War Cry 29 July

WAR CRY

Ready to stand the heat

Radio 2’s Richie Anderson is among the stars in the MasterChef kitchen

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

Issue No 7638

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

United Kingdom and Ireland Territory

101 Newington Causeway London

SE1 6BN

Tel: 0845 634 0101

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 Julian Watchorn

A PERSON can be as miserable as it – or as guilty. It can be deadly, cardinal or mortal and, not so long ago, some people were said to be living in it.

Sin. A three letter word that carries a weight of condemnation for those attributed with it. The truth is, though, that it also carries a degree of fascination for others when someone’s sins have found them out – as evidenced by the coverage given when a celebrity is discovered to have behaved in a way judged to be wrong.

Sin has fascinated people through the centuries, as a current art exhibition bears witness. In this week’s War Cry we report on Sin: The Art of Transgression, which has been touring the country and is currently on display at the Auckland Project in Co Durham.

‘Although we might think of sin in different terms from in the past, there’s still such a strong understanding of sin,’ Joost Joustra, curator of the initial exhibition at the National Gallery in London tells us. ‘It’s so ingrained in our understanding and our acting that it has never really gone away.’ Joost also highlights a work that illustrates the solution for the problem that sin in our world brings.

The Mass of Saint Giles, he says, shows the Emperor Charlemagne ‘who is kneeling next to Saint Giles in front of an altar and is confessing his sins. At the same time, an angel is coming down and holding a note which says that his sins are forgiven.’

Christians believe that there is no sin that God cannot forgive, if we’ll confess it to him and ask for his forgiveness. Not only does God forgive us, but he offers us a chance to start again and begin a new life with him.

Whatever we have done wrong, our sins do not have to define us. It is possible to picture a new life with God.

INFO INFO

Under pressure

Celebrities get grilled in cooking game show

CHOPPING boards are at the ready. Celebrity MasterChef is back! The 18th series of the cutting-edge game show is set to start serving up some culinary fun next Tuesday (1 August) on BBC1.

The first five celebrities to see if they can stand the heat are reality TV personalities Dani Dyer and Mica Ven, radio presenter Richie Anderson, actor James Buckley and comedian Marcus Brigstocke.

In the show’s first round each of them will lift a cloche on their counter to reveal a different ingredient. With access to a larder, their task is to create one plate of food to showcase their ingredient and to prove that they can measure up to the standard needed to remain in the competition.

Cooking against the clock, the pressure is on.

But that’s not the end of the tests. The celebs must then prepare a main course and dessert that would be good enough to impress a dinner guest.

Judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace will taste and test the three dishes prepared by the celebrities, before making a cut and sending one of them home.

The famous five have a range of cooking abilities going in to the MasterChef kitchen. Some don’t cook much at all whereas others are regulars at their home stoves. They come from a variety of

backgrounds and have a variety of tastes in food, which may influence their cooking decisions as they work to curry favour with the judges.

But one thing all the celebrities had in common was fear on the first day of filming.

‘Walking into that kitchen for the first time was terrifying,’ says Radio 2’s Richie Anderson. ‘And, of course, I’m stood there in front of John and Gregg. I mean, that’s enough to get anybody’s heart racing.’

John and Gregg are the masters of cheffing – and they certainly don’t mince their words when it comes to giving feedback on the dishes presented to them.

Being judged, whether on a television competition or in regular day-to-day life, isn’t most people’s cup of tea. Harsh comments can knock our confidence, leaving us feeling bad about ourselves.

If we feel as though our every move is

being scrutinised – by family, friends or colleagues – we may be crippled by the fear of making a mistake in anything we do.

Most daunting of all might be the idea of being judged by a supreme being who knows everything about us – even down to the thoughts we have.

The truth is that none of us measure up to God’s standard for how he wants us to live. Nobody is perfect. If we were judged, we’d come up short. But Jesus, God’s Son, was sent to help, with the offer of forgiveness. Jesus said: ‘God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgement against anyone who believes in him’ (John 3:17 and 18 New Living Translation).

Putting our trust in Jesus means we can walk through life free of fear and condemnation. Because of him, we can have confidence in God’s love for us. And, if we follow his method, we’ll find the ingredients for a life that always satisfies.

