How The Salvation Army responded to
WAR CRY
Ho, ho, who?
Unwrapping the history of the man who’s coming to town
Band brings Christmas cheer to Call the Midwife
What is The Salvation Army?
The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.
What is the War Cry?
The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.
WAR CRY
Editor: Andrew Stone, Major
Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow
Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku
Staff Writer: Emily Bright
Staff Writer: Claire Brine
Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk
Graphic Designer: Mark Knight
Graphic Designer: Natalie Adkins
Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk
The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 1 Champion Park London SE5 8FJ
Tel: 0845 634 0101
Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org
Founders: William and Catherine Booth International leaders: General Lyndon Buckingham and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham Territorial leaders: Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main
Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn
Published weekly by The Salvation Army
© The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 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.
Have you been naughty or nice? On Christmas Eve, Santa will be checking his list twice to see which homes he needs to visit. But, while he supposedly knows an awful lot about us, the man himself is a bit of a mystery.
The familiar figure we see at this time of year ‘is two personages which in Britain have been conflated’, Dr Michael Carter of English Heritage tells us in this week’s issue of the War Cry. ‘One of them – Santa Claus – is based on a genuine historical personage, a saint of the Church. The other – Father Christmas – is a product of the early 17th-century culture wars.’
The culture wars that Michael is talking about were between Puritans, who wanted to do away with the grand celebrations of Christmas, and other people who wanted to keep them by developing a character called Sir Christmas, Lord Christmas and eventually Father Christmas.
He personifies ‘the feasting and games that characterised the traditional early modern Christmas,’ Michael explains, ‘and he is always depicted as a jolly, convivial kind of guy, slightly corpulent and with a big beard.’
Michael also explains that the real person wrapped up in the character of Santa Claus is Nicholas, a fourth-century Christian bishop who was known for carrying out ‘holy deeds’ that helped others.
Supporting people who are experiencing difficult situations is something Christians have continued to do into the 21st century. In this week’s issue we speak with Major Barrie Sampson from The Salvation Army who, a few days after the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, went to Sri Lanka to help people whose lives had been devastated.
‘It was a privilege to go to Sri Lanka and to help people by using the skills and gifts that I believe were given by God,’ he says.
Christians don’t help others in the hope of getting on to God’s nice list and gaining some sort of reward. God doesn’t work like that. He loves and cares for everyone whether they’re naughty or nice. To experience his love for ourselves, all we have to do is accept it as his gift.
Printed by CKN Print, Northampton, on sustainably sourced paper
INFO INFO
Christmas episodes of ‘Call the Midwife’ feature a carol concert
LABOUR OF LOVE
Nonnatus House helps struggling family at Christmas
By Emily Bright
I
n a festive gift for viewers, Call the Midwife – complete with its nuns, nurses and heartwarming storylines – is returning for a two-part Christmas special.
As the 1960s come to an end, life is as busy as ever in Poplar. Friends and residents of Nonnatus House – home to midwives and nuns – are buzzing with expectation about an upcoming mince pie competition. Handyman Fred (Cliff Parisi) dresses up as Father Christmas for the children’s ward at St Cuthbert’s Hospital, much to the delight of its patients. And a visiting funfair brings joy to adults and children alike.
However, there’s little Christmas cheer for one household. The Shaughnessy family, who cannot pay off their creditors, are made homeless right before Christmas. Forced to take temporary refuge in a rat-infested home with rapidly depleting candles, they are at breaking point. It’s up to the midwives to save the day.
‘Life can be difficult, and so that’s reflected in the story,’ says Laura Main, who plays midwife Shelagh Turner. ‘And so to take a moment to think of others, and see people serving others, is a nice message at Christmas.’
At the beating heart of every episode of Call the Midwife is the care and warmth
found in Nonnatus House, with its tales of love, loss and new life. Home to community healthcare, the building provides a backdrop when – during the seasonal specials –locals come together for a carol concert, accompanied by a real-life Salvation Army brass band.
