War Cry 20 February 2021

Has an archaeologist found the house Jesus lived in?

WAR CRY

20 February 2021 20p/25c

Getting on top of the virus NHS nurse on hope, health and helping out

Tough times ahead in boy-meets-girl film

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 7513

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

Your local Salvation Army centre

INFO 2 • WAR CRY • 20 February 2021

EDITOR From the editor’s desk

THE Archbishop of Canterbury said taking part in it was a way of loving your neighbour. Politicians have said its roll-out is the route out of lockdown. And in this week’s War Cry NHS nurse and Salvation Army minister Daniel Holland says the vaccination programme is the only way society can get Covid-19 under control.

Daniel tells us how, during the first wave of the pandemic, he returned to his former profession as a nurse to care for people taken into hospital with the virus. While he was caring for them, Daniel himself contracted Covid and needed hospital care to help him recover.

Now Daniel is part of the national vaccination effort that has already resulted in millions of people receiving their first jab. After his personal experiences, Daniel is keen to see as many people as possible receive a vaccine.

‘It should mean that they won’t become very sick, need critical care or die,’ he tells us. ‘Getting vaccinated might sound scary,’ he adds, ‘but it’s the only way we can get on top of this virus.’

As well as working as a nurse, Daniel has continued his ministry in The Salvation Army, working with people who are experiencing homelessness. The two roles have overlapped as Daniel has administered vaccinations to people living in the church and charity’s homelessness centres in London.

His actions are part of The Salvation Army’s support of the vaccination programme as it joins with other churches to encourage people to spread the good news of the Covid vaccines. The vaccines will save lives and protect others.

After many months of people across the UK – and the entire world – feeling afraid and worried about the pandemic, these simple injections are giving much-needed hope.

If you are invited to receive a vaccine, please consider taking it to save lives. The sooner that we are all vaccinated, the safer we will all be, and the future can look brighter for us all.

CONTENTS

What is The Salvation Army?

FEATURES 3

If music be the food of love Film tells singer’s true-life romance

5 Animal magic

How pets are helping their owners through lockdown 6

Injecting some hope NHS nurse’s coronavirus experience

8

A house through time Has archaeologist discovered Jesus’ home?

REGULARS 12

Team Talk

13

Wisdom in the Words

14 Puzzles 15

War Cry Kitchen

5

8

15

Front-page picture: SHUTTERSTOCK/PICTURE POSED BY MODELS

FILM

Livin’ on a prayer Musician discovers love can be painful, writes Emily Bright LIONSGATE

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NEAKING backstage before a concert, first-year US college student and guitarist Jeremy Camp (KJ Apa) meets his musical hero Jean-Luc Lejoie (Nathan Parsons) and offers to help him with his set. As Jeremy casts his eyes across the auditorium during the concert, he spots a girl in the crowd and is instantly smitten. So begins the love story between him and Melissa Henning (Britt Robertson) in I Still Believe, which is now available on Amazon Prime.

Inspired by the real-life memoirs of Christian musician Jeremy, the film tells a story of romance and faith. The couple’s love for each other flourishes, until one day Melissa pushes him away, unsure if it’s the right time for a relationship. But when Jeremy receives a heartbreaking phone call, everything changes for them both. He learns that Melissa has stage-three cancer – aged just 19.

Rushing to her hospital bedside, he promises to stand by her. Their relationship and their faith will be put to the test as she undergoes treatment.

Jeremy is convinced that miracles happen, and that God will heal her of cancer. But when that doesn’t happen straightaway, the pair are forced to face up to a bleak prognosis. They turn to prayer to help them through.

Melissa resolves that God is still with her and confronts her cancer diagnosis with fortitude.

‘In one story, God grants healing.

Miracles do happen,’ she says, explaining her perspective on suffering. ‘Yet to another, his calling is to suffer and even die. And I realised something. They both have value, because each is a chapter in a bigger story, each is a stroke of a brush on his beautiful canvas.

‘I’ve learnt that suffering doesn’t destroy faith, it refines it, and God is worth trusting.’

Melissa understood in that moment that each life has intrinsic value, regardless of the outcome.