Richie Anderson gets stuck in

TV feature by Sarah Olowofoyeku

The famous five have a range of cooking abilities

James Buckley, Mica Ven, Marcus Brigstocke, Richie Anderson and Dani Dyer try to measure up in the first heat

‘ ’

j TEA M TALK

Oh, do I like to be beside the seaside?

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

‘HEALTH warnings over sewage pollution have been issued for a whopping 54 beaches in the southwest of England,’ reported the Metro last week. I noticed that this latest story about the state of the seas surrounding the British Isles arrived only days before the start of National Marine Week.

Running until 6 August, National Marine Week is a celebration of the creatures and plants that reside in UK waters. The annual campaign aims to inspire a new generation of conservationists through events such as rock pool rambles and snorkel trails. But, although the week aims to provide enjoyment through such events, its focus is on promoting an urgent message: marine environments are under pressure and need our protection.

Looking after the world is our job

‘It is critical that at least 30 per cent of UK seas are given the highest level of environmental protection by the end of this decade,’ explains Lissa Batey, head of marine conservation at the Wildlife Trust. ‘Doing this will help wildlife recover, with enormous benefits for fishing, as well as ensuring vast amounts of carbon remains stored in natural habitats such as sand, mud and seagrass. Better protections for our seas will mean more wildlife, and that helps everyone.’

The point couldn’t be clearer. If we want a healthy sea and a wildlife that thrives, then it’s our responsibility. In fact, looking after the world has always been our job as humans. The Bible tells us that after God created the Earth, he ‘took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2:15 New International Version).

Taking care of something requires action. It also requires effort. But the ripple effect of working together to stop polluting our seas will be felt all over the world.

Team talk Team talk

talk talk

THE trading arm of The Salvation Army, has unveiled plans for an innovative recycling system to help further reduce textile waste.

Project Re:claim, a joint venture between leading corporate wear specialists Project Plan B and Salvation Army Trading Company (SATCoL), has succeeded in using new technology to recycle polyester textiles back into raw material on a commercial scale. While Project Plan B developed the polyester recycling system – which is based on plastic bottle recycling – SATCoL, the UK’s largest charityowned textile collector, will install the machine at its processing centre in Kettering. The site currently sorts and processes about 65,000 tonnes of donated textiles every year.

Majonne Frost, head of environment and sustainability at SATCoL, explained that the new technology is vital in terms of developing sustainable fashion.

According to the Wildlife Trust, the UK’s seas are home to more than 330 species of fish, 28 cetaceans, seagrasses, seaweeds and living reefs. But these are in danger as a result of damaging fishing practices and pollution.

‘Last year SATCoL enabled reuse and recycling of over 250 million products, but there are always items which are too damaged and we cannot resell. They are often garments made from polyester.

‘With this new technology we can give these clothes a new lease of life. So when your favourite jumper is worn out, we will take it and turn it into polyester pellets, ready to be turned back into a new jumper. This is the future of fashion.’

WnRLD

WAR CRY

Game of biblical proportions

A VIDEO game that takes players back to Bible times has reached its crowdfunding goal, reports US Christian news website Faithwire.

Players of Gate Zero are transported to ancient Israel to embark on a cryptic mission and unlock secrets. Arve Solli, one of the game’s producers, said: ‘We want to take players back to zero, and make them able to dive into this huge world of biblical stories and events. This game might be the only Bible some people read.’

Pointing out that the game industry is now ‘bigger than both the music and movie industries combined’, he said: ‘We basically want to use the most impactful medium to tell the most impactful story.’

A crowdfunder was launched on Kickstarter for the first phase of game development, and its target of more than $200,000 was reached in 79 hours. Gamers can currently play a 20-minute demo, and plans are for the full version of the game to be released in 2024.

nA 1990s-THEMED silent disco has taken place in Ely Cathedral in a bid to attract younger people into the church, The Sunday Times reported.

Cross returned to community

A CRUCIFIX that was retrieved from the rubble of a French church destroyed during the First World War and later placed in a church in the Midlands, has been returned to France, reported the BBC.

A group from Rutland in England travelled more than 300 miles to Doingt in France to return the cross, which originated from a church in DoingtFlamicourt. It is believed that after the church was destroyed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the cross was salvaged by a British Army chaplain, and taken to its new home in All Saints’ Church in Tinwell, Rutland.