Members of the Salvation Army band play as the community gathers
Their music seems an apt soundtrack, given that the church and charity’s love for God and compassion for others are shared by Call the Midwife’s characters.
‘The band was wonderful,’ Jenny Agutter, who plays Sister Julienne, tells the War Cry ‘I wanted them to keep playing!’
Such bands have been a festive staple over the years. Bandsman Dean Jones, who played the euphonium for the episode, explains that ‘the sight of people gathering together wearing the Salvation Army uniform is synonymous with this time of year, holding our instruments and playing these carols’.
Performing Christmas music for Call the Midwife carried an added significance for Dean.
‘It was a fantastic opportunity to stand up and profess our faith,’ he says. ‘The words connected with those tunes and being able to engage with people in that Christmas spirit are really important for us
as Christian musicians.
‘The Christmas story is the bedrock of my faith. It inspires me to realise the humbleness that Jesus was born into. As Christians, we try to have grace and walk in humility, which is definitely what Jesus did in the very meek way that he came to this Earth. The Christmas story is a real linchpin, within my faith, for sure.’
Jesus, who came to serve other people rather than to be served, continues to inspire millions of Christians throughout the world. Born into poverty without fanfare, the Son of God would go on to take the punishment and die for the wrong things we do so that we can be reconciled to God if we choose to believe.
Jesus’ offer of love and forgiveness is available to us all. That’s certainly something worth singing about.
TV preview: Call the Midwife Christmas Day and Boxing Day BBC1 and iPlayer
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’.
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
j TEA M TALK
Game tactics are not all above board
Claire Brine gives her take on a story that has caught the attention of War Cry reporters
Britain is ‘a nation of board game cheats’ was the Times headline that caught my eye. Stickler for the rules that I am, I read on with interest.
talkTeam talk ‘ ’
According to the article, which summarised the key figures of a survey commissioned by the toymaker Mattel, 63 per cent of more than 2,000 adults said that they had experienced a good game turning bad – and ‘half the time as a direct result of cheating’. Almost a third of people admitted to ‘having a full-blown argument’ with a friend or relative as a consequence of rules being broken.
We have the choice to act fairly
The survey analysed the reasons behind board game disputes and highlighted that 23 per cent of people admitted to being ‘extremely competitive’. Perhaps the drive to win at all costs explains why a third of people had seen a game ‘being abandoned entirely because of an argument’.
Wondering if there was a way to keep things civil at the games table this Christmastime, the Times article pointed out that another of the survey’s statistics ‘suggests a solution entirely in our control’. The newspaper said that, while ‘many of us bemoan the cheating of others’, the proportion of Britons who admitted ‘bending the rules’ was 78 per cent. In other words, in order to enjoy a peaceful game of Monopoly, the majority of us need to look at our own behaviour and – where it lets us down – change it.
Easily said; perhaps not so easily done.
Whether we are dealing with board games or other more serious situations, it’s not always simple (or comfortable) to change who we are or how we approach things. But I do believe that a spot of introspection is important – and if we notice ourselves behaving in a way that isn’t fair to others, then it’s right to take the necessary steps to improve who we are.
This Christmas, as carollers sing of goodwill to humankind and encourage us to embrace peace on Earth, it’s a good idea to remember the part that we can play in making that peace a reality. Whatever has happened in our life up to this point, today we have the choice to act fairly, speak truthfully and look out for others.
When we do, everyone’s a winner.
Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International
WnRLD WAR CRY
Shaky reunites with Salvation Army
Shakin’ Stevens has surprised some of the Salvation Army collaborators who helped him convert his festive hit into a charity single in 2015, BBC News reported.
‘Echoes of Merry Christmas Everyone’ was a folk and bluegrass remake of his 1985 No 1 ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’.
The Welsh singer travelled to Bournemouth to meet some of those who featured in the 2015 campaign video. The reunion took place for a BBC Sounds documentary Christmas Hits Unwrapped: Stories behind the Songs
For his visit, Winton Salvation Army band performed a rendition of the song. Shaky described them as fantastic.