Throughout our lives, we all face seemingly insurmountable circumstances, whether serious illness, bereavement or relationship

Each life has intrinsic value

Jeremy (KJ Apa) falls in love with Melissa (Britt Robertson) breakdowns. In such times, Christians turn to their faith for hope.

While acknowledging that suffering is often beyond their understanding, they trust that God will carry them through, giving them the strength required to face their circumstances.

They do so because, throughout the Bible, God declares that he will strengthen those who reach out to him.

He says: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you’ (Isaiah 43:1 and 2 English Standard Version).

God never promises we’ll have an easy life. But he does promise to be with us. His love is everlasting and can provide us with the endurance, peace and hope we need for each day, if we believe in him.

That’s a love story that’s worth singing about.

20 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 3

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WAR CRY

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New president finds safety in his Christian faith US PRESIDENT Joe Biden has said that prayer gives him hope. The recently inaugurated leader spoke to People magazine about his faith, saying that he never misses Mass and that his religion is ‘a safe place’.

In the interview he said: ‘Other people may meditate. For me, prayer gives me hope, and it centres me.’

He spoke about how his wife, Jill, leaves inspirational messages on his mirror for him to read while he shaves. One of them, which he especially enjoyed, was a quote by Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard that says: ‘Faith sees best in the dark’.

Joe and first lady Jill Biden

Archaeologists uncover biblical cloth DAFNA GAZIT/ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY

ARCHAEOLOGISTS in southern Israel have found fragments of a ‘royal purple’ fabric which dates from about 1000BC, the time of the biblical kings David and Solomon, reported The Times.

At the time of the fabric’s manufacture, purple represented prestige and was worn by people of wealth and power.

Professor Erez Ben-Yosef of Tel Aviv University explained that purple fabric was so expensive because of the way it was produced. ‘It is a very sophisticated process, and something that took time and effort,’ he said.

Archaeologists working in southern Israel discovered textiles (above)

SAGI BORNSTEIN/CENTRAL TIMNA VALLEY PROJECT

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A CHRISTIAN grant-making organisation has given £300,000 to food bank charity the Trussell Trust so that it can provide welfare advice to more people who are experiencing poverty.

Currently, about one in ten of the Trussell Trust’s network of 1,200 church-based food banks offers welfare advice. The funds made available by the Allchurches Trust will assist the Trussell Trust in providing between 10 and 20 hours of specialist welfare advice a week at 20 more.

Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trussell Trust, said: ‘Lack of adequate income is the key driver of food bank use. Food is not, and can never be, the long-term solution to hunger.

The only viable solution is to ensure people have enough money to be able to buy food in the first place. A key way to do this is to help people claim their full welfare entitlement.’

Do you have a story to share? a warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk @TheWarCryUK TheWarCryUK

B salvationarmy.org.uk/warcry 4 • WAR CRY • 20 February 2021

FEATURE LIBRARY PICTURE POSED BY MODEL

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THE BBC has confirmed that a Vicar of Dibley special will feature in this year’s Comic Relief programming on Friday 19 March.

In a special launch video, which reflected on 35 years of the televised fundraising event, Comic Relief co-founder Lenny Henry said: ‘We know that when times are tough, laughter can really make a difference.’

The Vicar of Dibley, starring Dawn French, made a brief return to television screens last year for a series of lockdown episodes.

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Linda McTurk explores an opportunity for animal owners to show affection

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CARNIVAL ROW actor David Gyasi (pictured with wife Emma) has spoken to the Church Times about how important his Christian faith has been to him.

Looking back on his career to date, David, who plays Agreus in the Amazon Prime fantasy series, said: ‘Recently my wife and I prayerfully reflected on the days when we had no money compared with now. It was amazing to reflect how far we’d come.

‘We made certain choices based on our faith. It’s been important to me throughout my career to keep faith and endure. I pray for God’s will: “Your will be done.” And for trust, wisdom, and discernment; space and stillness.’

He continued that, although there ‘can be negativity towards Christianity’, he chooses to ‘always cling to the stories of Jesus’. He said: ‘When we connect with God, we go from dark to light.’

T’S time for pet owners to paws.

