Textile artist has Bible message all sewn up
WAR CRY
Partners in crime?
Geordie’s not sure the new vicar will work with him in Grantchester
‘Scans show praying changes our brains’
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.
A picture is worth a thousand words – or so the saying goes. And the pictures that have been sewn into the textile panels now on display in Liverpool Cathedral tell the story behind the many thousands of words in the bestselling book of all time.
The Threads through the Bible exhibition – the culmination of more than a decade of work by artist Jacqui Parkinson – portrays the narrative of redemption that begins in the Bible’s first book, Genesis, and ends in its last, Revelation.
‘The story starts with the idea that all is good with Creation, [and] it ends with the “all is good” of Revelation,’ Jacqui tells us in an interview in this week’s War Cry
‘I’m intrigued with this overall story,’ she says. ‘Sometimes we pick and choose bits from the Bible, and we lose the thread from the beginning to the end. But there are themes such as the freedom that we once had but then lost and have now regained.’
The artworks bring to life the Bible’s message of redemption and salvation in a vivid way – which perhaps will be particularly helpful to people who, as scientists say, have minds that are wired to take in information visually.
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The way our brains are wired is something psychotherapist Jo Hargreaves has studied for many years. And, as a Christian, she sees a clear link between therapeutic methods and truths in the Bible.
‘Romans 12:2 – which says “Do not conform to the pattern of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” – is really the basis of cognitive behavioural therapy,’ she tells us.
‘I found that the more that I studied theology, counselling and then psychotherapy, the more I saw so much overlap between what was being discovered about how the brain responds to love, fear or safety and what the Scriptures say.’
Even though the most recent of its many words were written almost 2,000 years ago, the Bible contains truths and wisdom that still hold good today – it’s a book worth taking a look at.
INFO INFO
A murder case proves intriguing for the new vicar, Alphy
New vicar on the crime scene
But will Grantchester welcome him?
TV feature: Grantchester Wednesdays ITV and ITVX
By Claire Brine
Out with the old, in with the new.
But it’s not the smoothest of starts for vicar Alphy Kottaram (Rishi Nair) in Grantchester, the crime drama now in its ninth series.
After last week’s tearjerker, in which the Rev Will Davenport bid farewell to the village, episode three kicks off with a glum-looking DI Geordie Keating (Robson Green) sitting alone in the pub. Though the locals try to lift his spirits with poetry and chess, Geordie can’t help but miss the faithful friend who assisted him in solving crime.
‘You need a vicar,’ his wife jokes, hoping to pull Geordie out of his wallowing state.
Suddenly, news reaches the pub that a man is breaking into the vicarage, prompting Geordie to rush to the scene to investigate. Once inside the front door, he tackles the mysterious intruder, threatening to arrest him. But then the penny drops –the mysterious intruder, named Alphy, is actually Grantchester’s new vicar. And he hasn’t quite received the warm welcome he was hoping for.
Despite the rocky start, Alphy throws himself into his priestly duties and leads
his first funeral in his new church. The grieving family, he discovers, are connected to a murder investigation, but when Geordie is assigned the case, Alphy has no interest in helping him solve it.
Murder, he says, is ‘not really my remit’. Nor is he a fan of police officers, referring to them as ‘morally bankrupt, power-hungry, violent thugs’.
Reluctantly, Geordie resigns himself to the fact that he must crack on with his work alone. But then Alphy finds that he can’t stop thinking about the case and who may be the murderer. When he shares his suspicions with Geordie, the pair realise that they have a lot more in common than they first thought – and they start working together to solve the mystery.
Commenting on the developing friendship between Alphy and Geordie, actor Rishi Nair tells the War Cry that there are similarities in the way priests and detectives operate.
‘They both have to be good listeners, as people feel like they can confide in them,’ he says. ‘Detectives and priests have to navigate through people’s lives, working out very emotional situations.’
Whether those of us who live in the real world are oversharers or prefer to remain tight-lipped about our experiences, the truth of the matter is that it can be good for us to have someone to confide in –especially when times are hard. Knowing that someone is listening as we share our problems can help lift the weight from our shoulders a little, because we see that someone cares.