The singer’s grandmother was a member of The Salvation Army and the connection prompted him to issue a remake of the song in 2015 in support of the church and charity.
Tina Shave, community centre manager at the Winton church, said recording the new version of the song had made a huge difference to The Salvation Army.
‘Because we are a church and a community centre that works with people, we don’t really talk an awful lot about what we’re doing because we’re so busy doing it,’ she explained. ‘Something like that really raised our profile.’
Bublé duets
for hurt people
A country singer who has previously spoken of how her faith helped her in tough times has collaborated with Michael Bublé on a new Christmas song for people who are hurting, family entertainment website Movieguide reported.
Announcing his duet with Carly Pearce, Michael said on Instagram that he wrote the song called ‘Maybe this Christmas’ for ‘those who find the holidays a hard time … a lonely time’. He said: ‘Music has a way of healing and this one means a lot.’
Back in 2021, Carly told the Christian Post: ‘You can say you have faith, you can say you believe in God, but until you feel completely uncomfortable, not knowing where to turn, at your lowest – that is where you have to decide to trust that God’s timing is right and that he will show you why you’re going through this… I see now how some of the most horrific parts of my life are now being validated and redeemed for good to be helpful for other people.’
nA town bakery has gone viral on social media for recreating the Nativity using loaves of bread.
According to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, staff at Hobbs House Bakery in Nailsworth arranged sourdough loaves for the three kings and Mary and Joseph, while baby Jesus has been ‘made out of a baguette’ and placed in a rye loaf manger.
Anna Herbert from the bakery told radio presenter Jon Smith that the display – entitled ‘Breadlehem’ – had been varnished to ensure it lasts until Christmas.
‘People seem to be loving it,’ she said. ‘The way the [figures are] made from a stubby, rounded loaf, they’ve got good character to them.’
A photograph of the display, shared thousands of times on social media, attracted numerous comments, with some saying that the Christmas scene is very appropriate because the name Bethlehem translates as ‘house of bread’.
Shaky’s son Dean, Tina Shave and Shaky at Winton
Carly Pearce and Michael Bublé
Here comes…
What’s the story behind the man who is coming to town?
Feature by Philip Halcrow
Historian
Dr Michael Carter
Who is the jolly, white-bearded, red-suited man sitting in the toyshop or at the garden centre? Who is asking children if they have been good so that he knows to bring them gifts on Christmas Eve? Whose grotto is it? Who are children going to see – Santa Claus or Father Christmas?
A month or so ago, toyshop chain The Entertainer was offering children events where they would be helped in writing their ‘letter to Santa’. Meanwhile English Heritage was advertising that Father Christmas would be handing out gifts and telling stories at some of its properties.
Dr Michael Carter of English Heritage has been looking into this figure’s past.
‘He is two personages which in Britain have been conflated,’ he says. ‘One of them – Santa Claus – is based on a genuine historical personage, a saint of the Church. The other – Father Christmas – is a product of the early 17th-century culture wars.’
Nicholas became a very popular saint across Europe
Tracing a timeline into the past for the more historical half of the Christmas character, Michael explains that St Nicholas was a fourth-century bishop in Myra in Lycia, now southwest Turkey. However, he admits: ‘We don’t know much about him. He has not gone down in history as a martyr but he is, in ecclesiastical language, a “confessor” –that is, someone who is known for doing holy deeds without dying for his faith.’
Michael says that a ‘kind of idealised’ account of his life was written in the 7th century, and this was supplemented
The character of St Nicholas portrayed in an illustration for an 1848 edition of the poem that describes his visit on ‘the night before Christmas’…
by a fuller account which appeared in The Golden Legend, a 13th-century collection of stories of saints.
‘But before that, his association with children was already firmly established. Two of the miracles attributed to him are connected with children – although neither of them,’ he adds, ‘are really fit for consumption by children.
‘In one of them, St Nicholas threw three bags of gold through the window of a nobleman who had fallen on hard times and who was facing having to sell his three daughters into sexual slavery because he couldn’t afford dowries for them. The story, incidentally, is reputed to be the origin of the pawnbroker symbol of three golden balls.