The idea to return the cross came after a teenage member of the congregation discovered that the church in France had been rebuilt. His father, Chas McDevitt, accompanied the crucifix to France and then went on to sound the Last Post on a bugle during a ceremony held in the church cemetery.

He was quoted as saying that returning the cross to its home country was ‘the right thing’ to do.

‘It’s so much more important for this community to have their cross back, it’s a continuity of their history,’ he said.

Eight hundred people attended the sold-out event – where they were given headphones to listen to music played by three DJs and where they could order drinks from bars – at the 11th-century cathedral in Cambridgeshire.

The Very Rev Mark Bonney, the dean of Ely, explained: ‘This is not my cathedral. It’s the cathedral for the

people who live here. I’m not naive enough to think that everyone at the disco will then come to worship the next day. But bridging the gap is a very gentle, slow process, inching towards each other.

‘People do come in here and they get that “wow” factor. The building touches something that’s bigger than we are. And we might not be able to articulate what that’s about, but it makes us think about things in a different sort of way. And that’s the beginning of a spiritual journey.’

Volunteers on track with food parcels

NETWORK Rail volunteers have collected food and other donations from passengers at Leeds station to help The Salvation Army’s ministry in the city. Leeds Central Salvation Army church distributes food parcels once a week as well as hosting a free community drop-in lunch every Monday and a café that provides a two-course meal and drink for £1. It also serves takeaway food on a Thursday.

Major Michael Barker, who leads Leeds Central Salvation Army with his wife, Major Nicola, said: ‘We want to say thanks to all who donated to us. We had plenty of food items, bags of books and clothes. Many people were very generous in giving money as well.’

The donation station in Leeds was the first event in a partnership between Network Rail and The Salvation Army, which has plans to host similar events elsewhere.

LIBRARY PICTURE POSED BY MODEL

It’s the perfect friendship

by Sarah Olowofoyeku

COUNTLESS sitcoms centre on it, songs have been inspired by it and tomorrow an international day celebrates it.

The UN’s International Day of Friendship, held every year on 30 July, notes how friendship can make a huge difference to our lives and to society. And London-based author Amy Boucher-Pye says that one friendship has changed her completely, ‘from a critical, overbearing and maybe even cold person, to someone who is able to extend love, compassion and empathy’.

Amy is describing her friendship with Jesus, and, in her book Transforming Love, she examines the Bible’s accounts of Jesus’ relationship with two sisters who lived in a small village outside Jerusalem to explore how friendship with Jesus can change us all.

‘Mary and Martha are some of Jesus’ closest friends,’ Amy tells me, ‘probably the closest women to him aside from his mother. It’s in their home that he goes to rest, to kick back and let his hair down.

‘In the book we look at three stories in

the Gospels, and we see how the sisters’ encounters with Jesus change them, because they’re able to be real with him, to present their frustrations, their laments, their fears and he meets them right where they are.

‘The book not only engages with these Bible characters, but it also provides prayer exercises so that people can go on their own journey of friendship with Jesus.’

Through her book, Amy wants to give people the opportunity to connect with Jesus who, as God’s Son, enabled humankind to become friends with God.

‘The most exciting thing,’ she says, ‘is that God loves us and knows us individually. He invites us to pour out our laments and questions. He runs towards us when we take even a step towards him and he embraces us in his arms. With his love, he calls us to be fully who he has made us to be.’

Such an intimate relationship with someone we cannot physically see or

touch may be difficult to understand. Amy describes it as a ‘mystery’.

‘It is hard to explain,’ she says, ‘but it comes down to the mystery of God promising to be with us through his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us the

Friends come in all shapes and sizes – a truth that will be celebrated on Sunday’s International Day of Friendship. Author AMY BOUCHER-PYE talks about one friendship that has transformed her life and the lives of many others

Interview

Jesus calls us to be who he has made us to be

Amy Boucher-Pye

presence of Jesus if we believe in him.

‘Practically that might mean that if we’re going through a horrible time and we pray, all of a sudden we have a deep sense of peace that we can’t explain and we no longer have anxious thoughts

eating away at us. Or somebody calls us up and says: “You just came to mind, and I wonder how you are. Can I pray for you?”’

The characters of Mary and Martha were particularly interesting to Amy because their lives were countercultural. In one story about the sisters, Mary is sitting down listening to Jesus teach, which may seem unremarkable to a modern reader. But, as Amy explains, it was not the expected behaviour of a woman.