But what about the things that we feel we can’t tell anyone for fear of what they may think of us? When it comes to our mistakes, our shame and our regrets, where do we turn then?
The Bible tells us that, in every case, we can talk to God. His love for us, expressed through his Son, Jesus – who came into the world to help people whose lives were in a mess – is all-welcoming.
Speaking to his followers, Jesus made the statement: ‘I will never turn away anyone who comes to me’ (John 6:37 Good News Bible).
When we tell God the unfiltered truth about who we are, we stand to receive his unlimited forgiveness and his everlasting love. Case closed.
j TEA M TALK
Cool response to fridge decorations
Sarah Olowofoyeku gives her take on a story that has caught the attention of War Cry reporters
In this social media age, it seems as though there is always a new trend for people to follow. When I read Helen Coffey’s article on the Independent website about a fad called ‘fridgescaping’, I was almost as outraged as she was.
Lifestyle and design influencers have taken to decorating the insides of their fridges, putting framed paintings and candles beside their vegetables and dairy items, then sharing images of the new interiors on Instagram or TikTok.
Helen laments that ‘the humble fridge – literally one of the most mundanely practically, unbeatably useful appliances of the modern age –has now been reduced to yet another performative status symbol’.
We long to have control
The culinary chaos of the Christmas season is over, but my fridge is stuffed with leftovers in Tupperware boxes to add to the miscellaneous foods wrapped in foil that take up space all year round, so the idea of trying to decorate its shelves definitely doesn’t appeal to me.
I don’t really expect fridgescaping to satisfy people’s design appetites for long, but Helen suggests that there is a ‘murky truth’ behind its emergence, along with other similar social media trends: control.
She writes: ‘Whether it’s watching someone deep-cleaning their pantry ... [or] curating every single element of their lifestyle so that it looks catalogue-ready on the photo grid, the true appeal is the idea that life can be designed; curated; controlled. It’s the ultimate fantasy. And, as most of us know deep down, the ultimate lie.’
I couldn’t agree more. It seems that we humans long to have control over our lives. But most of us have experienced or are aware of health challenges, relationship breakdowns and global disasters that remind us we do not and cannot have control over everything.
It’s a scary reality. But what gives me confidence is knowing that there is someone who does have ultimate control. As a Christian I believe that someone is God.
However, he is not a ruthless, uncaring dictator. He is a loving, allknowing, all-powerful Father who invites us all to trust in him and know peace as his children. And, though difficult things will still happen, he promises that he will work everything out for our good.
Cathedral shows shed light
Cathedrals are being seen in a new light as visitors experience sound and light productions.
The shows are created by Luxmuralis, a collaboration between sculptor Peter Walker and composer David Harper, and are designed to foster explorations of various subjects. Rochester and Canterbury were among the cathedrals that hosted shows last year, and more are about to take place.
From Tuesday 21 January to Saturday 25 January, Science at Hull Minster will artistically interpret the scale of molecules, cells and DNA and display the history of science. Then, from Tuesday 28 January to Saturday 1 February, Wells Cathedral will host Space, which invites visitors to consider humanity’s place in the universe.
WAR talk talk Team talk Team talk ‘
A Luxmuralis installation at Rochester Cathedral LUXMURALIS
WAR CRYWnRLD
King recognises refugee work
Denzel at baptism:
‘I’m finally here’
Actor Denzel Washington has been baptised at a church in New York.
The Times reported on the event at Kelly Temple and quoted the star of Gladiator II as saying: ‘It took a while, but I’m finally here.’
He added: ‘If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing he can’t do for you.’
A Salvation Army minister’s work in supporting asylum seekers and refugees in London has been recognised by royalty.
Major Julie Pell, who is one of the church leaders at Walthamstow Salvation Army, was invited to attend a private reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla when they visited Waltham Forest.
Walthamstow Salvation Army community church runs a resource hub that each year helps approximately 2,500 people – a mix of families and individuals – to rebuild their lives by providing clothing, furniture and household items. Every Friday the church also opens a Community Living Room warm space.
Julie was invited to speak with the King about the work of Walthamstow Salvation Army.