Today (Saturday 20 February) is National Love Your Pet Day, a day for people to express extra affection towards their animal friends. Last year, lots of the UK’s millions of pet owners took to the internet to declare their love for their animal companions and share photos using the hashtag #loveyourpetday.

Since then, and the start of the coronavirus pandemic, interest in pet ownership has grown. In England and Wales last year, animal charity the RSPCA reported a 600 per cent increase in visitors to its dog fostering web pages.

Dog owner Louise from south London brought Iris – a 10-week-old Lakeland terrier puppy – into her family home last autumn. One key reason she decided to get a dog was that she ‘missed the exercise’ she used to take on her commute to work. Now she takes her dog for a walk twice a day. As well as health benefits, Louise also says that Iris has brought her and her family together.

‘She has been a real joy,’ she says. ‘It has been lovely watching her grow.

We notice little changes all the time.’

While the pandemic has often brought challenging circumstances into people’s lives, Louise’s story shows that, even in dark times, joy can enter our worlds in new and surprising ways.

Good relationships with people or animals can bring it – but if we try to track any true joy to its ultimate source, it will lead to the source of all creation. One Bible writer acknowledged to God: ‘Your presence fills me with joy and brings me pleasure for ever’ (Psalm 16:11 Good News Bible).

Anyone can experience God’s presence and the joy it brings. If we turn to him, he promises to walk with us no matter what. He cares for us as no one else ever can. The Louise’s puppy, Iris question is: will we let God unleash his love on us?

Animals can bring joy

20 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 5

Nursing through a DANIEL HOLLAND returned to the NHS to treat Covid-19 patients during the first lockdown and then became a patient himself, as he tells Sarah Olowofoyeku

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HE NHS was at breaking point when former nurse Daniel Holland responded to its calls for support.

It was at the start of the Covid-19 health crisis last March, and hospitals needed all hands on deck.

Doctors and nurses were being called out of retirement and former health workers were invited to return.

Daniel, who left the NHS in 2012, went back to the wards in April.

When the pandemic first hit, Daniel admits that he was not too concerned: ‘My initial thoughts were that it wasn’t going to be that bad, more like a difficult winter flu season.

But then I was seeing news reports of what was happening and realised that it was getting more serious. When the NHS asked doctors and nurses who had left it to return, I knew I needed to go and help.’

Daniel had left the NHS to become a minister in The Salvation Army. When he responded to the NHS’s call for help, he carried on his work for the church and charity during the week and carried out nursing duties at the weekend.

It had been eight years since Daniel had worked in an acute ward, so when he first went back to the hospital he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to manage.

‘It was a baptism of fire, and it was a shock,’ he says. ‘As nurses we’re used to seeing people die, but I’d never seen so many people dying at once.

‘We were firefighting. When I was a nurse previously, the days were structured. We’d start the day with the medication round, then give drugs or carry out procedures. And then there were mealtimes. But on the wards during the first lockdown, we might be halfway through giving drugs when someone started struggling to breathe, so we’d have to run over and deal with that. It was chaotic. We couldn’t plan the day. We just had to deal with things as they happened.

‘People were really unwell. On the wards where there would normally have been one or two poorly patients, we had about ten.’

Things became more challenging for Daniel. After a few weeks back in hospital on the staff, he became one of those poorly patients.

‘I thought I was just worn out because I was

6 • WAR CRY • 20 February 2021

INTERVIEW

pandemic working two jobs,’ he recalls. ‘But one evening I just couldn’t breathe. I started having a temperature and my wife had to phone for an ambulance. I was in hospital for a few days. Thankfully, it was a very short admission and I recovered fully with no lasting effects.’

Once it was safe to do so, Daniel returned to the hospital to continue nursing. He says he was simply ‘doing his bit’.

He adds: ‘We can all play a part in our communities to help each other, by basic things like wearing a mask, washing our hands, keeping social distance and staying at home. I just so

Getting vaccinated is the only way we can get on top of this virus happen to have medical skills I can use.

But staying home is as important as me working on the wards.’

Another way Daniel believes that we can do our bit to curb the spread of the coronavirus is by getting vaccinated.

And he may be the one administering the vaccine. To prepare, he underwent training and took an online course to learn about the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines.