‘It’s something that just wasn’t done, because women couldn’t touch the Torah, the Hebrew Scriptures. They could only learn from a husband or a father, not from a rabbi. Martha was a homeowner, which was also countercultural. And she was serving Jesus, but that role should have been carried out by a male servant. So these stories show that the Bible affirms women.

‘Knowing the Bible was countercultural can really empower people today to do what they feel God is calling them to do, and not to worry that “this is not how we do it”. And if they are friends with

Jesus, he’ll encourage them in whatever role they feel called to step out into.’

At the end of each chapter of the book, Amy invite readers to do an exercise based on Psalm 23, a poem in the Bible that speaks of God’s relationship with the poem’s writer. Amy says that it is helpful to think about how we view God.

‘The exercise is personalising Psalm 23, so instead of saying “the Lord is my shepherd”, you could say “the Lord is my friend”, or “the Lord is my teacher”, or “my companion”. If we want to gain a close relationship with God, we should look to him to meet all our needs in every little bit of our lives.’

Like a true and good friend, says Amy, ‘he is deeply concerned about us and loves us’.

If we want to gain a close relationship with God, we should look to him to meet all our needs in every little bit of our lives

Ar t uncovers a multitude of sins

Visitors to a gallery in Bishop Auckland are being given the chance to see a touring exhibition that shows how artists over the centuries have represented human wrongdoing – as well as answers to it. JOOST JOUSTRA, curator of the initial exhibition at the National Gallery in London, sketches out some of the messages conveyed in Sin

Interview by Philip Halcrow

Joost Joustra

THE art on display in a new exhibition at the Auckland Project in Co Durham is portraying some of the darker aspects of human behaviour. Works by old masters including Rembrandt and Lucas Cranach the Elder and modern pieces by artists such as Tracey Emin have all been brought together for Sin: The Art of Transgression

The exhibition has so far visited Winchester, York and Perth in Scotland, after it was originally staged at the National Gallery in London.

‘Many of the works in our collection at the National Gallery are of a religious, often Christian, nature, because they are part of the western tradition,’ says Joost Joustra, the Howard and Roberta Ahmanson fellow in art and religion at the National Gallery, who curated the exhibition in London. ‘A lot of the exhibitions we put on are about one artist or one moment in time, but this exhibition, looking at our collection through a religious lens, introduces a different approach.

‘When I was thinking about another way of looking at the collection, sin seemed to be the subject hiding in plain sight. It’s so obvious.’

The National Gallery’s collection spans the 13th century to the turn of the 20th century. But humankind’s understanding of sin dates back hundreds of years before that, as shown by the book that underpins much religious art and that helped Joost shape the

‘Youth’ by Ron Mueck

NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON

exhibition: the Bible.

‘There’s an arc that goes from the Old Testament to the New Testament,’ he says. ‘To start, the idea of the fall of humanity and the loss of Paradise is an iconic subject. Adam and Eve are recognisable images. Then sinfulness and how we deal with our sins has been an important theme of art. And the arc continues all the way to the idea of Christ and how he brought about the redemption of humanity. All the works that came up for selection for the Sin exhibition have something to do with that arc.’

A work such as Rembrandt’s The Woman Taken in Adultery explicitly references the Bible, portraying the moment recorded in the Gospels when a woman is dragged in front of Jesus and accused of having committed a specific sin.

‘But often the works in the exhibition highlight the ambiguity of the subject,’ says Joost. ‘For instance, we have a Venus and Cupid by Lucas Cranach the Elder. If you look at this image – especially from a distance – and see Venus standing by a tree, you could almost imagine her being Eve. It’s not an accident. Cranach also painted a lot of

Adam and Eves, and often his Eves, and his Venuses look similar.

‘Venus is a subject from classical antiquity, meant to be the goddess of love – a very tempting figure. So Cranach’s painting is all about the idea of temptation and sexual attraction. There are these pictures of Eve that do a similar thing.’

If Venus and Cupid highlights one type of sin or temptation to sin, other works in the exhibition illustrate different wrongs. Joost believes that the 16th-century Two Tax-Gatherers from the workshop of Marinus van Reymerswale may illustrate greed, and that a modern sculpture by Ron Mueck, Youth, which shows a young man looking at a wound on his side, could be asking the viewer questions about violence.