‘In the other story he brought back from the dead three small boys who had
been butchered and placed in a tub of brine to be turned into pies. So three boys in a tub is one of the symbols of St Nicholas in art.’
The figure of Nicholas and the legends associated with him appear in many works of art.
‘Nicholas became a very popular saint across Europe, including the Low Countries, where he was – and is –called Sint Nicolaas or Sinterklaas,’ says Michael. ‘He was commemorated with a feast day each year on 6 December.
‘The practice developed of giving children presents the night before,
From page 7
often placed in their shoes – and later stockings – for them to discover in the morning.
‘In England there was also the tradition of the “boy bishops”, who were chosen by their fellow choristers to be a bishop temporarily. Sometimes they’d be elected on St Nicholas’s Day and then take up this unofficial office on 28 December, the feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating the young boys in Bethlehem who were slaughtered on the orders of King Herod.
‘The tradition was all about turning things upside down. It had an element of allowing people to let off steam and having fun – but within bounds.’
The next stop on Saint Nicholas’s
journey round the world was North America, says Michael. Dutch settlers took the tradition with them to their colony of New Amsterdam, which later became New York.
‘But when New York came under British influence, the Dutch influence died down and – though it remained vibrant back in Europe – so did the tradition of Sinterklaas.’
Michael explains that the figure made a comeback stateside during the 19th century when author Washington Irving drew attention to the old tradition in his comical History of New York. The tradition was also picked up by Clement Clarke Moore, a professor at the New York Episcopalian College.
…and on the cover of an 1896 edition of the poem
The poem ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’, published anonymously in the 1820s and later under Moore’s name, narrates what happens on ‘the night before Christmas’ in a house where ‘not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse’. It depicts St Nicholas with cheeks ‘like roses’ and a ‘nose like a cherry’ being flown on to rooftops in a sleigh pulled by ‘eight tiny reindeer’.
Michael says that – now far from his home in Turkey – ‘St Nicholas in the poem has become a magical spirit of the northern midwinter.’
He explains: ‘It’s during this time that we get many of the things we associate with him – not just the putting of sweets in shoes for good children but also the sleigh and everything like that. The giving of gifts is also moved from St Nicholas’s Day to Christmas Eve night.’
Santa begins to be conflated with Father Christmas
Santa Claus is known in Britain from the middle of the 19th century, says Michael. Then, later in the century, he ‘begins to be conflated with Father Christmas –and that’s when he really takes off’.
Whereas the figure of Santa Claus actually has one boot in history, Father Christmas is a different story.
‘Christmas was a very big deal in late medieval, Tudor and early Stuart England,’ says Michael. ‘But then it got a bit battered, and it became implicated in the religious disputes of the day. The Puritans were rather down on all the merrymaking that took place and on the nonbiblical aspects of Christmas. They contested Christmas celebrations, observances and traditions.
‘Father Christmas was invented to define Christmas against these Puritanical attacks.
‘Playwright Ben Jonson includes a personification of Christmas in his work Christmas His Masque The figure is said to wear a long thin beard and a high-crowned hat. A later masque includes a personification of Christmas as “an old reverend gentleman in a furred gown and cap”.
‘And as time went on, he appeared in dramas variously as Sir Christmas,
Lord Christmas and then increasingly Father Christmas. He is essentially concerned with the adult world, personifying the feasting and games that characterised the traditional early modern Christmas, and he is always depicted as a jolly, convivial kind of guy, slightly corpulent and with a big beard.
‘So when Santa Claus comes over here, he gets readily amalgamated with Father Christmas, to the point where the terms are now largely interchangeable.’
While uncovering the points in time when the figure of Santa Claus-cumFather Christmas developed, Michael also is keen to dispel a misconception about his wardrobe.
‘There’s a tradition that he dresses in red and white because of an advertising campaign by Coca-Cola. I’m afraid that’s one of those urban myths. In American traditions, he is shown wearing red and white from the
1870s or thereabouts.