‘When someone gets a Pfizer vaccine for the coronavirus, something called mRNA is being injected into the body,’ he explains. ‘It’s a biological substance that tricks the body into thinking it has Covid cells in the bloodstream. The body then develops a new response to fight and kill it. This means that if someone does get coronavirus, their body will recognise the Covid cell and know how to fight it off. It should mean that they won’t become very sick, need critical care or die.’

While encouraging people to get the vaccine, he acknowledges that people have concerns.

‘Our health and our bodies are important, so it’s understandable that people feel anxious. But I want to reassure people – the vaccines have gone through the normal clinical trial process that any drug we take goes through, it’s just that it has been sped up. More than 40,000 people from different backgrounds took part in the

Daniel returned to the NHS as a nurse at the start of the pandemic

trial and, aside from side-effects and allergic reactions that could come from any drug, there have been no adverse effects.’

In his work as a Salvation Army lieutenant, Daniel works to support people who are experiencing homelessness. Since completing his vaccination training, he has been able to deliver and administer more than 100 vaccinations to people living in The Salvation Army’s homelessness centres in east London.

‘Getting vaccinated might sound scary,’ he says, ‘but it’s the only way we

can get on top of this virus.’

While Daniel has experienced tough situations, he says that his faith has always helped him.

‘I would remember the prayer from the Bible which says: “Let the morning bring words of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.”

‘As Christians we always have a hope.

We believe that tomorrow will be better and that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.’ l For more information visit nhs.uk

20 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 7

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Did Jesus Archaeologist KEN DARK tells Philip Halcrow how he homed in on a site linked with Jesus’ early days

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HE archaeologist confesses he was not expecting much when he made an appointment to see the cellar. He had been roaming the streets of Nazareth, looking for potential sites where he could explore Roman or Byzantine material.

‘I spent a week going from place to place,’ says Ken Dark, who is professor of archaeology and history at the University of Reading. ‘The very last place I came to was at the bottom of my list, and the reference I had simply said: “A first-century rock-cut tomb is visible in the cellar of the Sisters of Nazareth convent and can be visited by appointment.”

‘So I made an appointment, expecting a nun to open a door under some stairs and for me to peer into the gloom and see the rough outlines of a rock-cut tomb, after which I would say something to the effect of “thank you, that’s very nice to see” and then go.

‘But when I got there, the cellar turned out to be a massive shelter purpose-built to cover and display the amazing array of ruins found by the nuns themselves when the convent was being constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

‘When I say it was big, I mean that it ran from the garden in the cloister at the front, under a complete block of the convent and out into the back garden. And it was immediately obvious to me as an archaeologist that in it there was a Byzantine cave church, there were a couple of rock-cut tombs of Roman-period style, there were cisterns and there was a rock-cut and partly built-

I was stunned.

I had no idea it was there

Professor Ken Dark

8 • WAR CRY • 20 February 2021

INTERVIEW

live here?

The first-century house at the Sisters of Nazareth site

up structure of some kind that looked quite a lot like a house.’

Late last year – almost 15 years after Ken began work at the site – his research made headlines.

‘Childhood home of Jesus “found”

by Brit archaeologist’ declared The Sun. ‘“Strong case” house in crypt was home to Jesus’ proclaimed the BBC website. On the day when he spoke with me about his findings, he was preparing to appear across America on the Fox TV network.

Describing his first visit to the cellar, Ken tells me: ‘I was stunned. I had no idea it was there, and I’m sure most, if not all, professional archaeologists had no idea.

‘The superior took me up to the convent museum, which was packed with objects – coins, pottery, glass vessels, sculpted architectural stonework, metal objects. I stood there and said to the superior: “This is fascinating. Where is all this published?” She told me that it had not really been published – there was only a very short interpretative paper written

about it. The site had been neglected by scholarship.

‘I decided that, instead of excavating anywhere, I wanted to bring in a team and properly record the remains and the objects and go through any earlier records they had.’

The convent and the Israel Antiquities Authority gave Ken and his team permission to conduct a new survey of the site. They sifted through the vast

Turn to page 10

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20 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 9

From page 9 amount of evidence that had already been unearthed and was waiting to be recorded and interpreted.

