THE ORIGINAL CHURCH NEWSPAPER. ESTABLISHED IN 1828 How the world views THE religion today, p10 CHURCHOF

Newspaper A cracking caper on the silver screen NOW AVAILABLE ON  NEWSSTAND p15 FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2014 No: 6225 Britons ‘sceptical’ about role of religion in modern society By Amaris Cole falling within Western Europe (Belgium, Den- THE UK is among the mark, France, Nether- world’s most sceptical lands, Spain and Government under nations for the role of reli- Sweden).” gion in society. Of those polled in the Only 35 per cent of UK, 29 per cent thought British respondents religion plays a negative thought faith played a pos- part in society. REACTION CONTINUED over According to this research, 30 per itive role in their country, Christians and Muslims Easterfitorfigurees releasedoby vthe er austcenteof charitiesriworkingtywith the results released last week tend to believe faith is Trussell Trust showing that elderly, children, families and the show. good for a country, while 913,138 people received emer- disabled say they have seen an Western Europe ‘bucks Hindus are less likely to gency supplies from food banks increase in demand for basic living the trend’ of the rest of agree. last year. The National Charity necessities. the world, where more Of Protestants, 72 per Consortium has claimed that the Over half the charities said they than half think religion is cent think it is a positive, ‘UK Government has violated the were giving out basic essentials good for the life of the followed by 70 per cent of human right to food and breached and that the items in biggest nation, according to Catholics and 62 per cent international law’. demand are toilet rolls, nappies, WIN/Gallup Internation- of Russian or Eastern A report entitled ‘Going Hungry? laundry products, household al. Orthodox. The Human Right to Food in UK’ cleaning liquid, and “It is interesting to note Just 55 per cent of Hin- drafted by a group of lawyers for shampoo/shower gel. that Western Europe dus ticked the same box. the Just Fair Consortium says that In Kind Direct, a charity founded bucks this trend consider- A third of them actually the UK Government has ‘breached by the Prince of , supplies ably, highlighting the disagree. the human right to food’. goods for charities to distribute to complex role of religion These results are the A wider range of members of the those in need. The charity receives within the region and the latest in a line of annual Charity Consortium have support- donations from UK manufacturers impact that a secular out- surveys into religion con- ed the report, including the Child ing people to afford the basics,” as well as funding from organisa- look has on a country,” ducted under the chair- Poverty Action Group, the she said. “An estimated 400,000 tions and individuals. It has sup- said the President of the manship of Dr George Trussell Trust, Union, the TUC, households a month are being plied over 6,600 charities with research group, Jean- Gallup since 1977, and and End Hunger Fast. forced to take pay-day loans to pay goods to redistribute. Marc Leger. involved a sample of Leaders of the Baptist, for food and other essentials.” Charities, not-for-profit organisa- “In total there were nine 66,806 persons. Methodist and URC Churches put In highlighting other basics as tions, social enterprises and com- countries whose net For a full analysis of this out a statement before Easter say- well as food the Children’s Society munity groups can register by a scores were negative research, see our feature ing they were shocked and is supported by research carried website www.inkinddirect.org to when asked about reli- on attitudes to religion on angered by the figures from the out on behalf of In Kind Direct. benefit from its services. gion, with six of those page 10. Trussell Trust, and End Hunger Fast delivered a letter on the sub- ject to No 10 Downing Street signed by 40 and 500 cler- gy. The letter also called the situa- tion ‘shocking’ and asked the Gov- ernment to commit itself fully to the independent inquiry on the rise of hunger in the UK chaired by the of Truro. Lily Caprani, Director of Strategy and Policy at the Children’s Socie- ty, said that it was ‘shameful’ that according to the Trussell Trust fig- ures ‘hundreds of thousands of children in this country are now forced to depend on food banks’. “The government’s massive changes to the welfare and rising food, fuel and housing costs are making it impossible for many working and non-work-

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A new photo competition has just been launched at . The theme of the inaugural contest is ‘Make your mark’. In order to enter all people have to do is submit a photo of themselves CHURCHIN with the words ‘Make your mark’ or the ‘Make your mark’ logo in the image. A winner will be selected in each of the following three categories: the furthest mark; meaning a photo from the furthest location, the biggest mark either by impact or physical size and the most innovative mark (bonus points for creativity). The winners will receive the unique opportunity to have their work published in The Wey; the diocese’s regular 25,000-print run newspaper. Subsequent prizes include ENGLAND two tickets to Opera Unmasked at Loseley House, two tickets to the Guildford Festival Tower Tour, and two bottles of Nicolas Feuillate Brut Champagne. To enter, share your photo via Facebook or Twitter (#MAKEYOURMARK), or email them to: [email protected].

Diocese of Durham

The recently led a service at St Edmunds Church, Bearpark, in order to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the village pit closure. The pit was a coal mining area that took the lives of many yet still provided a great number of people with work and encompassed a sense of community. Its closure was regarded as a great loss. The Rt Rev presided over the service, which involved readings from various village groups and a re-dedication of the memorial plaque dedicated to those who lost their lives within the pit. “We all know working in the pit was a tough, hard craft. It was not glamorous. But it did create camaraderie and friendship,” the Bishop said of the pit.

Diocese of

In the first few months of 2014, the initiative to repair and restore stonework and conserve the renaissance glass of the Lady Chapel has seen tremendous progress. With just under £60,000 left to raise off the appeal target of £3.7 million before they can reach the ultimate goal of re-installing the Herkenrode Glass in spring 2015, the Give the Lasting Gift appeal launched in 2013 has proved to be a terrific success. Many generous donors sponsoring the conservation work of animals, angels and characters featured within the windows have contributed to the money raised. If you wish to contribute visit www.lichfield-cathedral.org

A community project led by the Anglican church of St Michael’s and All Angels has recently celebrated six months of success at an open house event. The project was set up to champion the cause of poverty, exclusion and personal well-being in the Houghton-le- Diocese of Spring. Since its launch in November 2103, the project has seen a rapid rise in engagement with clients, partners and associates alike. The event was held in the Space4 headquarters in the library building in Houghton-le-Spring town centre and had attendees The flower festival season begins this weekend with two floral- ranging from the Rt Rev , Bishop of , the Mayor and Mayoress of filled events to celebrate the Easter holiday. The first of the pair is the , Councillor Robert Heron and Mrs Juliana Heron, along with invited guests Easter Flowers at All Saints Church, Breadstall, which is open from 2-4pm from the Church and Community partners. on Easter Sunday and Monday. The second is The Easter Story in Flowers at St Oswald’s Church, Ashborne. This festival also begins on Easter Sunday but runs until that Tuesday from 9:30am-4pm Diocese of

The new principal of Trinity College Bristol, the Rev Dr Emma Ineson, took up her new post last week. Prior to this new position, she taught Practical Theology and Spirituality at the school. Of this new position she said: “I am delighted to be taking up this new role at this important time in the life of Trinity College and at a key moment for theological education as a whole. Trinity has always been a great place to train for ministry and will continue to be so.”

Diocese of Portsmouth

The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Christopher Foster, has praised Download our the Isle of Wight’s sense of community and faithfulness online edition for following his pilgrimage to the Island during this year’s Lent extra pages and season. The visit took place on each Diocese of Southwark of the six Sundays during Lent and later news! on each day he led a communion service as well as preached in the From Passion Sunday to Palm Sunday the bishops of Southwark Diocese Download our online edition for extra mornings at a church to which he joined fellow bishops from across the country to take part in a special pages and later news! has never been. He then would set event called Listen to God, Hear the Poor, a week of prayer for Christian off walking with other pilgrims to social action. The bishops participating in the event, started by the Get our app on your mobile device via another location of Canterbury and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, were invited to Apple Newsstand or PressReader or in the same area and lead a service visit projects within their areas and to hear about the difference churches download it from our website for other local churches. The trip make in action. They were also invited to pray with staff, volunteers and www.churchnewspaper.com was a ‘great success’ for the Bishop clients. Three out of the four bishops in the Diocese were joined on their and the community enjoyed his visits by a fellow Roman Catholic bishop and one by a Roman Catholic presence. priest.

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper i2 www.churchnewspaper.com Thursday April 25, 2014 News Good Friday Walk MEMBERS OF Lyon Anglican church Blackburn cathedral in France took part in a Good Friday walk last week. The congregation began to mark Good Friday with a walk a few years ago at the instigation of their former Chaplain Chris Martin and his wife, Susie, who enjoy hiking. receives Royal visit Since then, they have met every year on Good Friday in Rontalon, in the Monts du Lyonnais, east of Lyon for an five-mile walk. Walkers stop along the way at the pilgrim Crosses to read a pas - sage from the Bible, sing a hymn and pray. The walk ends with a meal in the vil - lage Café de la Place.

THE QUEEN presented Maundy Money at Lancashire’s Angli - special coins. can Cathedral to men and women from across the county. The of Blackburn, The Very Rev Christopher Arm - Every year the Monarch visits a UK cathedral or abbey to strong said: “The Queen always enjoys the annual Maundy give out Maundy coins to people aged 70 and over in recogni - Service and I am certain she was doubly delighted at the fan - tion of their service to their community and church. tastic welcome she received from Lancastrians who turned out This year’s visit was the first time The Queen, who by tradi - in great numbers to greet her on the short journey from Black - tion is also the Duke of Lancaster, has visited Blackburn Cathe - burn Station to the Cathedral.” dral. She was accompanied by His Royal Highness, The Duke Pictured: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh after the of Edinburgh. service at the West Door of the Cathedral with the Royal Buckingham Palace invited 88 men and 88 women from the Almonry party, including the Yeoman of the Guard; the Chil - Diocese (in line with The Queen’s age this year) to receive the dren of the Royal Almonry and senior clergy. Easter Confirmations at A GROUP OF 58 people were confirmed into the Angli - The candidates, whose ages range from 10 to 83, came can faith in Southwell Minster at an atmospheric Confir- from 20 different across the Diocese of South - mation Service on Easter Eve, last Saturday. There was well & . Pictured: the record breaking con - TbHE aNEWp Bishotp oif Dsurhmam led as dawn service of also a baptism and a re-affirming of vows at the service, firmation group with Bishop Martyn Jarrett and the initiation and communion at on which was led by Bishop Martyn Jarrett. Dean, the Very Rev . Easter Day, during which he baptized five people and confirmed them and 20 others. The Rt Rev Paul Butler who led his first Easter Day service since becoming bishop, said that the first service of Easter Day symbolises the point at which it is proclaimed that Jesus is risen and his new light is cast on the world to lift it from darkness.

Pupil part of Easter programme Megan Williamson, 14, a pupil at Hol - gate School in York, had the honour of participating in the Good Friday meditation broadcast on Radio 4 by Archbishop John Sentamu. In the programme the offered a personal meditation upon the crucifixion of Christ through the sounds, stories and situations he finds as he walks around the historic city of York. Megan recorded several Bible readings in the week before Easter with the Archbishop at Bootham Bar, Cliffords Tower and finally at York Minster. Megan said: “I felt very honoured and privileged to be asked to read with the Archbishop and found the whole experience very interesting and enjoyable. Everyone involved was very helpful and friendly, it was a pleasure to be involved”.

