3 minute read
Team Talk
YOUR prayers are requested for Ann, that she will be healed of her bipolar disorder and will find a fulfilling relationship.
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’.
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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
Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International
’ talk Team talk ‘TEAM TALK Is there an overkill of crime dramas?
Claire Brine gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters
AS my colleagues and I discussed ideas for future issues of the War Cry, we began talking about new crime dramas and how they seem to pop up on television every week. While many of the editorial team love a good whodunnit, we wondered if any viewers were beginning to feel exhausted by the genre.
Days later my editor emailed me an article from The Times with a subheading that asked: ‘Why are we relaxing by watching murder on screen?’ The piece by arts writer Ed Potton pointed out that, for the previous two weeks, the ‘most popular show on Netflix’ had been Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The 10-part drama focuses on the true story of a man who ‘killed, dismembered and in some cases ate We are drawn 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991’. Though the subject matter sounded horrifying to me, Ed to subjects reported that the show broke the streaming platform’s that shock us record for ‘most watched new series in its first five days of release, with 196.2 million hours of viewership’. It seems that when it comes to crime stories – whether they are fictional or real-life – people can’t look away. Perhaps many of us are drawn to subjects that shock us. Maybe we watch to see the ‘baddies’ getting caught and justice being served. Ed wrote that real-life crime dramas can also be educational, with many highlighting historic problems of racism and homophobia and the need to treat certain people in society better.
All things considered, there may be lots of good reasons why people are watching crime dramas. But I can’t deny that, sometimes, saturating myself in these programmes unsettles me. Stories of death and despair night after night make me feel anxious, sad and burdened. I become tense. None of that’s good for me – or the people I live with.
That’s why I think it’s important to switch off from such shows occasionally. Taking a break from content that has the potential to overwhelm us enables our mind to make space for other things: things that are pure, wholesome and hopeful. Life can be full of goodness – but only when we choose to see it.
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