‘We also had the advantage that the nuns were doing a certain amount of restoration work,’ adds Ken, ‘and we were able to do some new recording of what was exposed when floors were taken up to be relaid.

‘We didn’t do any excavation – in fact, I think it would be a bad idea for there to be further excavation on the site. What now needs to happen is for it to be conserved and protected so that any further work can be done a long way in the future when archaeological techniques are more advanced than they are today.

‘So we made lots of drawings of the vertical surfaces that were exposed. We made meticulous records and took lots of photographs. We made very detailed plans of the site, down to the tiniest stone and discolouration in the soil.

‘When we’d pulled all this evidence together, recorded it in a 21st-century archaeological way and analysed the result, what emerged was a sequence of churches and the first thing on the site: a house.’

Ken talks of ‘the bizarre experience of being able to walk around and see the vaults of a major Crusader church above your head and know that the information about it has not been published before your own work.

‘I never expected to work on anything like it. It would be surprising if it had just been the discovery of a Crusader church.

It would have been even more surprising if it had been the discovery of an earlier Byzantine church. But then to be able to identify the Byzantine church as almost certainly being the Church of the Nutrition was extremely exciting.’

He found that the archaeological structure of the Byzantine church on the site matched the seventh-century scholar Adomnán’s description of the Church of the Nutrition – ‘nutrition,’ explains Ken, ‘in the sense of the nurturing, the upbringing, of Christ by Mary and Joseph.

‘I knew the Church of the Nutrition was supposed to have in its crypt a house which was said by the Byzantines to be the house where Jesus grew up. And I have to say I was surprised when the structure in the crypt of the big Byzantine church turned out to be a domestic building – a house from the first century.

‘So that raises the exciting possibility – and it is a possibility, not a certainty – that the Byzantines knew something we don’t about the identification of that house.’

Perhaps it had been, as they said, the house in which Jesus grew up.

Ken can see reasons why it may have been – and why it may not have been.

‘There are arguments you can put for either point of view. Perhaps the Byzantines knew a local tradition about the identification of the house. It is possible that word-of-mouth traditions could have been transmitted from the first century to the fourth century, the time of the first church we can identify on the site – there’s anthropological evidence from different parts of the world for similar

Perhaps they knew a local tradition

10 • WAR CRY • 20 February 2021

things happening. They could have had some other evidence that we don’t know about today.

‘Equally, however, it’s possible that the house was misidentified. Perhaps someone saw a ruin and simply speculated that, as it was Nazareth, Jesus may have lived there. It’s also possible that there was some kind of religious reason why they thought it was Jesus’ house – the sort of thing that might happen in that period is that someone could have a dream that it was Jesus’ house and it would be identified on that basis.

‘There are lots of reasons why it might not have been Jesus’ house, but that does not detract from the possibility that it was.

It is, broadly speaking, the correct date.

And it certainly is the building where the Byzantines believed Jesus grew up.’

W

hile maintaining a degree of scepticism about the identification of one house, Ken is more certain about the environment in which Jesus grew up. Before setting foot in the Sisters of Nazareth cellar, he and his team had been carrying out an archaeological study of the valley between Nazareth and the nearby Sepphoris, which had been a ‘substantial Roman town, though with a largely Jewish population’.

He says: ‘What we found came as quite a surprise to us. As expected, we had found small farms scattered across the valley. But what was unusual was that halfway across the valley, the objects associated with those small farms almost completely changed. The sites nearer Sepphoris contained typical stuff that you find on rural sites near Roman towns

INTERVIEW across the empire – Roman provincial culture. But on the Nazareth side of that halfway divide, the sites had only objects that we know were produced in a Jewish context. They had nothing that related to the broader, multicultural, internationalised world of Sepphoris and the Roman provinces.

‘So it looks as if the people around Nazareth were deliberately not using – and probably consciously rejecting – Roman provincial culture. That’s very unusual.

Across the provinces, people tended to buy into Roman culture. But what we found suggests that the people around Nazareth were strongly asserting their Jewish religious and cultural identity.’