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BEy Aamariss Cotle er mesHse finaishegd bye sayisng t hats to pfail toedaing itks sk in aond lefavi ng Jan eomptyy shel l amanny signds of s trehss, storuggple, deecay and respond to the news that Jesus is risen is (exuviae), and drying its delicate wings death. The human heart has a deep like ignoring someone crying ‘fire’. before taking off - a beautiful winged instinct to hope – whatever the circum - The announcement that Jesus is alive “It is news that the world cannot creature floating upon the air; one life, stances. Easter can be seen as THE changes everything, the Archbishop of ignore, that we cannot neglect, it is the yet possessing from the first the potency event which confirms and blesses that Canterbury said in his Easter message. news of joy immeasurable.” of two forms.” instinct to hope – for life beyond death, Separating joy from happiness, the The Archbishop of York used an analo - The entire significance and value of the for healing from suffering, for light out of Most Rev said the joy in gy in the life cycle of the dragonfly to doctrine of the resurrection from the darkness,” the Rt Rev Christ being alive changes Christians. explain the resurrection. dead centre is in the fact that it sets forth said. “It gives us hope where we were in Dr John Sentamu told the congrega - human identity. The used his despair, faith where we were lost, light tion on Easter morning: “It gains its per - The said all the more Easter address to say that giving people where we were in darkness, joy where fect form by shedding the old body of the secular ways to celebrate Easter, includ - the sense of belonging is as essential we were entirely in sorrow. That joy in nymph. First a creature living out of ing the chocolate eggs, the holiday, the today as it was in the Easter Story. the huge life of Jesus is present in the sight, underwater, in the sediment of time to see friends, all ‘illuminate the Dr Martin Warner said whether in Sus - food banks, the credit unions, the practi - ponds or streams; waiting, sometimes core Christian message that new life can sex or Syria, those who feel exiled from cal down-to-earth living that the church - for as long as four years, for conditions to come out of suffering and death’. the ‘garden of friendship and inclusion in es are demonstrating across this be right for its final transformation. “A message and a moment of opti - the global and local society of today’ country.” “Then moving out of the depths, shed - mism, hope – in a world where there are need to find a place in the Church.

ABy Amrarisc Colhe bishop dthane to hatfrede and onppositdion. Its’s also a Pvariatiorn oin tmhe of Pheilip P ullMman, perifonrmer Tiims Mitnchein, jour rnalist normal ‘Sword and Grail discovered’ stuff that seems to Polly Toynbee and presenter Dan Snow, the letter also The has called the opposi - be a feature of Easter week news.” claimed David Cameron’s comments would negatively tion to the Prime Minister’s comments on Britain being He went on to say that it was a historical fact that affect politics. Christian ‘baffling’. Britain is Christian, although this is ‘perhaps unwel - “Apart from in the narrow constitutional sense that David Cameron was accused of ‘alienating’ some come to some’. we continue to have an established Church, Britain is groups in society by writing that this is a ‘Christian The system of ethics, the way we do law and justice, not a ‘Christian country’. country’. the values of society, the protection of the poor, and “Constantly to claim otherwise fosters alienation and A group of public figures, including scientists and how we decide what is fair, is all built of the faith, he division in our society,” the letter said. author Sir Terry Pratchett, signed a letter to the Daily wrote. Faith leaders have rubbished these arguments Telegraph on Easter Monday highlighting their objec - “The atheist protesters are wrong to argue that though, saying they are ‘very comfortable’ with the tion to the ‘characterisation of Britain as a Christian expressing confidence in the country’s Christian identi - Prime Minister’s call for more confidence in Christiani - country’. ty fosters alienation and division in our society. Indeed, ty. The Most Rev Justin Welby said while he was amazed it is significant that non-Christian faith leaders – among The Archbishop ended: “So why the fuss? As I say, for at the outrage to the Prime Minister’s comments, as them Anil Bhanot of the Hindu Council UK, Farooq all of us, in the church, of Christian faith, of any tradi - they ‘were not very controversial’, he also found them Murad of the Muslim Council of Britain and Lord Indar - tion or set of beliefs, history makes for some uncom - ‘comforting’. jit Singh of the Network of Sikh Organisations – have fortable reading. Its facts are awkward for all of us, but In a blog, the Archbishop wrote: “It’s all quite baffling spoken out in support of Mr Cameron.” it is no use pretending they do not exist. and at the same time quite encouraging. Christian faith Led by the president of the British Humanist Associa - “The PM is right on this.” is much more vulnerable to comfortable indifference tion, Professor Jim Al-Khalili and co-signed by the likes Christian protestors cleared By Ashkan Saidi short for hydraulic fracturing. This is the controversial method for the genera - A group of activists including Christian Ecology tion of cracks in the reservoir rocks deep under - Link trustee and Operation Noah board mem - ground, with the aim of extracting overlapping ber, Ruth Jarman, and Caroline Lucas MP, were gases or liquids. found not guilty at Brighton Magistrates Court Critics say that potential health hazards could last week for taking part in a peaceful protest at be the contamination of groundwater by the the Balcombe drilling site in August 2013. drilling water and the chemicals used, and con - All five defendants were found not guilty for tamination of surface water by the back-pumped activities contrary to Section 14 of The Public drilling water. Order Act 1986 and obstruction of the highway. In addition, critics fear that the deliberate micro - All five have used their time in court to share quakes could trigger larger earthquakes, but their reasons for protesting against fracking, this is ruled out by experts. Bishop’s wife mourned Denise Inge, wife of the resurrection. She believed in that resurrection and renowned expert on Thomas Traherne, fervently – though she did not want to die died on 20 April after her condition, suffering because she wanted to be here to care for her from Sarcoma, deteriorated rapidly in the night. precious girls. The Dean brought her commun - Bishop John was with Denise as she died, as ion and anointed her this morning – and she were their daughters and Denise’s mother and was keen for us all to sing hymns of Christ’s vic - sister who had recently flown in from America. tory over death. She was full of faith right to the Bishop John said: “My most beloved Denise end. English wine worth winning! died at 3pm today. The end was mercifully “May the risen Lord Jesus, whom she served quick: she was up and about laughing and jok - so faithfully, welcome her into his loving arms ing, welcoming friends and making bolognaise and lead her to our gracious God and Father. Download Scene for free and enter the sauce yesterday. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.” competition celebrating fine English wine “It’s appropriate that the Lord should have The funeral will be held in Worcester Cathe - taken her to himself on Easter Day, the day of dral on Tuesday 6 May at 2pm.

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OPREDICrTIdONS OiFn a maass inflrux oif dais - tNeweton lam‘enfteda the ifaclt tshat g rotwthobe rsc. Verya few vtiabcle Orhdinari atet pahrish - eappe al vto thioses whoi woant ton know’ more affected members of the Church of Eng - has been slow since the group was estab - es or centres have been established. One about the group and what Mgr Newton land into the Ordinariate have proved lished in 2011. of the largest is the Church of the Pre - called its ‘vision for unity and truth in way off the mark, according to no less a “The vision has not been caught,” he cious Blood in Southwark with a Sunday communion with the successor of Peter’. source than the head of the group, Mgr said. “We much communicate our mes - attendance of over 200. It remains to be seen whether the Keith Newton. sage much more widely and with more Mgr Newton has announced that 6 Ordinariate’s push for growth will be At a Chrism Mass held at the Ordinari - vigour and enthusiasm.” September will be an ‘exploration’ day. directed towards members of the ate flagship , the Assumption, War - It is estimated that the Ordinariate now Ordinariate branches have been asked to Church of England or whether it will wick Street, in ’s West End, Mgr has 85 priests but only 1,500 lay mem - cluster together and organise an event to seek to evangelise non-Christians.

Anglicans Tweet on PBy aAmsarsis Ciole n PlaRyom ‘abnis,a sanid: n“Ite’s dver’ y Welsh theological college upsetting because so many OXFORD City Council people were looking for - is facing closure meaning of Easter banned a Passion Play last ward to it. A THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE established in 1892 looks set to AN EASTER twitter and interaction, it week, fearing it was sex “Someone said to me: close in 2016. campaign, #Easter - invites response and show. ‘You can’t hold a crucifix - The future of St Michael’s College, Llandaff, has been Means, ran from enables Christians to Christians in the area are ion these days without a thrown in doubt by a report on the future of theological edu - Maundy Thursday talk in public to one claiming this is further licence’.” cation in Wales. The report calls for the college’s closure and until Easter Sunday, another about what marginalisation, after an Organisers wrote on St its replacement by local training schemes with qualifications organised by the really matters to official at the Council Stephen’s website: “With overseen and validated by the University of Durham. Church of England them’. banned the performance, great disappointment and The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev Barry Morgan, has media office. The Archbishop of apparently not knowing it frustration, the organisers met with members of staff and emphasised that no final deci - The campaign Canterbury, @justin - was a religious custom. sadly have to announce sion has been taken by the House of Bishops about the asked people to fin - welby, had a range of The organisers, includ - that the 2014 performance report’s findings. The Archbishop has called for a ‘period of ish the sentence engagements in and ing St Stephen’s House of the Cowley Road Pas - consultation’. It is planned that this process will last until the #EasterMeans… to around Canterbury theological college, were sion Play has had to be end of May before the bishops discuss the issue in June. share a personal over Easter. He visit - told the show could not go cancelled. Following the retirement of the Rev Peter Sedgwick as Prin - meaning of Easter ed a food bank, took ahead, fearing it would “This is due to an cipal, the Rev Mark Clavier has been appointed acting Princi - with pictures, stories part in a Good Fri - cause ‘grave offence’. intractable situation which pal. Dr Clavier moved to St Michael’s from a parish in the and messages. Bish - day walk of witness In 2012, the perform - developed with the city last year and has been Dean of Residential ops joined in the and gave an inter - ance took place from Cow - council events planning Training. He said he was ‘astonished and delighted’ by his campaign. view to Radio 2’s ley Road Methodist department and the local appointment and looked forward to working with colleagues The Easter cam - Good Morning Sun - Church to Saints Mary and police.” ‘to propose a programme for formation that will inspire peo - paign follows a suc - day. John, with the actor play - Julian Alison, licensing ple, root them deeply within a vibrant Anglican identity’. cessful Christmas For the Bishop of ing Jesus carrying a cross team leader at Oxford City Although worship takes place in both Welsh and English, St campaign that was Oxford ‘#Easter - through the streets. Council, said: “I would like Michael’s has always attracted students from outside Wales. claimed to have Means nothing is It was set to be repeated to apologise for a wrong As well as the poet, RS Thomas, its former students include reached more that 4 impossible’ while the again this Easter, and the decision that I made late the distinguished theologian Leonard Hodgson. There is a million people. Archbishop of York churches were told to on Friday afternoon in centre for chaplaincy studies at the college, which also has a The Dean of Birm - tweeted that ‘#East - apply for a licence, but this relation to the planned Pas - good relationship with the University of Cardiff. ingham gave the erMeans new life, was rejected because ‘an sion Play on Cowley Road. Recent restoration and modernisation at the college is campaign early sup - hope and joy. Let’s official didn’t read the “At the time of process - reported to have cost £1.7 million but although the college is port. She also led a place our trust in the paperwork properly’. ing the application, I did also open for conference bookings and receives an annual passion play in a God and Father of The vicar of Saints Mary not appreciate that this grant from the of £150,000 it is making ‘sub - local pub and said Jesus Christ and let and John, the Rev Adam was a religious event.” stantial losses’. It has been hit by a falling number of students. that she was positive the Holy Spirit At present there are 18 residential students and 38 non-resi - because ‘twitter is all change us from dential students. about relationships glory to glory’. New post for arms boss A FORMER Managing Director of an international weapons manufacturer is to become the head of a small volunteering charity WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY in an unlikely career Many organisations offer the world and then deliver you very change. little. This cannot be said of Priory Automotive, the specialist car Alan McCormick worked in the defence suppliers only to Clergy, Church members and Charities, they industry for 25 years, pro - have a 99% customer satisfaction record from the 565 viding the UK Armed customers surveyed. Forces with ‘hi-tech equip - Take Mrs Magson for example who wrote only this March “May I ment’. say a big ʻThank Youʼ for finding me a new car with so little fuss. I The practising Christian am delighted with it and all my friends have admired it and said is now Chief Executive of what a lovely colour it is. Mission Direct, a charity From the initial enquiry one Saturday morning to delivery the next that sends volunteers over - seas for two weeks to build Saturday, and on time to the exact minute – what a service second schools, hospitals, houses to none”. and clinics. This is not unusual for Priory, this is their normal service. Mr McCormick says he is ‘proud’ to have been If you would like to get the very best car for your money, all with involved in the defence no hassle or stress just give their friendly team a quick call, or visit industry, ‘serving the men their website. Every car is history checked, prepared to the very and women who put them - highest standard and delivered to your door; part exchange of selves in harm’s way to your old car is no problem too. protect our country’. He said: “I was inspired by the opportunity to work Please read more customer testimonials on their website with a team who set goals to transform the lives of For further information please call 0114 2559696 or visit the world’s poorest.” www.prioryautomotive.com