‘As for Father Christmas, he is often shown in green, but there’s not such a standard way of depicting him, because he often appears in uncoloured engravings. He does often wear a hat and fur-trimmed clothing, but that’s because of his winter associations.’
The historian also suspects that another theory may be no more than a flight of fancy.
‘Some people have tried to come up with a non-Christian explanation for Santa, which said that the whole tradition came from Siberian shamanism and reindeer worship and being on magic mushrooms. The problem with that is that many parts of the legend of St Nicholas don’t have any basis in Siberian shamanism. To me, the theory seems to have more to do with the fevered imaginations of folklorists than fact.’
Today, in whatever guise, Santa-cumFather Christmas has been known to turn up at church events.
For instance, Winton Salvation Army on the south coast of England runs a fun day called Lapland to Bethlehem, where children and their parents can journey through ‘Lapland’ and meet Father Christmas.
‘But then,’ says one of the church leaders Major Jamie Hill, ‘they move on to Bethlehem, where we run Christfocused activities centred around the stable. Families can dress in Nativity costumes and have a photo shoot in the stable – and they can receive the photos at the children’s carol service the next day.’
The focus, he adds, is ‘on Bethlehem’.
The same town – and the same story – that 1,700 years ago was probably also on the mind of a Bishop of Myra called Nicholas.
Church art from the 13th century showing Nicholas giving gold to help an impoverished nobleman’s daughters
‘After the tsunami, people had nothing ’
Salvation Army officer Major BARRIE SAMPSON reflects on the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, and explains why he flew to Sri Lanka to help survivors rebuild their lives
Interview by Claire Brine
Twenty years ago on Boxing Day, people in the UK woke up to devastating scenes on their TV screens. A magnitude 9.1 earthquake had occurred in the Indian Ocean off the coast of northern Sumatra in Indonesia, and had triggered a tsunami that swept across the region, wiping away entire communities in India, Thailand and Sri Lanka, and killing about 228,000 people.
‘I’d been watching the news all day long,’ remembers Salvation Army officer Major Barrie Sampson. ‘In the end I said to my wife, Maria: “I can’t sit here and watch this any more. I’ve got to do something.” With that, I picked up the phone and rang The Salvation Army’s International Headquarters. I told them that if they were planning on sending out any relief teams to the affected areas, I wanted to be top of the list. I needed to help.’
Days later, Barrie – who is now retired, but at the time was the leader of the Salvation Army church in Falkirk –
received a phone call. ‘Get ready, you’re going to Sri Lanka,’ were the instructions given.
Within a week of the disaster unfolding, Barrie and a handful of his Salvation Army colleagues landed at Colombo airport. From there they travelled to Galle, one of the hardest-hit areas in Sri Lanka.
‘We met a family who told us through our interpreter that their whole life had been washed away from them,’ says Barrie. ‘One of the women explained that her 18-month-old baby had been washed out of her arms, never to be seen again.’
As his heart broke for the people in front of him, Barrie and The Salvation Army’s International Emergency Services team got to work. The devastation caused by the tsunami was colossal – and people needed help fast.
‘We worked with Salvation Army locals in Sri Lanka to establish that the immediate need for victims was shelter,’ he says. ‘So we arranged for 1,000 tents to be flown into the country, which would
Barrie Sampson
After the tsunami caused widespread devastation, including fatalities on a railway line, Barrie distributed emergency supplies
offer people some kind of protection.’
For Barrie, obtaining the tents was no problem. Before becoming a Salvation Army officer, he had worked in logistics as an international transport manager, meaning he was highly skilled in procurement and making things happen. But getting the tents out of Colombo airport was a difficult and frustrating process, with a series of obstacles in relation to shipping papers, handling fees and document charges being put in his way.