In whichever house Jesus grew up, Ken argues, ‘influences from Roman culture are unlikely to have played any significant role in his early life in Nazareth. On this evidence, Jesus’ cultural context as a boy and young man in Nazareth was quite strongly Jewish.’

Subjects such as Sepphoris, culture and identity are picked up by scholars engaged in what is often labelled ‘the search for the historical Jesus’.

Ken says he does not know the extent to which Nazareth influenced Jesus.

‘What I can say is what sort of place Nazareth was,’ he explains. ‘In many ways it was a conventional Galilean Jewish settlement of the time. It was involved in

farming, there were crafts working there.

It was not a large town. It wasn’t another Sepphoris.’

Whether in Nazareth, Istanbul or back in the UK, Ken sees all his archaeological work in a particular light.

‘Essentially what I’m trying to do is to tell the truth about the past. If professional archaeologists and historians don’t, others will step into that space. So it becomes important for us to make sure that what is believed, by scholars and by the general public, is based on evidence that will stand scrutiny and is therefore the most reliable version of the past.

‘I know it sounds corny, but I genuinely do archaeology for the benefit of everyone. And trying to explain the past using the best available evidence and most rigorous technique is important when it comes to talking about culture or religion.

‘For example, there’s a man in America who has put forward the idea that Christianity is false because Nazareth wasn’t there in the time of Jesus. He has written books about this. But what he says is demonstrably incorrect when the evidence is looked at by professional archaeologists and analysed with modern archaeological methods.

‘If you start denying history, you can start distorting the present.

Archaeology can say things about the past that inform people’s understanding today.’

A rock-cut wall visible in the first-century house A later cave church at the site of the house

20 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 11

EXPLORE

Prayerlink YOUR prayers are requested for Mark, who is awaiting a court appearance and is concerned about his housing needs.

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

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.

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

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

talk ‘ ’ Team talk TEAM TALK Virtually a code of conduct Sarah Olowofoyeku gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

I SUSPECT that many of us had never heard of Zoom this time last year, let alone used it. I certainly hadn’t. But now, almost one year since the first lockdown, more than just hearing about it, I have used it for a whole array of things, including celebrating birthdays, singing with an online choir, performing at a gig, taking part in family quizzes, joining church prayer meetings and socialising with work colleagues.

It has been a real blessing to be able to connect with others in real time – to see faces and hear voices, with the bonus of not having to travel and being able to wear tracksuit bottoms to every occasion.

Video calls have been the source of much amusement too. ‘I think you’re on mute’ must be one of the most frequently said phrases of the past year. Last week, many of us were entertained by the lawyer who accidentally got stuck with a cat filter over his face in a online court case.

Another video, however, went viral for different reasons. A Handforth Parish Council meeting on Zoom became chaotic when the council chairman quite aggressively refused to recognise the legitimacy of the call.

Participant Jackie Weaver removed him and placed him in a virtual waiting room. Other councillors proceeded to laugh and shout at Jackie. While the details behind the incident are unclear, the behaviour wasn’t acceptable.

It was a reminder to me that, even though we cannot be with one another in the way we previously were, we still have to be careful how we treat the people we engage with.

Many of us, though, are doing our best to treat others kindly even in virtual spaces, so perhaps we could consider going a step further. Rather than approaching video calls as just another thing to do, why not see them as an opportunity to go out of our way to show kindness and love to our on-screen neighbours. We could do so by showing up on time, giving someone a compliment and, if something does upset us, stepping away from the screen and thinking before we speak.

Getting along with other humans is one of the most challenging things about life – on or offline – but we can help each other get through these difficult days by making the effort to be kind, whatever the platform.

Video calls have been a source of amusement

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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 • 20 February 2021

EXPRESSIONS

Mal Davies explores song lyrics that have a note of truth about them

Wisdom in the

words

Q

QUICK QUIZ 1

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Which country’s national flag comprises three vertical bands of green, white and green?

Obsidian, basalt and quartzite are examples of what type of material?

A 4

5

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Who starred as Neil Armstrong in the biographical drama film First Man? Who wrote the Booker prizewinning novel Wolf Hall?

In the children’s TV programme, what type of animal is Sooty and Sweep’s friend Soo? With which football club did Diego Maradona win the Italian league?