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper 4 www.churchnewspaper.com Friday April 25, 2014 News Court success for Canadian Call for Iranian co-existence Diocese of Huron THE FORMER Archbishop of – an expression of sympathy and which is deeply appreciative of all THE SUPREME Court of Writing in the Anglican Net- Canterbury Lord Williams of care from me and on behalf of all that helps human beings to Canada has denied leave to work in Canada’s Newsletter, Oystermouth has lauded the call my open-minded fellow citizens respond to God’s will for peace appeal requested by the con- St Aidan’s the Rev by a leading Iranian Shiite ayatol- who respect others for their and understanding.” gregation of St Aidan’s Angli- Tom Carman noted: lah for peaceful co-existence humanity and not for their reli- The Baha’i World News Serv- can Church in Windsor in its “Yes, sadly the Supreme between Muslims and the Baha’is gion or way of worship – to all the ice reported the lead bishop in dispute with the Anglican Court has decided not to of Iran. Baha’is of the world, particularly the Lords on foreign policy, the Church of Canada’s Diocese grant us leave to appeal. It’s On 7 April 2014 Ayatollah to the Baha’is of Iran who have Bishop of , the Rt Rev of Huron over the ownership not really surprising – not Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani suffered in manifold ways as a , had of the church’s building and from a human standpoint - but Ayatollah Tehrani posted to his result of blind religious preju- also applauded the gesture. assets. we were hoping for a miracle. website the announcement that dice,” the ayatollah said. “Given the systemic and long The decision lets stand a “Sometimes, though, God he was creating an illuminated The gift was of “immense sig- standing suffering experienced September 2013 decision by simply calls us to bear calligraphic rendering of several nificance” Lord Williams noted, by the Baha’i community in Iran, the Court of Appeal which reproach for his name’s sake. verses from Baha’u’llah’s Kitab-i- as it “represents not only a per- this is an imaginatively coura- upheld the ruling of the trial And we know that in the end Aqdas, the “Most Holy Book” of sonally gracious gesture but also geous step by a senior Iranian court granting ownership to our reward is with him and in the Baha’is. a strand within the Islamic world Islamic scholar,” said Dr the diocese and awarding the him. He will see us through “I present this precious symbol at its best and most creative Cocksworth on 9 April. diocese C$100,000 in costs. this.”

New BishopTHE HOUSE offoBishopsr ofSudanthe Episcopal Church of South and Sudan (ECSSS) has elected the Rt Rev Ezekiel Kondo, Bishop of Khartoum as Archbishop for Sudan (north). On 4 April 2014 the Church’s bishops elected Bishop Kondo to serve as the first archbishop for the newly created northern province of the ECSSS. Court bid At the November 2013 meeting of general synod, the ECSSS voted not to split the Church into two national provinces in light of the inde- pendence of , but to create two inter- nal provinces: one for the Republic of South Sudan and one for the Islamic Republic of Sudan that would consist of the of Khartoum, Port THEoPARISHvcouncileof StrAndrew’sfVic-inance Sudan, Wad Medani, Kadugli, and El Obeid. arage Church, Ngangelizwe, has filed a A native of the of South Kordo- complaint in the Eastern Cape High Court fan, Bishop Kondo was elected Bishop of Khar- seeking an order requiring the Rt Rev toum in 2003 and has led the church through Sitembele Mzamane, Bishop of Mthatha in recurring bouts of persecution by the Islamist the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to government in Khartoum. release the diocese’s income statements. The 1 April 2014 lawsuit further asks that the bishop’s salary and benefits be made public, along with the salaries of all other diocesan employees. Parish Council president Humphrey Lusu Indian election call stated that although canon law requires the THE MODERATOR of the Church of and only vote for those who uphold Church’s financial statements be made pub- South India has endorsed a joint pas- secular character and promote com- lic, the bishop had declined to do so. toral letter with the Roman Catholic munal harmony.” On 15 September 2009 the 49th session of Archbishop of Hyderabad calling upon Bishop Dyvasirvadam told the the synod for the diocese, which had for- Christians in Andhra Pradesh not to Times of India he had taken the merly been known as the Diocese of St cast their votes in support of sectarian unprecedented step of offering politi- John’s Kaffraria until 2006, saw protests political parties in the forthcoming cal advice to protect Christians. “We from the clergy over alleged misconduct by elections for the state assembly and are worried about the communal car- Bishop Mzamane. India’s federal , the Lok nage that happened in Kandhamal, A petition was circulated calling for his Sabha. Orrisa and what is happening now. resignation and formal charges were laid In a letter read in the states’ church- There could be a repeat in the state, if before Cape Town Archbishop Thabo Mak- es on 13 April, Bishop Govada Dyvasir- the voters do not take an anti-commu- goba for review. No action was taken, how- vadam and Archbishop Thumma Bala nal stand. We need a strong govern- ever. The bishop must file an answer to the asked Christians to “elect leaders who ment to protect us,” Bishop lawsuit by 15 April 2014. are close to people and their needs, Dyvasirvadam said.

Scottish parishesTWO EVANGELICALquitcongregationsovhaveerquit RobingaSydseryff toldclergyThe Herald “both our inter- the Church of Scotland this week in protest at last nal consultation over the past year and the Pres- year’s vote by the General Assembly permitting bytery’s formal consultation have indicated that the ordination of gay clergy. our decision has the backing of the vast majority The departure of St Catherine’s Argyle and of the active congregation.” New Restalrig, both in Edinburgh, will cost the The minister of New Restalrig, the Rev David Presbytery of Edinburgh over £315,000 in lost Court added: “There is of course a real material- contributions. istic challenge leaving the Church of Scotland Subscribe to us via The minister of New Restalrig, along with the with the stipend and the manse, but I don’t regret Pagesuite majority of his 2,000-member congregation, have my decision for a moment. … I am free to pro- http://bit.ly/coendigital joined the Free Church of Scotland while the 700- claim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is a won- member St Catherine’s and its clergy are current- derful experience to be supported both by my ly in talks negotiating their withdrawal. congregation and my colleagues in the Free The minister of St Catherine’s Argyle, the Rev Church.”

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www.evangelistsconference.com 6 www.churchnewspaper.com Friday April 25, 2014 Letters