Afterwards she said: ‘King Charles was very friendly and interested in what we all had to say. He asked me what I would be doing if I wasn’t at the reception, and I told him that I would be at our Community Living Room, which is open to anyone to drop into.’
Care home manager wins award
Emma Bailie, the manager of The Salvation Army’s Youell Court care home in Coventry, won a Women Achieving Greatness in Social Care award at a ceremony in London. She was presented with the social care superwoman award (home care) by Baroness Benjamin. The judges said that Emma, who started work at Youell Court in 2017, showed an ‘ongoing commitment to improving the home, supporting staff and creating a positive environment’.
Emma said: ‘We are guided by the residents, and making their ideas a reality is something that drives us to keep improving. One of the biggest achievements was helping to drive a warm, welcoming culture where residents have a say in making Youell Court feel like home for them.’
Denzel with his wife, Pauletta
Weaving in
JACQUI PARKINSON, textile artist, reveals how her creations tell stories from the Bible
Interview by Emily Bright
It’s not every day that you get to see Bible stories sewn into silk-topped bedsheets. But that’s what visitors can experience in a new exhibition, Threads through the Bible, which has opened at Liverpool Cathedral. The works on show draw together three different projects.
Textile artist Jacqui Parkinson has devoted more than a decade to retelling the stories of the Bible. She began at the end of the Scriptures with her first project, Threads through Revelation, which she started in 2013 and which toured cathedrals from 2016 to 2018.
‘Revelation is a book of visions,’ she explains. ‘There are loads of truths in it, and that’s what I love about it. I also love the idea that God ended the Bible on a book of images. For me, that means we don’t all have to do things cerebrally. We can learn new things in new ways, and the arts are important.’
Next she turned to the Book of Genesis for her exhibition Threads through Creation
‘I started off with the first words in the Creation story, “In the beginning God”,’ she says. ‘I wanted to state very firmly that there was a creator. My first panel depicts that.’
But re-creating Creation posed challenges.
Jacqui recalls: ‘I was with a blank piece of fabric for ages, just looking at it and thinking: How on earth do you depict
Nativity scenes from ‘Threads through the Cross’
God? Because you could show the hand coming out of Heaven, or the eye of God looking over everything. I struggled with what I was going to do for a long time.
‘In the end, I chose a spiral. It has three strands, confirming that God is the Trinity of Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit. In the beginning, there was only God. Then all of creation was inside of God, because there was nothing outside. The idea is that it’s all stitched in there, ready to explode or to be imagined or to be made.’
The cross makes things good again
The artwork was a labour of love. Threads through Creation represented eight million stitches, two badminton courts’ worth of silk and three years of dedication. It included personal touches. For instance, Jacqui featured a dog in the seventh panel as a nod to a well-known whippet, Twiggy, from her area. And, if visitors look carefully, they’ll spot some of the animals trying to escape their frames.
Her latest project – which is newly finished – sews up the gaps in her Bible
narrative. Threads through the Cross starts with Jesus’ birth, highlights his death and ends at Pentecost, when Jesus’ followers received God’s Holy Spirit. It seems fitting that all three projects will be shown together in Threads through the Bible
Jacqui explains how, woven together in the exhibition, the projects tell the story of redemption.
‘The story starts with the idea that all is good with Creation, it ends with the “all is good” of Revelation, and Threads through the Cross is the messy middle bit that I believe we’re living in right now. But the cross makes things good again.
‘I’m intrigued with this overall story. Sometimes we pick and choose bits from the Bible, and we lose the thread from the beginning to the end. But there are themes such as the freedom that we once had but then lost and have now regained. There’s also the life that we had lost and that we now have back. And there’s the relationship with God that we lost and we regained. Themes that run from Genesis to Revelation include relationships, innocence and goodness.’
Jacqui finds that her work offers her an opportunity to deepen her own
Jacqui Parkinson
Scripture
The Garden of Eden features in the seventh panel of ‘Threads through Creation’
understanding of Scripture further. She says: ‘I seem to spend my days with God, asking questions about passages, characters and events in the Bible. It’s an ongoing dialogue with God. And Jesus is somebody I talk to more than anybody else. He’s a friend, someone to have a conversation with, but
he’s also Lord, so he’s the person in my life that I’m obedient to first.’
