadway, or visit Adelaide’s Hot Box cabaret bar.

There

‘Without giving away any secrets, this is a show where the audience can literally follow the cast around the stage. In certain scenes, they are just centimetres away from the actors.

are blotches on everyone’s lives

‘In the show’s opening number, there’s a moment when my character is reading the paper and talking about the bet he’s going to place on a horse – and I really do show the audience the newspaper page that I’m looking at. From start to finish, the whole production is a brilliant visual spectacle.’

First staged in 1950, Guys and Dolls tells the story of a city entrenched in sin and the band of Christians

who try to lead it to salvation. Sarah Brown of the Save a Soul Mission – a movement based on The Salvation Army – urges the gamblers and drinkers she encounters to ‘follow the fold and stray no more’.

‘It’s about good versus bad,’ says Jonathan. ‘You’ve got gamblers and sin up against purity and redemption. But I think that the message at the heart of the show is that life isn’t as black and white as

Jonathan Andrew Hume

Sarah Brown (Celinde Schoenmaker) is on a mission to save souls

MANUEL HARLAN YELLOWBELLY

the Boat’, Nicely-Nicely stands before his fellow gamblers and members of the Save a Soul Mission to recount a dream that he has had.

‘He talks about being on a boat and having his dice with him,’ explains Jonathan. ‘He wants to play craps with the other passengers, but then he realises that none of them want to dabble in sin – so they tell him to sit down and stop rocking the boat before they fall into the sea.

‘As the song goes on, I feel that Nicely-Nicely starts to listen to the words he’s singing and recognises that he needs to change his ways. He learns that the glory and the joy that he has been chasing in gambling can be found in following the right path. It’s a moment in the show in which everyone is encouraged to look at themselves.’

that. There are blotches on everyone’s lives. And, ultimately, the message of the story is that love wins over all.’

In a scene towards the end of the production, where some of the flaws of the leading characters are finally exposed, Jonathan is thrilled to have the opportunity to belt out one of the musical’s best-loved numbers. In ‘Sit Down, You’re Rockin’

When the song comes to an end, Jonathan tells me, the audience are always up on their feet, clapping and dancing along with the cast.

‘Although I start off singing in a musical theatre style, the whole thing quickly moves into gospel –and the song ends up reaching this level where you feel like you are praising God in church,’ he says. ‘It’s such a joy to play, and an absolute pleasure to sing.’

Having grown up going to church with his family, Jonathan is no stranger to the Christian faith and feels comfortable talking about his relationship with God.

‘God plays a huge part in my life and my family’s life,’ he says. ‘I have a four-year-old son, and we talk about faith and pray together. I’m always trying to lead by example in everything I do.

‘Over the years, I guess I’ve learnt that people have flaws – but that’s OK because God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. We can always aspire to be better, but I think we need to go easy on ourselves for the times when we fail.

‘Ultimately, my faith is about aspiring to goodness. If someone is watching what I’m doing, I’d like them to see God in my actions.’

Our conversation is drawing to a close – and Jonathan has a show ahead of him. He tells me that every day, before he goes on stage, he prays in his dressing room.

‘It’s about giving it all to God,’ he says. ‘I pray that the show will go well and that the audience is moved by what we are doing. I pray for the safety of the cast. I can’t control what happens on stage, but I find that the act of praying before the show comforts me, because I can rest safe in the knowledge that it’s in good hands.’

Nicely-Nicely shares his dream

The gamblers

The audience follow the cast around the stage

BORKOWSKI ARTS

‘My daughter’s sickness tested my faith’

THE Christian’s hope is that when they die, they don’t really die. People who have put their faith in Jesus believe that they have been promised an everlasting life. It means that, though they die a death on Earth, they will live for ever in eternity.

Lynda Wake believes this promise to be true, so when her 15-year-old daughter died from a rare form of brain cancer in 2011, she knew that she would see her again one day. But in the meantime she needed something to help her live in the days, months and years ahead.

Over a Zoom call from her home in Melbourne, Lynda tells me what happened after she and her husband, David, found out that their daughter was seriously ill.

‘Our daughter Bethany got sick in 2010,’ she says. ‘It took several months for the doctor and the team to diagnose a very rare form of brain cancer, so Bethany lost the use of the left side of her body fairly

When

grieving the death of her 15-year-old daughter, LYNDA WAKE had the assurance through her Christian faith that they would be reunited again one day. But she didn’t know what to do while she waited. Eventually she found some answers

Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

quickly, half her vision and a lot of bodily functions. Then she went through a lot of radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

‘But the remarkable thing about her was that she had a deep faith in Jesus. We had taught her about God, but when the diagnosis hit her, she made a choice for herself: “Is this real or not?