‘That day will stay with me for ever,’ says Barrie. ‘We were wrestling with the Sri Lankan authorities for hours and arguing with customs officials. Eventually I was taken into an office, where an official
told me I could have the tents in return for money. My reply was: “You’re not getting any money out of me. If you want me to fly these tents over to victims in the Philippines, I will. But I will not part with any money in order to get these tents out to people who need them.”
A wave had hit a train
‘In the end, the official stamped and signed the paperwork, threw it across the desk and told me to go.’
Once he was out of the airport, Barrie and his colleagues delivered the tents to people who were living in the worstaffected areas around Galle. The villagers
worked alongside him to put them up.
‘They had nothing and there was nothing,’ Barrie recalls. ‘I remember questioning God at the time, asking him why this should happen to the Sri Lankans, who were such a warm and lovely people. I was angry because so many of them had nothing even before the tsunami occurred.
‘One particular memory that sticks in my mind is the day I went into a medical centre in one of the smaller villages and saw people posting names on the wall of their family members who were missing.
‘Another sight that got to me was when I was walking along a railway track
Turn to page 12 f
From page 11
where a wave had hit a train, killing a huge number of people. I can remember seeing the debris of the train but also the day-today items, like notebooks and a baby’s bottle, just lying by the side of the track after they had been washed out of the carriages.’
From a Salvation Army building in Hikkaduwa, Barrie and his colleagues worked round the clock to support survivors, who were trying to come to terms with their pain, grief and overwhelming loss.
‘I was struck by their resilience,’ Barrie says. ‘Yes, they were grieving, but the attitude that came across was, “OK, this has happened. Let’s deal with it.” They were there for each other. The way they coped really spoke to me. It gave me strength to keep doing what I was doing.’
After providing immediate aid to many of the tsunami’s survivors, The Salvation Army began to look at what it could offer the country in the longer-term. It supported workers in the Sri Lankan fishing industry
by replacing their lost or damaged boats. It was also allocated by the government more than 200 acres of land near the village of Galagoda Wattha and was tasked with building 100 new homes.
I ranted and raved at God
‘After spending three months as part of the emergency team, I was flown back to the UK in March 2005, just as the bungalows were being built,’ says Barrie.
‘The next year, I returned to the area on holiday and saw the end result. It was wonderful to meet up with some of the families that I’d met the year before. They were very pleased to show me their new homes.
‘They seemed so settled and at peace. I felt pleased about what The Salvation Army had been able to do for them.
‘I was also able to use my visit to get some closure. I can remember standing in
the middle of the village high street, on my own, and I just wept.’
Though 20 years have passed since the tsunami shook the world to its core, Barrie’s memories of the disaster remain clear. He says that he is a changed man because of it.
‘It was a privilege to go to Sri Lanka and to help people by using the skills and gifts that I believe were given by God,’ he says. ‘Being there changed me for the better. I think that, in caring for others, I have developed a greater awareness of the people around me and what they might need.
‘Yes, the tsunami still causes me to question God. I can remember ranting and raving at him about it. And I have no idea why he chose me to serve. But I also believe that I was in the right place at the right time, with the right skills.
‘There is a Salvation Army song which includes the words “Just where he needs me, my Lord has placed me”, and that was true for me.’
The Salvation Army built new homes for tsunami survivors
QUICK QUIZ
In which year did Mariah Carey’s 1994 single ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ first become a No 1 hit in the
PARENT TRAP
TV thriller explores emotional fallout of babies being swapped at birth
TV preview: Playing Nice ITV1 and ITVX in the new year
By Emily Bright
Spotting his son Theo’s distinctive yellow jacket drifting in the sea, Pete Riley (James Norton) races down the Cornish cliff paths and runs into the water. Gripped by desperation and dread – in the opening scene of the ITV series Playing Nice – he cries out to his son, searching for him under the waves. These are stressful times.
Only three months earlier, Pete was enjoying life as a doting dad and husband to Maddie (Niamh Algar) in an idyllic seaside town. But one phone call changed everything.
The hospital where Theo was born invited the Rileys to an urgent meeting, where they were notified that their baby was switched at birth with another couple’s baby in the ICU. Pete and Maddie reacted with confusion and denial.