Through her talent – and even in her choice of materials – Jacqui aims to offer an expression of God’s transformative power.
‘The base of all my work is sheets. They’re old sheets with tears in them and
they’ve been mended, or they’ve been darned. I paint them, put silks on them and stitch them. I like the idea that our lives are like these everyday sheets, yet God transforms them.’
l Threads Through the Bible is at Liverpool Cathedral until 3 March
‘Science is catching up with Scripture’
JO HARGREAVES explains how findings that inform psychotherapy mirror what was written in the Bible thousands of years ago
Interview by Emily Bright
Many of us see January as a time for resetting priorities or reinventing ourselves. Doing more exercise, losing weight, saving money and pursuing career ambitions are among the most popular new year’s resolutions in the UK, according to data platform Statista. But one possible aspiration that is perhaps sometimes overlooked is to improve our mental health – which plays a vital role in everything we think and do.
‘You need to change the way you think before you can change the way you live,’ says Jo Hargreaves, a Christian psychotherapist. ‘You can wire yourself away from your predispositions.
‘But I’d also say: Be compassionate to yourself if you have a habit or some other thing that you continue to ruminate on. Compassion itself is a helpful tool because it wires you away from criticism. When you’re compassionate, you ground yourself in the prefrontal cortex of your brain. Compassion is a tool that God uses towards us. He’s slow to anger, abounding in love, full of compassion.’
Jo sees clear parallels between theology and therapy. It’s a thread that runs through her work as a writer and speaker, and she hosts webinars and online group sessions exploring the subject.
Jo Hargreaves
be transformed by the
‘Romans 12:2 – which says “Do not conform to the pattern of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” – is really the basis of cognitive behavioural therapy,’ she explains. ‘I found that the more that I studied theology, counselling and then psychotherapy, the more I saw so much overlap between what was being discovered about how the brain responds to love, fear or safety and what the Scriptures say.
‘For instance, it says in 1 John 4:18, “Perfect love casts out fear.” Neuroscience has found that when we feel incredibly loved, our body releases oxytocin. Oxytocin is the very thing that helps negate the effects of the fear hormone
cortisol. Oxytocin casts out cortisol –perfect love casts out fear.’
In popular culture, there can be a tendency to separate science and faith. But when it comes to psychotherapy, Jo believes that they’re interchangeable.
‘Any discovery we make about the brain or the nervous system doesn’t belong just in a science lab or psychology journal,’ she says. ‘It belongs in Scripture. In Psalm 139 it says: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” When somebody is emotionally dysregulated, they need to feel safe and loved.’
Jo believes that the ultimate source of safety and love is found in God, ‘who sees
the renewing of your mind.
and understands you’.
She says: ‘To God, we make total and utter sense. He knows why we might feel pained about the things that we feel, why we might struggle with worry, anxiety or the trauma we might have experienced. He’s the God who sees us.
‘I think it’s important for us to recognise that we do feel pain, we do feel depressed. We need to validate those emotions while knowing that we’re safe and that we’re loved. Within that narrative, we can begin to make changes if we want to. God has wired us for change, for transformation, for breaking down old neural pathways and creating new ones.
‘No one is too complex or complicated
for God, and he has wonderful tools to help us. Even the very fact that you’re neuroplastic – which means that your brain isn’t a fixed entity and that it’s able to rewire itself at any given moment – feels full of redemption.’
Another key therapeutic tool that Jo highlights is gratitude.
It’s difficult to entertain both anxiety and gratitude
‘It’s
powerful,’ she says. ‘I wouldn’t want to undermine anybody’s pain or experience, but you can be sad and finding life difficult or going through a
testing time and yet be grateful.
‘Over the past 30 years there have been lots of studies in the world of psychotherapy about the effect of gratitude on the brain. The discovery now is that your brain isn’t able to be grateful and anxious at the same time. They’re two different neurological pathways, creating a tug of war in your brain.