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Defending Alpha Sir, I find it hard to understand why Cameron’s call to be ‘evangelical’ YOUR the well-respected Canon Angela Sir, David Cameron’s comment that Britain should be unashamedly Tilby recently stated that the Alpha evangelical about its Christian faith and hand churches a greater role course consists of banalities. in society is to be welcomed. He is right to say Christianity could TWEETS I’ve been on two Alpha courses transform the spiritual, physical and moral state of Britain, as has and have bought the whole Alpha already been shown in the past. set of DVDs. In these, the Rev Rather than threatening social cohesion, as Terry Sanderson, pres- Martin Wroe @ MartinWroe Nicky Gumbel discusses such ident of the National Secular Society, fears, Christian faith teaches us questions as the meaning of life, we should love our neighbour as ourselves, so building relationships, Under the weather yesterday, read The One suffering, healing, heaven and hell, families, communities and ultimately society. Plus One by @jojomoyes, cover to cover. other religions, sex before mar- However, it needs each one of us to not simply listen but put our Best medicine ever. riage, how to resist evil, and why faith into practice every day in both personal and business life, and for Jesus died. These are certainly not the government to establish laws that follow Biblical teaching. Mark Russell @markrusselluk trivialities! Jonathan Longstaff, Alpha does begin sessions with a Woodford Green, Essex Really happy to endorse @realeasteregg - joke and they share food - but that’s fairly traded and tells the Easter story! to put people at their ease, before Stockists on website! getting down to the very impor- tant, often life-changing content of reasonably held views. However, Study of the early Church as The Trussell Trust @TrussellTrust Alpha. there will be some jobs where a early as the first century reveals a Ann Wills, person’s beliefs affect their rela- sacerdotal understanding of There’s been a 163% rise on the number of Ruislip, Middx. tionships with others in a way that ordained ministry. Indeed ortho- people given three days’ emergency food by makes them less well suited to that dox catholics would argue that in TT #foodbanks last year post. the New Testament there is implic- For example, one would not it recognition of this, most particu- riazat butt @riazat_butt Confusion penalise someone for believing the larly in Romans 15:16. Sir, Andrew Carey’s article (11 Biblical view that mental illness is a I concur with him that the I apologised to a shopkeeper today after she April) is a clear example of the pre- sign of possession by demons, authentic Church of England con- told me she didn’t sell postage stamps vailing inability to distinguish (although one might urge them to ception of ministry is Protestant. between cause and effect which acknowledge our greater under- However I believe that the classic confuses many of the debates standing of the condition) but nei- Protestant conception of ministry LambethPalaceLibrary @lampallib among Anglicans at the moment. ther would one choose such a rests on a false understanding, that It is not liberals who are impos- person as chaplain in a mental hos- of the reformers restoring the Jesus is betrayed by Judas & ing illiberal restrictions on tradi- pital. apostolic understanding of min- Peter cuts off the ear of tional believers. True liberals I remember when a young geog- istry and freeing it from the “cor- Malchus the servant of the defend the right of everyone to fol- raphy graduate applied for a place ruptions of Romanism and High Priest. LPL MS455 f. low the guidance of his or her con- on the PGCE course in which I was “sacerdotalism.” 37v science. The liberal thinkers who involved, and was turned down Robert Ian Williams, pic.twitter.com/iFY0kW4SrI supported equal opportunity for when he announced his member- Bangor homosexual and heterosexual peo- ship of the Flat-Earth Society. We ple to be accepted as faithful follow- had recently rejected a Marxist Contextual ers of Jesus in accordance with a atheist who applied to train to teach Revisionism Theology @theologycentre genuine understanding of his life RE. These were not cases of unfair Sir, Reading between the lines and example, have no wish to dis- discrimination – they just weren’t should not be ruled out, since a Very pleased our friends at advantage heterosexual couples. the best people for those jobs. process of revisionism goes on in @UEL_News have won their Equality is not achieved by trans- The virtue of discernment is the Bible itself. Rowan Williams campaign to get payday ferring inequality from ‘A’ to ‘B’. more valuable than fashionable (‘Being Christian’ 2014) draws lending ads banned in The fact that many of us whole- today; we feel safer lined up for bat- attention to the shift in perspective Newham heartedly favoured the formation tle with our own tribe, but I hope regarding the massacre at Jezreel. of a safe homeland for Jews at the we shall get better at it and stop Elisha had anointed Jehu, who end of the war, does not mean that blaming everything that goes then wiped out the royal house of Linda Woodhead @LindaWoodhead we condone the subsequent wrong on “those liberals”, “those Ahab, a disastrous king. His action seizure of Palestinian land, water reactionaries” or any other “them” is applauded in 2 Kings and later @hollyhock140 whether one likes it or not, supplies and demolition of homes who see things differently from deplored by Hosea. As Williams David Cameron is the typical Anglican, to make way for illegal settlements. “us”. Any literalist who looks up writes: “It is possible to grow in statistically speaking. We can all do only so much to bring the word, Liberal in any dictionary, understanding and to think again about desirable changes for the will agree, I hope, that all Chris- about the past.” Christians are not Christian Aid oppressed members of our society. tians of whatever “brand” should fit ‘people of the book’ to the same Global @CA_global What others do with the new free- that definition. extent as are Jews and Muslims. dom acquired by them, including Mary P Roe, Rather, the Bible is ‘the book of a The plight of dalit women: it’s exploiting their newfound power, Bicester people’, our spiritual forebears. time to end the caste system does not make it wrong to have Their responses to God in the past both in India and the UK acted in the first place. The pendu- were not always pleasing to him, so bit.ly/1hAwavW #India lum always swings as far to the left a good interpretation of the Bible as to the right. Giving it a shove in Holy orders today depends on a Christ-centred Kate either direction, doesn’t help us to reading, done in company with fel- Bottley @revkatebottley arrive at an equilibrium. Sir, I have to disagree with Alan low Christians. This is something Liberals are bound by their Bartley that Holy Orders as under- that liberals welcome. Tools down everyone it’s beliefs to oppose the unfair treat- stood by the Catholic Church is a Serena Lancaster, time for tea #elevenses ment of anyone on account of their development of the middle ages. Broadwell, Moreton-in-Marsh #moreteavicar pic.twitter.com/j3TAmFAiC8

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper www.churchnewspaper.com Friday April 25, 2014 Leader & Comment 7 Is Christianity bad and divisive for society? The 50 or so secularists protesting against Mr Cameron’s announcement that the UK is a Christian country show their worry at the persistence of this assumption in the public mind. Why bother to protest? Whether or not Mr Cameron is electioneering with the hope of stemming the haemorrhage of votes to UKIP, he has provoked discus- What did the sion about what is going on in the UK culturally. Peter Tatchell, one of the 50 protesting signatories to their letter to the Telegraph, told John Humphrys on the Today Programme that the UK was a multi-faith and no- faith society now, since so few attended church regularly. Victorians do for us? That is the secularists’ strategy: to remove the historic Peter Mullen Action was also taken against African leaders Christian legacy from the public forum, making it a bran- who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw tub of opinions, Christianity included. Mr Humphrys point- The BBC has two golden rules or command- the trade, for example against “the usurping ed out that the historic institutions of the nation, including ments: Six days shalt thou caricature the past; King of Lagos”, deposed in 1851. Anti-slavery the monarchy and bishops in the Lords, were important to and on the seventh day thou shalt give thy cari- treaties were signed with over 50 African rulers. our cultural identity. Mr Tatchell said that such things cature a religious gloss. Ed Stourton was at it In the 1860s, David Livingstone’s reports of should be left unsaid and hidden. In fact the claim of any recently on The Sunday Programme where he atrocities within the Muslim slave trade in Africa Christian relevance to the public forum was, according the eulogised the 1924 Conference on Christianity, stirred up the interest of the British public. The protesters’ letter, ‘divisive’. Economics and Citizenship (COPEC). To hear Royal Navy throughout the 1870s tried to sup- This judgement is certainly strongly held by secularists, him talk you would have thought nothing of press “this abominable Eastern trade”, for hence the diktat abolishing the Girl Guides’ promise to be social or political seriousness had happened instance at Zanzibar. In 1890 Britain handed con- faithful to God – some influence must have been pressur- before then. According to Ed, Victorian clergy trol of the strategically important island of ing Guide officialdom to kill off that promise in favour a idled their hours in “sleepy vicarages,” oblivious Heligoland in the North Sea to Germany in banal replacement. Judges in law courts now go out of to Christian social action. Well let’s see… return for control of Zanzibar, in part to help their way to insist that they have no remit to uphold any At the turn of the 19th century there were two enforce the ban on slave trading. Christian values at all, while implementing often draconian Church of England societies promoting radical What the BBC doesn’t tell us is that before decisions in favour of other faiths because of the ethos of social action in London: the evangelical Clapham they were finally thrown out, Muslim rulers in the Equalities Act and going the extra mile for minorities. Sect and the high church Clapton Sect. By that Spain, Portugal and Sicily kept slaves and as late Ironically the long-term future of Christianity in the UK time the Society for the Propagation of the as the 19th century practised piracy and the may be best served by gaining ‘minority’ status and com- Gospel (SPG) had already been active for a cen- enslavement of Christian captives. In Muslim ter- ing under the fear and favour of the Equalities Act, it is a tury preaching the faith worldwide. The Church ritories, those who refused to convert to Islam non-minority faith legally speaking. Missionary Society (CMS) was established in and declare loyalty to the Ummah were enslaved Minority faiths are storming ahead in terms of influence 1799. William Wilberforce and other Christian under Islamic law. and power, so much so that William Shawcross, Chairman gentlemen were campaigning for the abolition of Slavery in Muslim countries continued well of the Charity Commission, now wholly secular in ethos, is the slave trade – achieved in 1833. There was the into the 20th century and sheiks from Qatar worried about hard line Islamists setting up charities with Christian Shaftesbury and the were attended by their slaves at far from peaceable intent. State schools in Birmingham are Factory Acts. the Coronation of Queen Eliza- coming under the spotlight for appeasing hard line Mus- That other Christian Charles beth II in 1953. As recently as the lims imposing Arabic customs, language, dress and segre- Kingsley protested against This contempt 1960s, 20 per cent of the popula- gation by stealth, so much so that no less than four child labour in his wonderful for the past is tion of Saudi Arabia were held in inquiries are now investigating. Local MP Khalid Mah- tale The Water Babies. Stuart slavery and Islamic authorities mood told the BBC that there is a very real problem here Headlam founded the Guild of endemic did not actually get round to mak- as Wahabi Muslims are taking over and converting moder- St Matthew to minister to the poor in Bethnal ing slavery a criminal offence until 2007 - exactly ate Sunnis to their ways and tactics. And yet our secularist Green in 1877 (and stood bail for Oscar Wilde) 200 years after Wilberforce’s Bill. I have only one protesters accuse Christianity of being divisive, despite the and The Christian Social Union was started in regret: that in his second great object – “the ref- many Diocesan interfaith officers bending over backwards 1889. ormation of manners” – Wilberforce has been to affirm Islam and allay fears. Did Victorian Christians do all these things in singularly unsuccessful. Christianity and the Church of England since the Eman- their sleep, Ed? There’s more, a lot more… This contempt for the past is endemic among cipation Act of 1829 have been very tolerant, and Chief The 19th century saw the biggest programme contemporary writers and journalists. There is a Rabbis have often made the point that this is a benign of church building since the Middle Ages. sort of slight cast upon our forebears that ‘establishment’, inclusive not oppressive. Christian values Priests worked sacrificially in the new industrial assumes that people were ignorant and stupid fuelled all education, the NHS, the caring professions and slums to bring comfort to the impoverished, dis- just because they lived a long time ago. In the the process of de-Christianisation has made our nation less eased, drunk and unemployed. FD Maurice was murky caverns of my own personal history, in humane, as Baby P and the Frances Report illustrate. leader of a vital Christian Socialist movement. those long-faded days when I was in theological Comment Then there was the small matter of the evangeli- college, I recall being told that the people who cal revival, closely followed by the Oxford Move- wrote the New Testament were not much better The Church of England Newspaper ment and then the ritualist priests brought the than idiots who believed in the so called “three- with Celebrate magazine incorporating The Record and Christian Week faith vividly alive in the dark urban landscape tier universe” with heaven beyond the bright Published by Political and Religious Intelligence Ltd. with colours, lights and music. I nearly forgot blue sky, earth in the middle and hell down Company Number: 3176742 John Wesley, Watts, CF Alexander and the vigor- below. I doubt that many ever believed such a Publisher: Keith Young MBE ous rise of popular hymnody that taught Chris- crass literalism. tian doctrine to the masses. Writers as gifted and inspired as the Psalmists, It wasn’t all long dresses, parasols, cucumber scholars and poets such as St Paul and St John, Publishing Director & Editor: CM BLAKELY020 7222 8004 sandwiches and croquet on the vicarage lawn, were adept in the use of metaphor and allusion. Chief Correspondent: The Rev Canon GEORGE CONGER 00 1 0772 332 2604 Ed. So why make it sound as if Christian social The authors of our scriptures were not benight- Reporter: AMARIS COLE 020 7222 8700 conscience slept all through the Victorian era ed ignoramuses waiting for Copernicus to teach waiting for William Temple and COPEC to come them astronomy or to be “demythologised” by Advertising: CHRIS TURNER 020 7222 2018 along? Rudolf Bultmann. Advertising & Editorial Assistant: PENNY NAIR PRICE 020 7222 2018 The Sunday Programme regularly sounds off Christian cosmology is a wider and deeper per- about the evils of people-trafficking and slavery, ception of reality than stinks and elementary sci- Subscriptions & Finance: DELIA ROBINSON 020 7222 2018 but it’s always done with that faux-pious “We are ence. The wonderful theological vision created Graphic Designer: PETER MAY020 7222 8700 all to blame” innuendo. So it’s worth putting the by St Thomas Aquinas – along with the divine The acceptance of advertising does not necessarily indicate record straight. Britain was for centuries deeply allegories of Dante’s Comedy – refresh parts of endorsement. Photographs and other material sent for publication complicit in slave trading. But we were the first our souls that mere literalisms and fundamental- are submitted at the owner’s risk. The Church of England Newspaper does nation to abolish it. Moreover, the campaign for ist scientism can’t reach. not accept responsibility for any material lost or damaged. abolition began in the 1770s and was conducted I once chucked Brown’s commentary on St by the aforementioned English Christian gentle- Augustine on the fire. My act of vandalism Christian Weekly Newspapers Trustees: Robert Leach (020 8224 5696), men. Wilberforce declared: “God Almighty has occurred when I reached the page where the Lord Carey of Clifton, The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, The Rt Rev Pete Broadbent, set before me two great objects: the suppression of writer suggested that the pupil of St Ambrose, Dr Elaine Storkey, The Rev Peter Brown, The Rev Cindy Kent the slave trade and the reformation of manners.” the seer who came to Carthage “burning, burn- Moreover, the Royal Navy, which then con- ing, with a cauldron of unholy loves singing all The Church of England Newspaper, trolled the world’s seas, established the West about my ears”, was nearly as good as Sigmund Political and Religious Intelligence Ltd Africa Squadron in 1808 to patrol the African Freud. 14 Great College Street, London, SW1P 3RX coast and between 1808 and 1860 they seized “Ah,” say our bright modern types “those men Editorial e-mail: [email protected] 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were men of their times.” Thus they forget that Advertising e-mail: [email protected] were imprisoned aboard. The Royal Navy they too are men of their times. Subscriptions e-mail: [email protected] declared that ships transporting slaves were the Ed, art thou sleeping still? same as pirates. Website: www.churchnewspaper.com