In the Christian interpretation of the problem of sin and its solution, Jesus’ death on a cross is the crux of the matter. His act of loving self-sacrifice is seen as restoring the relationship between God

and humankind which had been broken by sin. The exhibition contains the work The Deposition by Netherlandish artist Pieter Coecke van Aelst, showing Jesus being lowered ready for burial after his crucifixion. Joost also thinks that in the 16th-century painting The Virgin and Child by Jan Gossaert the infant Jesus’ outstretched arms seem to prefigure his crucifixion.

But, believing that boundaries between sacred and secular art ‘are not strict’, Joost wonders whether there is an echo of the biblical understanding of sin and redemption in a modern work.

‘In the exhibition we have a neon sign

Turn to page 11 f

The loss of Paradise is an iconic subject

‘Sin: The Art of Transgression’ at the Auckland Project

‘The Virgin and Child’, 1527, by Jan Gossaert

THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON

‘The Mass of Saint Giles’, about 1500, by the Master of Saint Giles

From page 9

by Tracey Emin consisting of pink letters that say “It was just a kiss”, and there is an “x” underneath. What it makes you think of might depend on the context in which you see it. If you were to see it while walking round Margate, you might think of one thing; but all of a sudden if you place that work in an exhibition with the theme of sin, it seems to speak of the idea of confession.

“It was just a kiss” sounds like something you could say in a confessional booth. Again, depending on where you see it, the “x” underneath almost starts to look like a cross.

‘There are layers of interpretation that are possible in these works.’

While some of the sins in the exhibition are obvious, Joost points out a picture where forgiveness is spelt out but the precise nature of the sins is not: The Mass of Saint Giles, by an anonymous painter known only as the Master of Saint Giles, who is named after the two paintings in

the National Gallery’s collection attributed to him, both of which show scenes from the life of an eight-century abbot.

‘It shows the Emperor Charlemagne, who is kneeling next to Saint Giles in front of an altar and is confessing his sins. At the same time, an angel is coming down and holding a note which says that his sins are forgiven.

‘Looking at the painting, we have no idea what those sins are. We may think of Charlemagne’s privileged position and wonder what it means for him to be confessing his sins and having his sins forgiven.’

As the exhibition has travelled round, the organisers have been encouraging visitors to reflect on what sin means to them.

Joost says: ‘In Perth, for instance, they had a blackboard at the end of the exhibition, and people could confess their own sins – which was quite interesting, and not all of it could be reproduced on

social media, I promise you.’

At the Auckland Project, visitors are invited to write out their own reflection on sin and clip them to a grid on the wall or to post them on social media, tagging the gallery.

‘Although we might think of sin in different terms from in the past, there’s still such a strong understanding of sin,’ Joost says. ‘It’s so ingrained in our understanding and our acting that it has never really gone away. What I find interesting is the concept of original sin: the idea that the sin of Adam and Eve is something we all carry with us still. In our contemporary thinking we have the idea that things that have happened in the past still weigh very heavy on us – which seems to be the same mode of thinking.

‘The words change, but the concept remains largely the same.’

l Sin is at the Auckland Project, Bishop Auckland, until 1 October

‘It Was Just a Kiss’, 2010, by Tracey Emin in the ‘Sin’ exhibition

Things in the past still weigh heavy on us

Prayerlink

YOUR prayers are requested for Darren, whose legs have developed ulcers while he awaits a kidney transplant and who is in a lot of pain.

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’.

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

Wisdom in the words

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

Disappointments needn’t take away hope

IF we’re talking mathematics, Ed Sheeran probably doesn’t come to mind. But perhaps he should. This year the singer released Subtract, his fifth maths-themed album.

Twelve years after his debut single ‘The A Team’, it’s impressive to see Sheeran’s name still reaching the Top 40. And this spring, he achieved his 14th No 1 in the UK with ‘Eyes Closed’, the lead single from Subtract.

Sometimes

The song has a pleasing tune, a catchy beat, and, as is often the case with Sheeran’s music, deep lyrics.

‘Eyes Closed’ conveys life’s unpredictability. Sheeran sings: ‘I pictured this year a little bit different.’ How many of us can relate to that? We so often expect life to go one way and then it doesn’t – for better or worse.