‘It’s very difficult to entertain both anxiety and gratitude at the same time. Philippians 4:6 tells us exactly that when it says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but, instead, through prayer, supplication
Turn to page 10 f
and thanksgiving or gratitude, make your request known to God.” It goes on to say: “The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.” Again, it’s beautiful science catching up with Scripture. God has wired us for gratitude.’
Jo is also keen to reclaim biblical practices such as meditation as ways to help our mental health.
one with the one who created the entire universe.
‘The Bible goes on to talk about how, when we meditate on the law of the Lord both day and night, we become like a well-watered tree by a stream. In terms of the brain, when you meditate on Scripture, you shrink your amygdala, which is the fear-based part of your brain. You ground yourself, you become regulated, you come into the prefrontal cortex, which is where you make all of your best decisions.’
Prayer has been proved to have a discernible impact on the brain too.
‘I’m very aware that things like meditation have been twisted by the New Age, which tells us that it’s about emptying our mind and becoming at one with the universe,’ she says. ‘But I like to bring it back to Scripture. Psalm 1 says that meditation is about filling our mind with the law of God and becoming at
‘We’re now able to see on a scan the changes in a brain through just 12 minutes of prayer,’ says Jo. ‘I feel like God From page 9
has given us so many things internally and externally to help us be healthy and whole – body, soul and spirit.’
Jo speaks with passion and eloquence on the connection between theology and therapy because, for her, the professional is also personal. She has experienced mental health challenges first-hand.
She says: ‘When I talk about managing your mind and managing your mind God’s way, I’m not coming at it from an academic sense of telling you what you should do. I’ve lived through panic attacks, disassociation, feeling very anxious, feeling very flat.
‘Some of us feel like we have a predisposition to anxiety, to depression. Mine is to health anxiety. With God’s help and with God’s word, I have found a way out of that. But it’s an ongoing process. I haven’t nailed it. Sometimes my anxiety really creeps up on me.
‘If I have a headache or a pain, I am learning to manage those impulses to want to google, to want to fact-check, to become obsessed with that feeling in my body. I have to manage that.’
Jo believes that, by intentionally focusing our thought processes, it’s possible to change our outlook.
‘The more I manage my mental health, the more I wire myself away from an old way of thinking into a new way of thinking. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, it says we should take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Jesus. Sometimes we have to refuse to think certain thoughts. Sometimes I can do it once a day and it’s done; sometimes I have to do it every five minutes.’
Jo trained in counselling back in 2011, a step which she believes was rooted in the experiences of her early years.
‘My childhood was quite dysfunctional,’ she says.
‘Everyone tried their best, but there was a lot of brokenness, and I was very aware of that. It made me want to help people.
‘If I’m honest, I wanted to understand myself and why I felt the way I did. Again, it seemed to be about redemption. What was quite broken for me became a way that I would work with God to bring redemption into other people’s lives.’
Throughout our interview Jo references Scripture and her faith a striking number of times. They seem embedded in her thinking. But it wasn’t until her 20s that she decided to become a Christian.
‘My mum’s side of the family were Catholics, but I didn’t really have any concept of a personal relationship with Jesus,’ she recalls. ‘However, I’ve always been a real searcher. Even in my teenage years, I’d find myself sat at the back of our local church, saying to God: “Are you there?”
‘Then, during my final year of university, I was out with my friends one night. We were all in the bathroom, taking coke. When I’d finished my line of coke, I stood up and I was like: “I need to get out of here.”
‘As I left the club, having not said goodbye to any of my friends, I heard
the voice of God audibly inside my own head saying: “Joanna, this is not the life I have for you.” That was a life-changing moment, and I’ve never really looked back.’
I love building community
Jois now looking to empower other women in their personal growth and connections with God through her online community, the Faith Filled Collective, which offers participants monthly webinars and group sessions, as well as a complimentary ebook, How to Manage Your Mind God’s Way
‘With the Faith Filled collective I wanted to create something that was accessible, affordable and open to any women,’ she explains. ‘People can
either engage with it alongside their own therapy or because they want the psychoeducation of learning about this stuff. I love building community with women who are pursuing Jesus and wholeness with honesty.’