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and be hormone-disrupting. So here are the basics. For doing the dishes: half a cupful of bicarbonate of soda in warm water and use a microfibre cloth. For cleaning the floor: mix equal parts of white vinegar and water and use with a damp microfibre cloth style mop. For wood floors use half a cup of white vinegar and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil Janey Lee Grace (or light olive oil). Mix well and rub lightly into floors to bring back shine and add a few drops of essential oil for a nice aroma (orange works well) Live Healthy! Live Happy! and wipe it thoroughly to avoid a slippy floor. You can also use natural beeswax to treat spots or restore marks. Everyone asks how to clean the loo without bleach: It’s all about the one forgotten ingredient – Spring clean the natural way elbow grease! Get your rubber gloves on and remove some of the water – and scrub. Mix bicarb If you haven’t done it yet it could really be time for a with ‘superbugs’. You’ve probably already heard me with a little eco washing-up liquid or white vinegar or spring clean. mention an amazing probiotic cleaner, it puts back the buy one of the natural loo cleaners. For loo seats use It is far better to use natural products as conventional ‘good bacteria’ — www.chucklinggoat.co.uk a few drops of Tea Tree oil. detergents contain so many potentially dangerous toxic Most cleaning products contain VOCs — volatile For ‘tide marks’ around the bath use half a grape- chemicals. Of course it is not one bottle of washing up organic compounds, they evaporate easily and build up fruit with household salt - it’s a great natural ‘scour- liquid that’s the issue, more the cumulative effect of so in the air and can aggravate asthmatics and anyone with ing’ powder. For the sink, nothing makes a ceramic many different synthetic chemicals. allergies or respiratory problems. sink sparkle like a lemon, use it till its well worn! Plant-based detergents are just as effective as conven- Many detergents have added phosphates which could Enjoy God’s air freshener – open the windows tional and often very little is needed: we all know about improve their cleaning power but isn’t good for sensi- rather than using air freshener, that can be highly ‘old-style cleaning’ too, using vinegar and newspaper to tive skin (or for the environment), plus sodium laurel toxic. Use a plastic plant spray and half fill with water, clean the windows, bi-carbonate of soda for surfaces, sulphate, a foaming agent known to be a skin irritant. add a couple of drops of essential oil and spritz away. cleaning the oven etc. Some contain Formaldehyde, propellants, alcohol and Eucalyptus works well as does Lavender, add a drop I’m anti the anti-bacterials – we know the problems synthetic fragrances that can trigger asthma attacks of white vinegar to preserve. Not the whole story Rev has sparked a debate about the state of the C of E. Writing in the Radio Times Voting for awards Justin Welby says the programme is great ‘but doesn’t tell the whole story’. He Justin Welby wrote in the Radio Times to encourage readers to vote for the commends the comedy for depicting the challenges facing the church but adds Sandford St Martin Trust Awards that explore the relevance of faith in God to all that he knows a number of growing churches that do not resemble the poorly life. He argued that “religious broadcasting continues to be in superb health and attended ‘St Saviours in the Marshes’ where a tiny congregation is struggling to thankfully is not confined to ‘religious’ times of the year”. The television raise enough money to prevent the diocese closing them down and handing the programmes listed, which include Simon Schama on the history of the Jews and church over to Tesco. After the first episode of Rev, Ajmal Masroor penned a piece the documentaries on cathedrals, are all good but what is regrettable is that the for the [i] Evening Standard saying Muslims were worried about the state of BBC rarely broadcasts programmes exploring theological issues of the kind that churches in London’s East End. “People do not like wishy-washy ideas; they like once featured in Everyman. Melvyn Bragg received messages of appreciation clear, consistent and coherent philosophy,” the Muslim cleric claimed. from all over the world after the In Our Time programme on the Trinity was “Christianity has lost its way.” Masroor said he would like to have more Christians broadcast recently on Radio 4, showing the interest is there. Another sign is the to cooperate with and found it difficult to imagine the East End without churches. ABC (Australia) website which usually has a rich theological offering. Over From Bethnal Green and Shadwell clergy wrote to the paper to say that Rev is Easter it printed sermons by Tom Wright, Sarah Coakley, and Luke Bretherton comic exaggeration. The church is growing and if Masroor listens carefully he can (all from the UK) as well as Stanley Hauerwas. Alister McGrath is just one of the still hear church bells, they argued. Just before Easter the had many British theologians who regularly appears on this site. After a brief spell his say to argue, without mentioning Masroor, that the church in East London is away from Oxford at King’s College, London, he is returning to the university vibrant and flourishing. where he studied and then taught for many years as Andreos Idreos Professor of Religion and Sciene and Fellow of Harris Manchester College. Congratulations Atheist PM? Congratulations to Amaris Cole, deputy editor of CEN. The consensus seems to be that, as this column argued last week, Ed Amaris completed the 26.2 miles of the London Miliband will have no more claim than Disraeli to be our first Jewish PM Marathon and, aged 21, came in the top 40 unless he is observant. But could he be our first atheist PM? Here he per cent of her age group (18 to 30). So far has a better claim. Asquith, Eden and Major were not churchgoers but Amaris has raised £1,300 for Christian did not out themselves as atheists. Atlee said he admired Jesus. It was Aid and is hoping more people will send just a pity about the ‘mumbo jumbo’. Major mentioned ‘old ladies a donation. Readers might be cycling to holy communion’ as a feature of English life. David encouraged to do so when they learn Cameron’s emergence as a committed Anglican has caused more that her success was not obtained surprise than it should. His father was a churchwarden, he grew without a cost. She had to work up in an old vicarage hearing the sound of church bells, and from home on the Monday after some time ago journalist Andrew Gimson suggested anyone the marathon. Her legs were trying to find a creed that summed up Cameron’s too sore and her feet had too many blisters to enable fundamental view of life should describe him as liberal her to travel in to the CEN Westminster office. Anglican. Contrary to popular belief Tony Blair was not Amaris wasn’t the only runner trying to raise our most devout or even most Catholic PM. Both money for Christian Aid, which held a special Gladstone and Macmillan were devout high church Whispering observance of Palm Sunday for its participants the Anglicans who practised a Catholic spirituality. day before the marathon and sent them off on the Macmillan entertained Mgr Ronnie Know at No 10 The Gallery race with special prayers. Anyone who wants to when the cleric was dying and shortly before his own support Amaris can do so at death told the Principal of Pusey House the faith http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AmarisCole. propagated by that institution remained his own faith. Other contestants are keeping quiet about injuries Hume was another active Anglican who married the they received as a result of the marathon. In what daughter of a and Edward Heath shape were Ed Balls and the other MPs who took may have pulled a fast one on the Dean and Chapter part? Last year the Rev Giles Fraser was observed of Salisbury when he obtained the freehold of his just after the race, barely able to limp from house in the close but he was a regular cathedral Kennington tube station to his vicarage not far down the worshipper. road.