If it’s not real, it’s not worth following any more. But if it is real, I’ve got an eternal future that I can look forward to.”

‘From then on, Bethany led the way for us, her parents, her grandparents and her friends in a walk of faith that we didn’t really want or enjoy. It meant terrible suffering for her, but all along her spirit was incredible. She was a real example of how to live and die well.’

together to share what Bethany had learnt during her illness. Lynda hoped that it would help other people who had been diagnosed with cancer or any terminal illness. But then she found herself grappling with her own struggles.

She was an example of how to die well

‘I’d poured myself into writing Bethany’s story,’ she says, ‘then I wondered what my story was going to be. I might have to wait 20, 30, 40 years before the promise of being reunited with Bethany would come true. The promise would always keep me going, but I wondered what I was supposed to do.

After Bethany died, Lynda produced a book of the journals that they had written

‘After you’ve been through something like this, you tend to meet other people in the same situation. I saw some who were doing the grief journey well, and some who were not doing it well. I wanted to learn from that, to learn what makes a person not just

Lynda Wake

able to function after such a great loss, but begin to flourish.’

As Lynda connected with more people, she decided to compile their stories in a book. Waiting Well with Jesus is written from the perspective of people ‘who have found that faith in Jesus is the way to grieve well’. Lynda says it is the book that she would have wanted to read when she heard Bethany’s diagnosis.

‘People would send us things, in our case lots of Bible verses and good advice and ask whether we’d heard of this ministry or that, and it became overwhelming,’ she admits. ‘I just needed one thing to think about – and that became the seed of this book.’

Waiting Well with Jesus is designed for regular use, with one thing to think about each week. Every chapter is titled with an applicable word, such as ‘Breathe’, ‘Give’ or ‘Worship’ and includes thoughts written by Lynda, some words from the Bible and a prayer.

The chapters also contain short accounts of people who have faced all types of losses and held on to their faith. For instance, Kathy, whose marriage fell apart, had to learn to forgive. She says: ‘The continued choice to forgive and keep forgiving has made my healing possible.’

I ask how those contributors, Lynda included, have found it possible to reconcile their suffering with the idea of a loving God.

‘It’s perspective,’ answers Lynda. ‘Rather than seeing God as a God who punishes or enjoys inflicting these things, I see that he’s grieving with us, that this world is broken. But he has promised to make it all new, and he promises that something good will come out of the suffering.

‘The love I had for Jesus was definitely tested when my daughter got so sick, but it opened up a world for me to see other people and the kind of suffering they are going through.’

In the years since her daughter’s death, Lynda has experienced ups and downs, but says her faith has made a difference to her grief journey.

‘At times there has been great peace and joy, but then grief hits again and the reality that this isn’t right. We miss her terribly, and the trauma of what she suffered still affects us at times. But there was a watershed moment in my faith of asking, “Do I believe the words of the Bible or not?” If they are true, we have everything to look forward to.

‘We do not need to fear death, because we have an incredible hope.’ l Waiting Well with Jesus

Bethany and Lynda

YOUR prayers are requested for Joyce, who is having a difficult time and is missing her friends.

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, 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

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 Becoming a Christian j

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.

Wisdom in the words

Lydia Houghton explores song lyrics that have a note of truth about them

When all seems lost

THE video sharing platform TikTok shot to fame in early 2020 when the UK population found itself stuck at home. Kids and adults alike could be seen sharing 15-second dance, song and comedy videos. That was when the term ‘trending sounds’ emerged to describe a clip of audio circulating rapidly on social media.

Four years on and the country may no longer be locked down, but TikTok’s influence remains. Recently, a song named ‘Beautiful Things’ by American singer-songwriter Benson Boone gained trending-sound status, with more than 3.8 million videos using the music.

God provides new hope and a new life

The track may owe some of its success to TikTok, but a look at the lyrics reveals that they’re part of the reason the song has struck a chord.

The song is about happiness and falling in love.

‘I thank God every day/For the girl he sent my way,’ sings Boone. He also sings about ‘finding’ his faith and so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at the lyric: ‘I know the things he gives me/He can take away.’ The knowledge that we can lose people and things that are precious to us is something people have carried with them throughout the years.