Dealing with the unexpected and with life’s uncertainties is a frequent challenge for many of us. We can long to see a cause for hope when life just doesn’t seem to go our way.

This isn’t a new experience, though. The quest for hope when things go wrong is something people have been engaging with for centuries.

Almost 2,000 years ago, a Bible writer described the hope that following Jesus can bring in the face of disappointment. He wrote: ‘In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28 New International Version).

Christians believe that, whether their circumstances seem happy or dismal, God is working, and for their good.

When Christians find that they ‘pictured the year a little bit different’ from how it turned out, they don’t despair. Instead, they put their hope in Jesus. They believe that he can bring about good from even the worst situations.

They believe that, even when things in life don’t seem to add up, they can trust that God is the answer.

Address

International

life doesn’t go our way

FINAL DELIVERY

QUICK QUIZ

1 2 3 4 5 6

In the Bible, which prophet leads the people of Israel as they fight the Battle of Jericho?

Who directed the films Titanic and Avatar?

In the Harry Potter books, what is the name of the road on which the Dursleys live?

In the game Scrabble, how many points is the letter ‘C’ worth?

How many players make up a water polo team?

Which American cartoonist created The Simpsons?

ANSWERS

It’s the last chance to use old stamps

PEOPLE’S stamp collections could become worthless by Tuesday (1 August). Not, that is, the collections of historic or international stamps belonging to keen philatelists, but the stamps that Royal Mail customers bought at least 18 months ago but haven’t yet used.

In February 2022 barcodes were added to first and second-class stamps, and any regular stamps bought before then cannot be used after July. Any Christmas or picture stamps without barcodes, however, will still be honoured.

There is good news, though, for anybody with book upon book of unused unbarcoded stamps. Even though they can no longer be used on envelopes or parcels, the Royal Mail will swap them for the newer versions. By completing a form available from post offices or online and then sending it with the old stamps to a Freepost address, customers will receive back the versions with barcodes. It is a free swap that delivers something of value in the place of something that is worthless.

It would be great to think that similar swaps could be done in other areas. Those with out-of-date mobiles would love the opportunity to send off their old phones and receive back the latest version cost-free. Some people might like to do the same with clothes or pieces of furniture that have now gone out of style.

Others might like the opportunity to do it with their entire lives. Some people may feel their lives are worthless because of decisions and actions that they have either made themselves or had imposed on them.

But there is an offer to swap them for something better. Jesus loves and values each one of us, and he wants us to experience a life that reflects that, if we will follow him.

One Bible writer who accepted the swap described what happens like this: ‘Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun (1 Corinthians 5:17 New Living Translation).

It doesn’t matter what our past has been, this change is available to us all. It’s a first-class offer that will deliver a new and better life.

People may feel their lives are worthless

1. Joshua. 2. James Cameron. 3. Privet Drive.

4. Three. 5. Seven 6. Matt Groening.

Feature by Andrew Stone

PUZZLES

Quick CROSSWORD

Look up, down, forwards, backwards and diagonally on the grid to find these words associated with summer

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

1. Tower where bells hang

2. Cricket target

3. Standard of measurement

Supply a forgotten word

Sweet potato salad

INGREDIENTS

2 medium sweet potatoes

2 corn cobs, husks and silk removed

2tbsp olive oil

1 lime, juice and zest

finely grated

1 garlic clove, crushed

½ tsp caster sugar

3tbsp sour cream

Salt

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 red chilli, thinly sliced

1 bunch coriander, stalks removed

METHOD

Put the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan of water and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the corn cobs. Simmer for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender to the point of a knife. Drain well, then leave until cool enough to handle.

Prepare a barbecue for cooking over glowing embers or heat a griddle pan until smoking hot. Cut the sweet potatoes into quarters lengthways to make wedges. Brush the wedges and corn cobs with olive oil, then cook for 10 minutes, turning halfway through. Meanwhile, make a dressing by whisking together the lime juice and zest, crushed garlic, caster sugar and sour cream with a big pinch of salt in a bowl. Transfer the potato wedges to a serving platter. Hold the corn cobs vertically on a chopping board, then slice down with a sharp knife to release the kernels in clumps. Add the corn to the potatoes with the onion, chilli and coriander. Spoon over the dressing and serve straightaway.

A relationship with God is more about love than fear

Maral Karaee