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper www.churchnewspaper.com Friday April 25, 2014 Comment 9 The shortcomings of Adam Smallbone Andrew Carey Many Church of England clergy have that the reason that the Rev is the View from the Pew taken Tom Hollander’s sitcom por- ‘fifth gospel’ of the liberal Christianity trayal of the East London priest Adam is because of the show’s reduction- Smallbone (BBC 2, Rev, Monday ism. evenings) to heart, if the recent “Rev imagines Christians to be expressions of anguish on social net- social workers in dog collars; faith is working sites are anything to go by. far less important than acts of kind- It is worrying that so many real-life ness. Which is all very nice, but hard- clergy seem to identify with the fic- ly conducive to filling the pews.” Changing teaching tional Adam. Some of them seemed to The Archbishop of Canterbury go into mourning last week after his shares some of Stanley’s reservations The gay activist, Colin Coward, rather grandly claims that ‘married gay clergy are the ill-judged affair with the local head- about the sitcom, arguing that it fails new reality’ for the Church of England (www.changingattitude.org.uk, 14 April). I sus- teacher. Only a week earlier many of to reflect the reality of growing pect that he is exaggerating the numbers of gay clergy who will avail themselves of the them were applauding the ‘sensitive’ churches. In fact in an acutely new classification of ‘same-sex marriage’ but he is correctly describing the impact that treatment of gay marriage on the observed article for the American such ‘facts on the ground’ have on the Church’s theology. show. In reality the episode typically weekly, The Living Church, Postcard This is not just a practical concern that the Bishops will risk looking impotent in the reflected all of the BBC’s politically from London, 15 April, John Martin face of individual examples of clerical disobedience – the Church of England is quite correct instincts and none of the points out that East End churches are used to that. It is a theological concern that a universal ministry is being used to drive Church’s theological discussion. bucking the trend of decline. change. The driver of any sort of change that will last and be accepted by the people of The tragedy is that Tom Hollan- He writes: “There is an element God comes about by theological discussion and consensus, not hijacking the ordained der’s Rev, though an affectionate por- that not surprisingly is missing in ministry for your own purposes. Ministry is not the fulfilment of our own impulses but trayal of a clergyman, is the opposite Rev. The BBC finds it impossible to a gift of God to the people of God. of an image that real Vicars should include the action of God in its story- Colin Coward argues: “The structure of the Church of England was definitively desire. Adam Smallbone is rubbish at line.” changed on Saturday. We now have a married gay priest. The Church of England has everything he does. The only thing So the reason why Adam Small- been changed in defiance of the Men and Women in Marriage report, the Pilling he excels in is being well-meaning bone should not be regarded as a Report, the Pastoral Guidance and the dire predictions of those opposed to the full but useless. good role model for real Revs, is not inclusion of LGBTI people.” Tim Stanley in the Telegraph just because he is useless but The tragedy is that unilateral actions in defiance of clear church teaching are seen as (www.blogs.telegraph.co.uk, ‘Sorry, because the BBC fails at a very basic admirable. Those who seek to change the Church’s teaching should be doing so by Rev, but Christianity isn’t just about level to understand the Church’s min- way of reasoned argument and theological persuasion not by forcing change through being nice to people,’ 16 April) argues istry. prideful political activism. Democracy under Paul Richardson pressure Church and World “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible,” vote in elections but Putin has been in effective control mistakes and change its leaders than it is for other sys- wrote Reinhold Niebuhr, “but man’s inclination to injus- of the country for 14 years and his appeal to Russian tems. tice makes democracy necessary.” Christians haven’t nationalism (backed by the Orthodox Church) trumps One lesson that history can teach us is that revolu- always thought that way. There was a time when Angli- any belief in civil liberties or human rights. tions are rarely over quickly and are often a complex can clergy were staunch defenders of the divine right of In the countries that gave birth to modern forms of process, Britain’s ‘Glorious Revolution’ is not a model kings and Pope Pius XI was quite happy to cooperate democracy there is growing disillusion with politics. In that has been followed elsewhere. The French Revolu- with Mussolini in return for the grant of privileges to the Britain political parties have declined faster than the tion gave the world an alternative, bloodier model that Catholic Church but today most Christians in the West churches and now have less than 1 per cent of the popu- was supposed to involve the creation of a new form of are probably with Niebuhr. lation as members. In America factionalism and gridlock humanity. This was a model for the Russian Revolution All of which makes it a cause for alarm that there are in Congress have been a major source of disillusion and and the Cultural Revolution in China. indications democracy is in trouble around the world. voters are becoming increasingly aware of the way the Today people are rightly wary of long revolutions on Freedom House spent years in the 20th Century chroni- Congressional districts are gerrymandered. the French model. They want them to be quick and neat cling the advance of democracy but it now claims that Some commentators saw the economic crisis that but it is rarely possible to achieve this. Islamists still han- since 2000 the trend has gone into reverse. The past began in 2008 as a product of democracy’s inability to ker after the transformative type of revolution and in year was the eighth successive year in which Freedom curb economic excess and live within financial disci- many countries such as Ukraine there are ethnic and House reckons global freedom declined. plines as voters demand an ever-improving standard of religious differences to be negotiated on the road to One obvious sign of democracy’s travails is the failure living. There are questions about whether Western democracy. of the Arab Spring. Only in Tunisia are there signs of democracies will be able to adapt to economic decline in Perhaps there is another lesson history can teach us. hope. In Egypt government by the Muslim Brotherhood the face of stiff competition from other parts of the In the case of Britain universal suffrage and mass has been replaced by what increasingly looks like a world. In a similar way people worry if democracies will democracy actually appeared quite late on the scene. return to military rule. In Libya militias continue to act to avert a still distant threat of global warming. Not until after World War I did all adult males and exert control over large areas of the country while in In The Confidence Trap David Runciman looks at the women over 30 gain the vote. But long before it became Iraq a Shia government leaves Sunnis feeling margin- way in which democracies were able to survive the great a mass democracy Britain was a liberal state in which alised and the Kurds determined to hang on to control of crises of the 20th Century but he warns we should not there was the rule of law, freedom from arbitrary arrest their own part of the country. assume this will always be the case. There is no room and freedom of speech. A liberal state based on a In the Middle East democracy struggles in the face of for complacency. restricted middle class franchise preceded a mass religious division and strong sectarian loyalties. If the But the outlook according to Runciman is not entirely democracy. brutal Assad regime is ever overthrown in Syria it could negative. About China he rightly observes that although It is not enough to give people the vote. There has also be replaced not by democracy but by an Islamist theoc- we ‘worry about the Chinese threat, we don’t want to to be in place the framework of a liberal state in which racy. emulate it’. Despite the alarms raised by Freedom civil liberties and human rights are respected. Other- Elsewhere in the world there are other factors con- House, Runciman reminds us that no democracy has wise majorities can abuse the democratic process to sup- spiring to weaken the appeal of democracy. China offers reverted to autocratic government once GDP has risen press the rights of minorities - a lesson black people an alternative model that is delivering economic growth above $7,000 (Egypt is around $6,500). Although it can learnt in the America South after the Civil War and Sun- at a rate never seen in America. In Russia people can still be a messy process, it easier for a democracy to correct nis are learning today in Iraq.

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper 10 www.churchnewspaper.com Friday April 25, 2014 Feature How the world views religion today By Amaris Cole significantly less positive than the other regions polled, there is generally a positive belief in the Why does half of the world view religion as a role of religion elsewhere in the world. The most positive part of society, but Western Europe net positive region globally is Africa (65 per cent) prefer secularity? Why do nearly one-third of followed by the Americas (54 per cent) and Americans think faith makes their country MENA (Middle East North Africa) (50 per cent), better, while only 20 per cent of French citizens and these high response rates may be due to the feel the same? When a quarter of Brits don’t less secular nature of these regions,” he think religion even plays a role in our society, explained.

how can it be a totally different story in Canada, So countries where faith is the norm, view it as where nearly half think the major faiths a positive, whereas those societies that are, or contribute positively to theirs? are increasingly becoming, secular, think faith is “Over half the world still believes that religion a negative force. This is shown comparatively plays a positive role in their country. Having said with USA and the UK. The net figure of those that, it is interesting to note that Western Europe who think religion plays a bucks the trend considerably, highlighting the positive role in America is 43 complex role of religion within the region and per cent, whereas it’s just six the impact that a secular outlook has on a per cent here. Clearly Alistair society,” said Jean-Marc Leger. Campbell was right, we ‘don’t do Mr Leger, as President of WIN/Gallup God’. International, announced these results of the Perhaps surprisingly, not all research group’s global survey last week. But those who are religious what do they really show us? themselves think it is “While Western Europe may have come in necessarily a good thing. While 72 per cent of Protestants polled think faith is a good thing for their country, 31 per cent of Hindus think the opposite is true, followed by 23 per cent of Jews. Christians and Muslims CHURCH TEXTILES are most likely to want faith to !09@H90) 1@C &9 0I(07709(0 49 be entwined into the lives of those around them. Of atheists, D0CG4(0, BF&74EP &9) AC@)F(E C&920' 70&D0 G4D4E @FC H0' D4E0 E@ D00 D@80 @1 @FC 40 per cent agreed religion played a positive role in the 0I(4E492 )0D429D' country they live. %0 DA0(4&74D0 49 But the research does show a correlation between (@884DD4@90) A40(0D &9) education and the answers given. The results suggest that &7D@ @110C DE&9)&C) )0D429D @9 those who have been educated to Masters or PhD level have 4E08D DF(3 &D 20 per cent lower net positivity compared to those who have had less education. The results also show that net positivity Banners, stoles, increased gradually to an average of 57 per cent for those who have no education at all. altar frontals These results are the latest in a line of annual surveys into andpulpit falls. religion conducted under the chairmanship of Dr George Gallup since 1977, and involved a sample of 66,806 persons. So is it an uneducated view to think religion is good for the UK? Are we stupid to think faith should play a role? We would love to hear your views on this subject. Tweet @churchnewspaper or write a letter to the Editor and let us know whether religion plays a positive role in society.

. ' 0' &* 3%(% ,' ' !R 0CH09E FD490DD 09EC0, 7&C60 "EC00E, 0C'P, # !$' Q #070A3@90 %#TT! TPPR% Q &I %#TT! !!# Q 8&47 53(E(3FC(3*E0IE470D'(@'F6 www.church-textiles.co.uk

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Truth: another casualty in

By Jeremy Moodey Ordinaries in the Holy Land issued a the Syrian civil war press release calling for more balance in The BBC has been awash with pro- the coverage of ‘persecution’ of Chris- grammes marking the centenary of the tians in the Middle East. It warned: “the start of the First World War. Next year repetition of the word “persecution”… will almost certainly see more dramas usually referring only to what Christians and documentaries, perhaps marking the suffer at the hands of criminals claiming sinking of the Lusitania or the ill-fated to be Muslims, plays into the hands of Dardanelles campaign. Doubtless the extremists”. The media in the West, and youthful Mel Gibson will get an airing in maybe even some of us Christians, would Peter Weir’s iconic 1981 film about the do well to take note. Gallipoli landings. But one centenary that will probably receive very little Jeremy Moodey is Chief Executive of attention in this country is the ‘other’ Embrace the Middle East, the inter- Holocaust of the 20th century: the terri- denominational development charity ble Armenian Genocide. which tackles poverty and injustice in the The Turkish massacres and ethnic lands of the Bible. Embrace’s Syria crisis cleansing of Armenian Christians in 1915 appeal can be found at led to at least one million deaths and www.embraceme.org/syria2014. The Syri- many hundreds of thousands fleeing to sure we have all the facts. And the curi- numerous in the region, suffer propor- an-born Patriarch of the Melkite Greek neighbouring countries. The charity ous fact is that, in the case of this particu- tionately greater persecution from Catholic Church, His Beatitude Gregorius which I lead, formerly known as Bible- lar news story, the reports of atrocities in Islamists? III, will give Embrace’s annual lecture at Lands, has its own history intertwined Syria were simply not true. On 2 April the Assembly of Catholic St James’s, Piccadilly, on 20 May 2014. with that of the Armenians. We were The town in question was the strate- established 160 years ago as the Turkish gic border town of Kessab. It has a Missions’ Aid Society. Our objective was mostly Christian population, largely to support American evangelical mission- Armenians whose families had fled the aries in their work among Armenian 1915 massacres in Turkey. The town Christians. had indeed fallen to the Syrian rebels, When the Armenians were scattered including Islamist groups, at the end of after the genocide, many of them to the March. Many of the town’s residents, Levant, our work followed them. This both Christian and Muslim, had fled to explains our focus on the Middle East the nearby city of Latakia, but more out today, albeit on supporting the social wit- of fear of what Government forces ness of the indigenous Christians of the would do when they tried to retake the region, rather than evangelisation. town, which they attempted (unsuc- One reason why the centenary of the cessfully) within days. Armenian Genocide may well receive lit- Many of the elderly residents of tle attention in the UK is that no one can Kessab stayed in their homes, and ever quite get to the truth of what hap- were reportedly well treated by the pened in 1915. Some historians put the rebels. There were no jihadi atrocities death toll at much lower than one mil- and certainly no evidence of 80 Chris- lion. Others put it higher. Turkey, a key tians being killed. There was one con- ally of the West and a candidate for EU firmed incident, where an ‘over-zealous membership, denies that deliberate rebel fighter’ was reported to have genocide took place at all. It admits that removed a cross from one of Kessab’s while many Armenians were killed, this churches. He was disciplined by his was all in the context of the wider confla- commanders. gration that was the First World War. But the half-truths emerging from So we come back to the famous saying Kessab were quickly inflated to of Aesychlus, the ancient Greek drama- become a Gospel certainty which tist: ‘in war, truth is the first casualty’. served only to feed the Islamophobia of This aphorism came to my mind again many in the West. The plight of the per- this week, and also in relation to the secuted Christians of Kessab was Armenian Christians. But in an unexpect- taken up by Armenian-origin celebri- ed place: at a well-known Christian con- ties in the US such as Kim Kardashian ference in Somerset. and Cher, who started tweeting with I was in the ‘big top’ with maybe 4,000 the #SaveKessab hashtag. “Innocent other Christians and a speaker told us of Christians and Armenians being killed terrible news just received from Syria: 80 by turks (sic)” tweeted Cher, referring Christians had been killed and thou- to the fact that the Syrian jihadis were sands more forced to flee after Islamist believed to have received assistance rebels had taken a town near the Turkish from the Turkish government. border. A quick glance at the websites of The fact remains that it is very diffi- two well-known Christian charities cult to be categorical about what is hap- focused on persecuted Christians would pening inside Syria. Each side puts its have confirmed the awful news. So we all spin on events, and with few Western prayed hard for Syria and its hard- journalists on the ground hard verifi- pressed Christian community. able facts are few and far between. We It is of course absolutely right that we hear a lot about the persecution of should continue to pray for Syria, and for Christians inside Syria, and this is cer- an end to the civil war. And we should tainly happening in places. But why is pray for the safety of all Syrians, both the Western media ignoring the fact Christian and Muslim. But let’s make that ‘secular’ Muslims, being more