While such communities can prove helpful for some people, others may not be ready for, or comfortable with, a group setting. It can be tricky to know where to start with tackling mental health. So Jo ends the interview by suggesting a simple strategy that may help people to take better control of their thoughts.
‘I use a framework: notice, name and reframe. Notice what you’re doing, name what you’re doing, and then begin to reframe it. Philippians 4:8 encourages us to think of things that are true, noble, excellent or praiseworthy. Doing so can help us reframe our thinking.’
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’.
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
Browsing the Bible
Nigel Bovey gives chapter and verse on each book of the Scriptures
Exodus
The second book of the Bible focuses on the Hebrew people’s escape from slavery in Egypt and their journey towards the ‘promised land’ of Canaan. The hero of Exodus is Moses.
Moses was born to a Hebrew woman but raised by the Pharaoh’s daughter. Speaking to him out of a mysteriously burning bush, God calls Moses to be a spokesperson for the Hebrews (chapter 3).
Moses and his brother Aaron plead with the Pharaoh for their people’s release. The Pharaoh says no. As a sign to the Pharaoh that he means business, God works a number of miracles and sends plagues (chapters 7 to 10). But the Pharaoh refuses to give in. Finally, Moses warns that the last plague will leave all the firstborn of Egypt dead (chapter 11).
To be spared the wrath of God, the Hebrews are to smear the door frames of their homes with the blood of a lamb and to stay indoors (chapter 12). It is the original ‘pass over’, the words becoming the name of a Jewish festival commemorating the escape from slavery in Egypt.
With his nation’s firstborn sons and livestock dead, the Pharaoh relents and tells Moses that he and his people are free to go (12:31 and 32). He then changes his mind and pursues the fleeing Hebrews to the edge of the Red Sea (chapter 14). A wind parts the water long enough for the Hebrews to escape and start the long journey back to Canaan (14:21 and 22).
The journey across the Sinai Peninsula is not easy. Some of the wells are poisoned and although God supplies fresh quails and a miraculous substance known as manna every day, the people complain about the food (chapter 16).
At Mount Sinai, God gives more detail to the promise he made to Abraham that he would be the Hebrews’ God. The Ten Commandments list the behaviour God expects of his people (chapter 20).
From now on, corporate worship is to be conducted by a priest (Aaron) at a tabernacle (portable tent). The commandment stones are to be kept in the Ark of the Covenant. God will meet with and speak to his people above its lid – at the ‘mercy seat’ (25:22).
The remaining chapters include details for the construction of the tabernacle and for priestly vestments.
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from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published
QUICK QUIZ
1 2 3 4 5 6
What do the stars on New Zealand’s flag represent?
Who is the author of the bestselling novel We Solve Murders?
x, + and = are titles of albums by which singer-songwriter?
In technology, what do the initials of the file type PDF stand for?
What is the alternative title of William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night?
What was the first feature film made by Pixar?
Winnie and friends in Disney’s ‘The
The bear necessities
Why fans still love
Winnie-the-Pooh
and his friends
Feature by Andrew Stone
Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood – and around the world – fans of a ‘tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff’ are marking 18 January as Winnie-the-Pooh Day.
The day is an annual celebration of the well-loved bear and his friends whose adventures were first collected together by AA Milne in his book Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926. Held every year on the date that the author was born in 1882, Winnie-the-Pooh Day is designed to be filled with nostalgia and storytelling.
Milne originally created the stories for his son, Christopher Robin, and the character of Pooh Bear was based on Christopher’s own teddy bear called Winnie. Some of the other favourite figures in the stories were also characterisations of Christopher’s toys.
Perhaps one of the reasons why the stories remain popular after almost 100 years is that each of the characters had their own unique personality. Pooh, ‘a bear of very little brain’, enjoys adventures with the often-anxious Piglet, the exuberant Tigger, the pessimistic Eeyore and the wise, but sometimes grumpy, Owl, to name but a few.
It may be that as readers of the books, or viewers of the films based on Milne’s characters, we are able to identify with some of these personality types. Some of us may feel that we are prone to being pessimistic about the situations that we face. Or we may tend to worry or be easily annoyed. Or perhaps we know that other people can find our overenthusiasm for some things hard to deal with.