Maddie wanted a role in their biological son’s life. But Pete was more reluctant to get involved. ‘I don’t care what anyone else says, or what the results come back as,’ he asserted. ‘Theo is ours.’
Soon after the couple received the news, there was a knock at the door. It was the other dad from the ICU, Miles Lambert (James McArdle), who wanted to find out more about Theo – his biological son.
Miles adopted increasingly obsessive behaviour towards Theo. Maddie and Pete were horrified to discover that he’d go to any lengths to be part of his biological son’s life.
The extraordinary plot of Playing Nice makes for edge-of-the-seat TV, but viewers may recognise that more usual family life contains its share of dramas too. At worst, our parents may have been absent or abusive. At best – as much as they loved us – they still made mistakes.
But the reality is that we can enjoy a relationship with a perfect parent, who provides us with all we need to thrive.
One Bible writer recorded the extraordinary love he experienced in his relationship with God as his heavenly Father. He wrote: ‘See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!’ (1 John 3:1 New International Version).
We too can know this perfect love. To be adopted into God’s family, all we need to do is invite him into our lives.
Pete Riley with his son, Theo
Quick CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1. Brittle (5)
5. Sweetener (5)
8. Sharp (5)
9. Vacillate (5)
10. Expel (5)
11. Skill (5)
12. Information (4)
15. Inject (6)
17. Incorrect (5)
18. Achieve (6)
20. Moist (4)
25. Artless (5)
26. Dodge (5)
27. Belief (5)
28. Alarm (5)
29. Scum (5)
30. Unbending (5)
DOWN
1. Chicken (6)
2. Create (6)
3. Chilly (5)
4. Pastoral (5)
5. Searching (7)
6. Mourn (6)
7. Rejoinder (6)
13. Appropriate (3)
14. Vase (3)
15. Writing fluid (3)
16. Outer ring (3)
17. See (7)
18. Serve (6)
19. Soft fruit (6)
21. Performing (6)
22. Shoved (6)
23. Ultimate (5)
24. Postpone (5)
SUDOKU
Roast chicken with vegetables
INGREDIENTS
1tbsp vegetable oil
METHOD
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Large handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
Large handful fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1.6kg whole chicken
1 lemon, halved
160g baby leeks
300g baby carrots
250g fennel, roughly chopped
500g new potatoes
1tbsp plain flour
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Add the oil, garlic, parsely and tarragon to a bowl and mix well. Loosen the skin from the neck of the chicken, then work the oil mixture underneath and rub over the chicken breast. Tuck the lemon halves inside the bird’s cavity. Transfer to a roasting tin and roast on the middle shelf of the oven for 45 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
298g can mandarin segments in fruit juice
2tbsp fat-free vanilla yogurt
½ tbsp half-fat crème fraiche
2-3 drops almond essence
½ orange, zest
2 amaretti biscuits, crushed SERVES 2
10g dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa), grated
Carefully arrange the leeks, carrots and fennel round the chicken and coat with the juices. Return to the oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the juices run clear.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the potatoes for 20 minutes, or until softened. Drain and transfer to a warm serving bowl.
Remove the chicken to a cutting board and cover with foil to rest. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked vegetables to a warm serving bowl.
To make the gravy, set the tin over a medium heat, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the boiling water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes, or until thick.
Strain and serve the gravy alongside the chicken and vegetables. To reduce the amount of fat in the meal, remove the chicken skin before serving.
Festive chocolate and orange trifle
METHOD
Drain the juice from the can of mandarins into a bowl and set aside.
Put the yogurt, crème fraiche, almond essence, orange zest and most of the grated chocolate into a bowl. Add 1tbsp of the mandarin juice and mix thoroughly. Discard the remaining juice.
Set 4 mandarin segments aside for decoration.
Layer the other mandarin segments, the amaretti biscuits and the yogurt mix in 2 individual serving glasses. Decorate with the 4 mandarin segments and chocolate. Leave to chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
A stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world
CS Lewis