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper 12 www.churchnewspaper.com Friday April 25, 2014 Classifieds / Anglican Life

Kuhlmann-Platz Riesling 2013 Majestic £9.99 www.majestic.co.uk OF THE WEEK Wine Quite a mouthful, that name. Riesling is Germany’s famous white but this bottle comes from over the border in French Alsace. Most German Rieslings we encounter here are sweetish, but this is deli- ciously dry. In the glass, pale straw in colour. There’s an attractive nose, something of orchard fruits. On the palate, these come out as pear and peach, though not in full ripeness: intriguing, that, as they are held in a bracing, stimulating dryness. As the flavours develop cleanly, at the finish there’s a touch of citrus. I generally choose an Alsace Riesling when eating out if I’ve chosen fish, a point that was underlined a few weeks ago when invited to a London club. My kind host asked for Alsace: the waitress from Eastern Europe brought the bottle in a chiller. Oops, when poured, far too sweet, and yes, German. That was put aside for dessert, and a more suitable substi- tute ordered. This Riesling is ideal as a summer aperitif, then, wonderful with crab or shellfish. Main course: sea bass best. Alco- hol by Vol.11.5 % Graham Gendall Norton

there, but it’s the only game in town – if we can get in there and change it, we can really make a difference – Let’s talk about Jesus! replacing the nominal religion with real Spirit- inspired worship”. Andrew Symes, Other voices may have urged Jesus to take a more Anglican Mainstream radical political stance, to become a focal point for the zealots waiting for an opportunity for armed revolu- Over the last few weeks, all over the country the tion. church has been engaged in mission. For some reason though, Jesus did not follow this Local churches have been running “Real Lives” and advice. He did not lead an armed revolution, but, non- “Passion for Life” events, student Christian Unions violent to the end, gave himself up to death with no have followed up the successful one-to-one “Uncover” resistance. But on the other hand he did not reinforce Gospel reading programme with the traditional Lent the idea that the Romans were the ones really in mission weeks. charge, and that their goodwill and support was vital Alpha and Christianity Explored courses have con- for doing good works. Rather, by riding into tinued to draw in those from the fringes and on the Jerusalem on a donkey and echoing so visibly the outside of church life. prophecy of Zechariah, Jesus made a claim to be the Some Bishops have been leading evangelistic real King of Israel, a dangerous political statement events, talking about Christ from the Scriptures, shar- and a direct challenge to the human power of the ing their own faith in him, and urging listeners to time. repent and believe. And then, Jesus did not attempt to reform or renew Congregations have also been demonstrating the corrupt and legalistic aspects of the religious sys- Christ’s love in practical ways, hosting food banks, tem from within. He symbolically “cleansed” the tem- debt counselling services, cafes, and parent and tod- ple and cursed the fig tree, preaching that financial dler drop-ins. We look forward to hearing stories of greed and fruitless outward show had taken the place lives transformed and numbers increasing in church- of authentic Old Testament Jewish spirituality: wor- es! ship, prayer, humble leadership, sacrificial service Wouldn’t it be great if this could be the focus of and mission to the Gentiles. news about the church, rather than the internal dis- Also, Jesus did not try to win over the different reli- putes that give us such a bad name. Lets stop talking gious parties, perhaps by facilitating reconciliation of about sex, and rather talk about Jesus! Lets stop criti- their divisions through a first century indaba process. cising the culture, and instead be good news for the A brief unity, and unholy alliance did occur between culture! Pharisee and Sadducee as they joined to do away with This is the time of year when we focus most inten- the Messiah God had sent, but the real people of God sively on Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection. As emerged from those faithful Israelites who put their he prepared to enter Jerusalem from Jericho, perhaps trust in Jesus for forgiveness of their sins and entry he had had the same thoughts about the message and into God’s life. tone of his mission, and maybe even discussed them So as the church talks about the Jesus our Saviour with his disciples. How are we going to play this? Be who died and rose, and follows Jesus our example affirming of the ruling powers and prevailing philoso- who demonstrated God’s love, it’s tempting to gloss phies, and leverage them to our advantage? Work over the more uncomfortable aspects of Christ. The within the religious systems and with the current prophet who maintained a critical distance from leaders towards a renewed faith? human power, reminding it of who is really in charge, Jesus could have come in to Jerusalem and and refusing to compromise with its godless philoso- preached about the way of God (not “kingdom” – that phies. The teacher who explained clearly that there is would have been controversial). He could have quick- a right way and a wrong way to do organised religion. ly made good relationships with the Roman authori- What might happen if the church today really ties to secure funding for poverty relief and talked about Jesus in his fullness, the real hardcore community development projects, and at the same Jesus? The message might be too hot to handle for time attended all the right meetings to ensure elec- some in high places, but we may find that “the tion on to the Sanhedrin. crowd… praise God in loud voices for all the miracles That might have been the best place to influence they have seen” (Luke 19:37). the Jewish religious system from within. “For good- ness sake, teacher”, one group of his disciples might Andrew Symes is Executive Secretary, Anglican have said, “don’t criticise Roman power! And the tem- Mainstream ple system – yes we know there’s a bit of corruption www.anglican-mainstream.net www.churchnewspaper.com Friday April 25, 2014 The Register 13