ANSWERS

1. Nigeria. 2. Rock. 3. Ryan Gosling.

4. Hilary Mantel. 5. A panda. 6. Napoli.

3

Believe me, you’re amazing O

NE song that’s embedded in the soundtrack of my life is the 1977 Billy Joel classic ‘Just the Way You Are’. Its beautiful piano line and thoughtful lyrics not only make it one of the mostplayed love songs ever on commercial radio, but also convinced a generation of us to ‘don’t go changing’, assuring us that we were valued for who we are.

Well, in 2010 we got the message again – in a big way. Bruno Mars made his debut with an original song called ‘Just the Way You Are’. It was a No 1 hit in the UK and the singer’s homeland of America, won a Grammy and has sold more than 12 million copies.

The lyric is simply a boy singing the praises of his beautiful partner and commenting on how amazing he finds her. It’s something of a universal lyric – what woman doesn’t like to be told she’s beautiful? – and is delivered by a catchy tune; it’s not hard to see why it sold so well from the UK to Israel to Slovakia.

There’s an interesting little note in the lyrics, however, that caught my eye: ‘When I compliment her, she won’t believe me/ And it’s so, it’s so sad to think that she doesn’t see what I see.’ The song goes on to say that she constantly checks, ‘Do I look OK?’ Self-esteem has taken a battering in the past decade, especially among young females.

In 2016, personal care brand Dove conducted a survey of 10,500 women and girls, and asked questions about how they saw themselves and body image. Only 20 per cent of British females said they were happy with how they looked.

I’m glad to say, God thinks differently. He focuses not on our external appearance but on who we are deep inside; he looks at our heart. The Bible says: ‘Your beauty should not come from outward adornment … it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight’ (1 Peter 3:3 and 4 New International Version).

Both Bruno Mars and the Bible tell us: we’re amazing, just the way we are.

God focuses on who we are deep inside

20 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 13

CROSSWORD CROSSWORD PUZZLES

QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1. Display (7) 5. Squander (5) 7. Stansted, for example (7) 8. Contribution (5) 10. Countertenor (4) 11. Ancient North African city (8) 13. Exotic plant (6) 14. Hilaire _______, poet (6) 17. Opinionated (8) 19. ____ Karenina (4) 21. Wear (5) 22. Oxfordshire town (7)

23. Savoury jelly (5) 24. Remains (7) DOWN 2. Unorthodox believer (7) 3. Forehead (4) 4. 16th-century artist (6) 5. High-pitched sounds (8)

by Chris Horne

6. Old photograph hue (5) 7. Large snakes (9) 9. Religious government (9) 12. Prodigious (8) 15. Inert (7) 16. Wood (6) 18. Set (5) 20. Responsibility (4)

SUDOKU

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

HONEYCOMB HONEYCOMB

3

6 3 4 8 4 9 1 2 7 2 5 6 5 4 8 1 8 1 4 2 4 2 6 1 9 9 3 2 5

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

ANSWERS

ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH ORDSEARCH

1. Medicine 2. Straw hat 3. Open with a key 4. Not genuine 5. Make smaller 6. Type of ship

WORDSEARCH ALPINE SKIING BIATHLON

BOBSLEIGH

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

CURLING

FIGURE SKATING

FREESTYLE SKIING ICE HOCKEY LUGE

NORDIC COMBINED SKELETON

SKI JUMPING

SNOWBOARDING

HONEYCOMB 1. Tablet. 2. Boater. 3. Unlock.

4. Phoney. 5. Shrink. 6. Tanker.

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

7. Airport. 8. Input. 10. Alto.

11. Carthage. 13. Orchid. 14. Belloc.

17. Dogmatic. 19. Anna. 21. Sport.

22. Banbury. 23. Aspic. 24. Residue.

DOWN: 2. Heretic. 3. Brow. 4. Titian.