A Bible book tells the story of a man called Job who loses everything. But, through it all, he keeps trusting God. And, because he keeps on trusting, God doesn’t let him down but provides new hope and a new life for him. The Bible says that God ‘blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part’ (Job 42:12 New International Version).

Job didn’t receive back exactly what he had lost, but God gave him all that he needed to move on in his life.

The truth is that all of us experience a life in which loved ones, material blessings and health may come and go – but Christians have a unique confidence. Through life’s turbulence and change, they know that they can still trust in God, and so they don’t have to feel hopeless when things don’t go beautifully.

QUICK QUIZ

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Which country-pop artist had a No 1 hit last year with her album Queen of Me?

What is the title of The Only Way is Essex star Georgia Kousoulou’s book about motherhood?

Who played the title role in the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer?

Which car manufacturer produces the Polo?

What is the common name for the cranium in the human body?

Who won last year’s series of The Great British Bake Off?

Circle of life

Nature documentary sheds light on planet’s interconnected ecosystems

TV preview by Emily Bright

AS a street light flickers, a rhino’s shadow falls across a residential area in Nepal. Tramping down a road packed with people and traffic, it searches for a feeding ground. In Our Living World – released on Netflix on Wednesday (17 April) – the rhino’s presence in the urban landscape is a reminder of humankind’s interconnectedness with the natural world.

Dying trees provide nutrients for the forest

The documentary TV series, narrated by actress Cate Blanchett, also explores how various environments – deserts, icy tundra, rainforests, oceans and skies – are interlinked. Weather patterns, plants and animals collaborate to create Earth’s healthy ecosystems. For instance, nutrients dispersed into the air by African wildfires sustain the Amazon rainforest.

Cate explains: ‘Some scientists today are increasingly seeing forests as a single, interconnected entity, where plants, animals and fungi all work together as a collaborating, selfsupporting community, the epitome of nature’s amazing network.

Every life is connected

‘In the light of these recent discoveries, it’s not too great a leap to see the whole planet functioning the same way, every life connected.’

It’s certainly true for humankind. Many of our actions have an effect on other people – for better or for worse. We may encourage someone with a kind word, sometimes years after it is spoken. However, we may also hurt those closest to us by making a thoughtless decision.

The good news is that our mistakes can be redeemed. Jesus, God’s Son, came into the world to guide us in how to treat those around us with love, respect and kindness. At the same time, he offered grace to those who fell short of his example.

Most importantly, he took action that had great repercussions for us all. He sacrificed himself on a cross, taking the responsibility for all our bad decisions. When he rose from the dead, he connected us to God’s family, restoring the natural order of the universe.

Jesus is alive and at work in the world today, and we all have an opportunity to encounter the joy that comes from knowing him. If we decide to follow Jesus – whatever our past choices – it will have a transformative impact on us.

SERVES 4

Cottage jacket potatoes

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

450g lean beef mince

1 leek, thinly sliced

½ celery stick, thinly sliced

425g can baked beans

2tbsp tomato ketchup

100g frozen sweetcorn

1tsp chilli or curry powder

4 baked jacket potatoes

SERVES 2

Dry-fry the beef mince, leek and celery in a pan over a moderate heat for 3-4 minutes, until the mince has browned.

Add the baked beans, tomato ketchup, sweetcorn and chilli or curry powder. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Spoon the mince into 4 baked jacket potatoes. Serve immediately.

Beef calzone

INGREDIENTS

290g pizza base mix

1tsp poppy seeds

375g lean beef mince

1 small onion, finely chopped

2tsp olive oil

50g sundried tomatoes

50g cherry tomatoes, quartered

150g half-fat crème fraiche

1tbsp capers, rinsed

Fresh basil leaves, roughly torn

Salt and freshly ground pepper

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas Mark 7.

Prepare the pizza base mix according to the packet instructions, adding the poppy seeds to the mix before the water. Leave in a cool place to rise.

Heat a large non-stick saucepan over a moderate heat, then add the mince and onion and cook for 5-7 minutes, until brown. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Season well with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Gently knead the dough for a minute. Divide into 2 pieces. Roll out each piece to create circles 30cm in diameter. Spoon the meat filling over half of each circle, leaving a 2cm border round the edge. Brush the edges with a little water. Fold over to make a half-moon shape.

Seal the edges by crimping them by hand. Place on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with salad.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped Psalm

WAR CRY