The good news is that, whatever we are like, we can be certain that nothing can stop God from loving us. Even though he knows our faults and the things we do that other people find hard to cope with, he will always be there for us.
One Bible writer, who many people found difficult to get along with, put it this way: ‘Nothing can separate us from the love God has for us’ (Romans 8:39 International Children’s Bible).
Because God loves us so much, we can know that, whoever we are and whatever we’re like, he will always bear with us.
PUZZLES
ACROSS
1. Hurl (5)
4. Vegetable dish (5)
8. Grow older (3)
9. Man about to marry (5)
10. Engine (5)
11. Decry (3)
12. Artist’s frame (5)
13. Normal (7)
16. Want (6)
19. Indicate (6)
23. Peeled (7)
26. Haughty (5)
28. Everything (3)
29. Quick (5)
30. Had (5)
31. Rocky hill (3)
32. Secretes (5)
33. Register as member (5) DOWN
2. Golf clubs (5)
3. Speculator (7)
4. Runner-up (6)
5. Boundary (5)
6. Restrain (5)
7. Pastoral (5) 9. Avarice (5) 14. Jar (3) 15. Skill (3) 17. Moose (3) 18. Pub (3) 20. Search (7) 21. Finished (5)
solution starts on the coloured cell and reads clockwise round the number
Adjusts (6)
Sword (5)
Hibernian (5)
Nude (5)
Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these words associated with mercy
Possessor (5)
Groom.
Natural.
Denote. 23. Skinned. 26. Proud.
All. 29. Brisk.
Owned. 31. Tor. 32. Hides. 33. Enrol.
Irons. 3. Gambler. 4. Second. 5. Limit.
Greed.
Urn. 15. Art.
Inn.
Explore.
Adapts.
Sabre. 24. Irish.
Naked. 27. Owner.
Flares. 2. Glance. 3. Escape. 4. Laptop. 5. Pimple. 6. Hermit.
Sweetcorn and ham soup
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
1tbsp vegetable oil
10g butter
240g onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
240g carrot, finely diced
240g celery, finely diced
200g potatoes, peeled and finely diced
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh marjoram
500ml water
600g sweetcorn
300ml milk
150g ham, shredded
SERVES 4
INGREDIENTS
1kg garden peas
3tbsp water
20g fresh mint, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
5 eggs, hard-boiled and shelled
For the coating
1 egg, beaten
250g breadcrumbs
Oil, to fry
Melt the oil and butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and carrot. Stir well. Add the celery, potato, bay leaf, thyme and marjoram. Stir well and sauté for 5 minutes.
Add the water. Bring to the boil, then allow to simmer gently until the vegetables are just softened.
Add half the sweetcorn and stir well. Remove the bay leaves, thyme and marjoram from the pan. Using a slotted spoon, remove half the vegetables and set aside.
Pour the milk into the pan and, using a stick blender, blend until smooth. Return the reserved vegetables to the pan, along with the remaining half of the sweetcorn and the ham. Stir well, then return the pan to the heat. Serve warm.
Pea and mint Scotch eggs
METHOD
Add the peas and water to a pan and bring to the boil over a low heat, then cover and further reduce the heat. After a few minutes, stir the peas and use a potato masher or fork to crush them slightly. Continue cooking until the peas are broken down and form chunks.
Remove the peas from the pan and place in a bowl. Add the mint and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and leave to chill in the refrigerator.
Once the pea mixture is thoroughly chilled, mould it round each of the hard-boiled eggs. Place the eggs on a tray, then chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
To make the coating, roll the pea-coated eggs in the beaten egg, then in the breadcrumbs, coating them evenly.
To deep-fry the eggs, pour oil into a frying pan to a depth of about 2.5cm and place over a high heat. Once the oil is hot, carefully fry the breaded eggs, using a spoon to stir the eggs gently as they cook.
Place the cooked Scotch eggs on a tray lined with kitchen roll, to drain any excess oil. Serve hot or store in the refrigerator, once they’ve cooled.