5. Whistles. 6. Sepia. 7. Anacondas.

9. Theocracy. 12. Gigantic. 15. Languid.

16. Timber. 18. Group. 20. Onus.

7 2 3 8 5 9 4 6 1

4 5 8 1 2 6 3 9 7

9 1 6 7 4 3 2 8 5

1 6 4 2 7 8 5 3 9

2 8 9 5 3 1 6 7 4

5 3 7 6 9 4 1 2 8

3 9 1 4 8 2 7 5 6

8 4 5 3 6 7 9 1 2

6 7 2 9 1 5 8 4 3

SUDOKU SOLUTION

SPEED SKATING

5

14 • WAR CRY • 20 February 2021

7 Look 4 up, 9 down, 1 2forwards, 5 3 backwards 8 6 and diagonally on the grid to find 2 these 5 1 6 sports 8 3 9 4 7 winter 3 8 6 4 9 7 1 5 2 P D C Y S B Z G D S X V Z R Q M P K 8 1 7 2 5 6 4 3 9 G E D Q Z E G N I P M U J I K S Z Q 5 2 I 4N E S K 7 3 9I I 8 N G Q T 6 1 F N J L A L P R I I V X 9I G I Y E K C O H E C 6 3 8 1 4 2 7 5I Z Z B X L C X R K F D T L V E O Q M B 4 Z 3 S N S Q R G Z M 2 5 6 1 7 9I R F 8 L M C H R L Z O F I G U R E 6 9 8S K A 3 7 T 2I N G P N L 5 1 4 R C N J U M C L A A Z T Q X G B W Z 7 5 9 S 4 L W W T 8 6 2I Q C 3 U C S S Y 1F W Y H T

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

9

4

3

2

8 1 4 2 6 1 9 2

D Ocean pie with mushroom and tofu Ingredients 250g smoked tofu, sliced into strips

60g butter

1tbsp olive oil

400ml milk

½ tsp smoked hot paprika

100ml single cream

Soy sauce

50g peas

10 shallots, finely sliced

1tsp stock powder

2 garlic cloves, crushed 250g button mushrooms, finely sliced 250g oyster mushrooms, finely sliced

SERVES

4

Method 1tsp flour

25g parsley Salt and ground black pepper 750g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks Spinach, steamed, to serve

5g seaweed salad mix

Paneer, roasted beetroot and hazelnut salad Ingredients

Method

300g beetroot, peeled and cut into wedges

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

3tsp olive oil

Place the beetroot wedges in a roasting tin, drizzle with 1tsp olive oil and roast for 30 minutes. Add the hazelnuts and roast for a further 5 minutes.

30g blanched hazelnuts 75g vegetarian paneer cheese, cut into 2cm cubes 1tbsp low-fat natural yoghurt 1tbsp lemon juice ½ tsp horseradish sauce 1tsp dried dill 50g watercress 2 large wholemeal pitta breads, to serve

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

Heat the tofu in a non-stick pan with the oil for 10 minutes. Turn over and add some of the paprika and a splash of soy sauce. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Once cooked, set aside.

Gently fry the shallots for 5 minutes in the pan. Remove half and set aside.

Add the garlic, mushrooms, seaweed and the rest of the paprika to the pan and simmer.

Cook for 10 minutes, then transfer to an ovenproof dish and add the cooked tofu to form the pie base.

Make a sauce by melting 30g butter in a pan. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually whisk in 350ml milk. As the sauce thickens, add the cream and peas, the remaining cooked shallots, 1tsp stock powder and some of the parsley. Adjust the seasoning, then spoon the sauce over the pie base.

To make the topping, boil a large pan of water and add the potatoes.

Simmer for 15 minutes until tender.

Drain and mash with the rest of the milk and butter, until light and creamy. Season, then pipe or spoon over the dish and bake for 20 minutes until golden and crispy.

Garnish with the remaining parsley and serve with the spinach.

While the beetroot is roasting, heat the remaining 2tsp oil in a frying pan and add the paneer, cooking over a low heat until brown on all sides.

To make the dressing, mix together the yoghurt, lemon juice, horseradish sauce and dill in a small bowl.

Place all the roasted and fried ingredients in a large bowl with the watercress and dressing and mix well. Serve with the pitta bread.

SERVES

2

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

20 February 2021 • WAR CRY • 15

makes love possible; love makes truth bearable Rowan Williams

WAR CRY