THE 2014 BIBLE CHALLENGE been appointed also as Priest-in-Charge currently NSM Assistant All ANGLICAN CYCLE OF PRAYER of the Benefice of Nafferton with Wans- Saints Cawthorne and All Saints Darton, ford (York). to retire with effect from 31 August 2014 Day 115: 2 Samuel 16-18, Psalm 95, Friday 25 April. Friday in Easter The Rev Dr Brian Magorrian, (). Acts 10 Week. Psalm 138, Exod. 2:1-10. Central Assistant Curate of Whitfield, (Derby), The Rev Paul Ginever, Day 116: 2 Samuel 19-21, Psalm 96, Buganda - (Uganda): The Rt Rev Jack- has been appointed Vicar of Walton St Vicar St Mary, South Hayling resigning Acts 11 son Matovu John in the same diocese. from 30 April 2014 (Portsmouth) Day 117: Enjoy hearing the Scriptures Saturday 26 April. Saturday in Easter The Rev Stephen Raymond Morley, The Rev Judith Kenworthy, read aloud in church Week. Psalm 118:6-14, Exod. 2:11-25. Assistant Curate The Benefice of Aisholt, currently NSM Assistant Curate, Day 118: 2 Samuel 22-24, Psalm 97, Central Ecuador - (IX, The Episcopal Enmore, Goathurst, Nether Stowey, Meltham Christ the King, to retire with Acts 12 Church): The Rt Rev Victor Scantlebury Over Stowey and Spaxton with Char- effect from 31st May 2014 (Wakefield). Day 119: 1 Kings 1-3, Psalm 98, Acts 13 Sunday 27 April. Easter 2. Psalm lynch (Bath and Wells), to be Vicar of The Rev Sandra Lloyd Day 120: 1 Kings 4-6, Psalm 99, Acts 14 110:1-4, Heb. 2:10-13. PRAY for The Bures with Assington and Little Cornard Rector Niton, St John the Baptist and Day 121: 1 Kings 7-9, Psalm 100, Acts Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & The (St Edmundsbury and Ipswich). Vicar Whitwell, St Mary and St Rhade- 15 Middle East. The Most Revd Dr The Rev Ian Mountford, gund resigning from 31 March 2014 Mouneer Hanna Anis, President Bish- Team Vicar Thame, to be Assoc Minister, (Portsmouth). APPOINTMENTS op, Jerusalem & the Middle East & St Alkmund’s, Derby. The Rev Dawn Oakley, Bishop in Egypt with North Africa and The Rev Maria Pallis, Assistant Curate Shanklin St Blasius the Horn of Africa Vicar, Banstead (Guildford), to be also resigning from 30 April 2014 The Rev Sarah Louise Alexander, Monday 28 April. Psalm 37:3-9, Heb. Rural Dean for (Guild- (Portsmouth). Assistant Curate with title of Associate 2:14-18. Central Florida - (IV, The Epis- ford). The Rev Stephen James Raine, Vicar, Newbury Benefice, Newbury copal Church): The Rt Rev Gregory The Rev Philip John Payne, Priest-in-Charge Ipswich St Mary at the Deanery, to be Asst Curate, Holy Trinity Brewer Curate North Bury Team Ministry (St Elms and Chaplain to Ipswich Hospital Redhill (Southwark). Tuesday 29 April. Psalm 95:1-7, Heb. Edmundsbury and Ipswich), to be Priest- NHS Trust (St Edmundsbury and The Rev Rachel Battershell, 3:1-6. The Most Rev and Rt Hon Justin in-Charge The Benefices of Coddenham Ipswich), to retire with effect from 31 currently Assistant Curate in Holy Trini- Welby Archbishop of Canterbury. Can- with Gosbeck and Hemingstone with August 2014. ty Coldhurst and St Stephen and All Mar- terbury - Dover - (Canterbury, Eng- Henley and Crowfield with Stonham The Rev Michael John Stace, tyrs Oldham, is to Team Vicar in The land): The Rt Rev ; Aspal and Mickfield (St Edmundsbury retires as Priest in Charge of Canterbury, Good Shepherd Ashton under Lyne Canterbury - Ebbsfleet - (Canterbury, and Ipswich). All Saints (Canterbury) with effect from (Manchester). England): The Rt Rev ; The Rev Joanne Reid, Tuesday 30th September 2014. The Rev Hilary Christine Benson, Canterbury - Richborough - (Canter- Curate in Training Brize Norton & The Rev Geoffrey Suart, School Chaplain, Queen Anne School, bury, England): The Rt Rev Norman Carterton to be Team Vicar, Savernake Rector of Snettisham with Ingoldisthorpe Caversham, Reading, Reading Deanery Banks Team (Salisbury). and Fring is to retire (Norwich). to move to Derby (PTO). Wednesday 30 April. St James The The Rev Peter Scamman, The Rev Canon Lydia Margaret The Rev Nicholas Benson, Great. Psalm 31:19-24, Heb. 3:7-11. Cen- Curate in Training at St Andrew’s, Wells, SSM Assistant Curate with title of Associ- tral Gulf Coast - (IV, The Episcopal Oxford, to be Assoc Minister, Christ To retire as Vicar of Sheffield St Peter & ate Priest, Benefice of Reading St John Church): The Rt Rev Philip Duncan Church Fulwood (Sheffield). St Oswald and Honorary Canon of the Evangelist & St Stephen, Reading Thursday 1 May. Psalm 22:27-31, Heb. The Rev Canon Andrew Shipton, Sheffield Cathedral and to become Deanery to move to Derby (PTO). 3:12-19. Chichester - (Canterbury, Eng- Team Rector of Christ the King, Dioce- Canon Emeritus of Sheffield Cathedral The Rev Rosemary Bowers, land): The Rt Rev Martin Warner; san Development Officer for Youth Work and to receive PTO from 30 April 2014 currently House for Duty part-time Chichester - Horsham - (Canterbury, – Team leader (Newcastle) to be Vicar of (Sheffield). Priest at Ripponden with Rishworth and England): The Rt Rev Mark Sowerby; All Saints Gosforth (Newcastle). The Rev Sandy White, with West Scammonden in Chichester - Lewes - (Canterbury, Eng- The Rev Dr Jonathan James Singh, currently NSM Assistant Curate, Tod- the , is to become land): Vacant – The Rev Richard Jack- who has the Bishop’s Permission to Offi- morden Benefice, to retire with effect Non-stipendiary Team Vicar (House for son has been appointed ciate in the and , from 28 April 2014 (Wakefield). Duty) in the Middle Valley Team Min- to be House for Duty Priest of Bishop The Rev Canon Joan Whysall, istry with responsibility for St Nicholas Monkton and Burton Leonard, Ripon Vicar of Christ Church Cinderhill in the with St John and St Michael, Newchurch Cathedral Benefice, in the Diocese of Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham, to (Manchester). Assistant Curate St Paul’s Wilford Hill, in Ripon and Leeds. retire on 13 July 2014. The Rev Christine Browne, the Diocese of Southwell and Notting- The Rev Anita Elisabeth Smith, The Rev Paul Wilcock, is moving to the Church of Wales from ham to be Associate Priest, Edwalton, CMS Mission Partner Nairobi, to be to resign as Assistant Curate, St Thomas’ Vicar in the Dudley Team (St Augustine) Gamston and Wilford Hill in the same House for Duty, Banbury St Hugh’s Bradley from the 8th April, retaining his The Rev David Philip Burrell, Diocese. (Oxford). other posts (Wakefield). Rector, Lark Valley Benefice (St The Rev Christina Caroline Hodges, The Rev Susan Theobald Edmundsbury and Ipswich), to be Rec- NSM Assistant Curate, Arbourthorne Assistant Curate Southsea St Jude to be LAY & OTHER APPOINTMENTS tor The Benefice of Bedfield, Brundish, and Norfolk Park (Sheffield) to be Priest Priest in Charge St John the Baptist, Cratfield, Laxfield, Monk Soham, Tan- in Charge of Sheffield St John the Evan- Oakfield, Ryde and Holy Trinity, Ryde Mrs Ruth Brett nington, Wilby and Worlingworth with gelist Park (Sheffield). from 8th June 2014 (Portsmouth). To be Licensed Lay Worker in the Southolt (St Edmundsbury and Ipswich). The Revd Eleanor Jeans, The Rev Dr Elizabeth Jane Thomson Wymondham benefice (Norwich). The Rev Ian Barclay Byrne, Curate in the Benefice of the Corner- Team Vicar, Witney, to be Canon Mis- The Rev Dr Mark Clavier, Rector of the Bungay Benefice, in addi- stone Team (Leicester), has been sioner, . Has been appointed as Acting Principal tion to be Assistant Priest in the Benefice appointed as Associate Vicar at Christ The Rev Richard Hugh Perceval of St Michael’s College, Cardiff. of South Elmham and Ilketshall (St the King, Kettering (Peterborough). Thornburgh, Mr Steven Grahl Edmundsbury and Ipswich). The Rev Rhiannon Jones, Rector of the Benefice of South Elmham Has been appointed as Director of The Rev Nicholas Cheeseman, currently Assistant Curate at Manches- and Ilketshall, in addition to be Assistant Music, Peterborough Cathedral. Vicar, Reading All Saints, Reading Dean- ter Cathedral, is to become Assistant Priest of the Bungay Benefice (St ery to be Associate Area Dean. (Oxford). Curate to be known as Associate Rector Edmundsbury and Ipswich). The Rev Richard Martin Cowles, of Bury Parish Church (Manchester). The Rev Ann Trew, DEATHS Vicar, Bray with Braywood, Maidenhead The Rev Stuart John King, Permission to Officiate, licensed Interim and Windsor Deanery, to be Assistant Chaplain Bearwood College, - Minister St Mary, South Hayling on 16th Area Dean (Oxford). ham & SSM Assistant Curate in Train- March 2014 (Portsmouth). The Rev Donald Churchman The Rev Jude Davis, ing, parish of Winnersh, Sonning The Rev Neil Patrick Warwick, (Portsmouth) died on 8th March 2014. Assistant Curate of Doncaster Minister, Deanery (Oxford), to be Priest-in- Vicar, Earley St Nicolas, Reading Dean- The Rev Carol Davies (Sheffield), has been appointed Priest-in- Charge, St Matthew, Ashford (London). ery to be Associate Area Dean, Reading (Portsmouth) died on 31 March 2014. Charge of Hathersage with Bamford and The Rev Jennifer Mary Lane, (Oxford). The Rev Canon John Wilfred Everett Derwent, and Grindleford (Derby). Priest in Charge of All Saints, Crofton (Incumbent of Ashford St Mary 1982 – The Rev Ken Gabbadon, and St Peter’s, Warmfield-cum-Heath, 2002 and Hon Canon Emeritus of Canter- Chaplain HMP Armley in the Diocese of and Adviser to 5-11 year-olds for the Dio- RETIREMENTS & RESIGNATIONS bury Cathedral) died on Saturday 5 April Ripon and Leeds, to be Chaplain HMP cese of Wakefield, to be Priest for the 2014. Wealstun in the Diocese of Ripon and parishes of Barton, Cleasby with Staple- Bishop of Oxford to retire The Rev Ken Jackson Leeds. ton, Manfield, Middleton Tyas with The Rt Rev will retire on (Portsmouth) died on 28th March 2014. The Rev Alison Gray, Moulton, Croft, Eryholme and Incum- 31 October 2014. Bishop Colin Scott is becoming Associate Priest NSM at bent Designate (Ripon and Leeds). The Rev William Michael Cartwright (Bishop of Hulme from 1984 to 1998) Great Malvern Priory (formerly Assis- The Revd Clive Larsen Priest in Charge of Barningham Winter died on 1 April. Bishop Colin was tant Curate NSM: Malvern St Andrew, currently Priest in Charge of St Agnes benefice is to retire (Norwich). ordained in 1958 and served in South Wyche & Wells) from 30 Mar 2014 North Reddish is to become in addition The Rev Peter Dawson, London parishes, as well as becoming The Rev Nicholas Grew, Incumbent of St Mary Heaton Reddish currently NSM Assistant Priest St Peter Honorary Canon of Southwark Cathedral Vicar, Knaphill with Brookwood (Guild- (Manchester). Hartshead, St Barnabas Hightown, All in 1973. He was consecrated Suffragan ford), to be also Surrogate for Marriages The Rev Brian James Lees, Saints Roberttown and SS Philip and Bishop of Hulme, Manchester in 1984, for the Woking Deanery. (Priest in Charge, Hutton Cranswick James Scholes, to retire (Wakefield). and became Honorary Assistant Bishop The Rev Isabelle Hamley, with Skerne, Watton and Beswick) has The Rev Jean Daykin, in Leicester in 1999.

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‘This book will make a traveller of thee’ (John Christians and non-Christians alike. For Chris- Bunyan: Pilgrim’s progress) tians there are some deeper implications than r Jesus said ‘I am the Way’ Jn 14:6; cf Acts 9:2 freedom of expression and they do not always SUNDAY SERVICE

o make for comfortable reflection. If you have

Hoare Recently I was collecting scallop shells on the read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales you will be 3rd Sunday of Sunday - Sunday 4th May 2014 t beach and wondering what I could do with aware that the behaviour of some of his pil- Acts 2:14, 36-41 c

Liz them around the house. I wanted to keep them grims was less than exemplary and would not 1 Peter 1:17-23 as a reminder of a beautiful place and a wonder- have encouraged many sceptics to join ‘The Luke 24:13-35 e

Dr ful holiday. Centuries ago pilgrims going to San- Way’ as so many did who observed the first r

v tiago De Compostela also collected scallop Christians in the time of the book of Acts. Each of our readings this week calls for the engagement

i shells and they too had all sorts of practical Today if we wear the Christian symbol of the of the heart in responding to Jesus’ resurrection from Re uses for them: scooping up water to drink, con- cross because we believe certain things about the dead, and a change of direction.

d tainers for food and so on. There was an abun- Jesus, we are committing ourselves to living a Two disciples on their way to Emmaus meet the risen l the dance of them on the shores of Galicia, the cross-shaped life. Other people will notice our Christ on the road. Their eyes are kept from recognising pilgrim route for those heading for this famous behaviour and judge accordingly. No, good their travel companion, who has plans of his own as he a By pilgrim destination where it was believed that St behaviour doesn’t make us Christians, but that steers their conversation. They recognised that Jesus James was buried. So close was the association is how we will be assessed by those who do not was “a prophet mighty in deed and word”, but dismissed u between the centre of pilgrimage and the scal- know this and they will not give Christianity a the idea that he could be the Christ, the redeeming Mes- t lop shells that this particular shell eventually hearing if our walk doesn’t match our talk. Nor siah, because he was condemned and crucified. “How i became the general symbol for all those going are we ‘off-duty’ when we take off our cross or can he redeem us, if he’s dead?” they must have rea- r on pilgrimage. The emblem was stitched to indeed any identifying symbol. The Christian soned. i their clothes and they were instantly recognis- pilgrimage is 24/7 and when we set out on the Yet Jesus confounds their reasoning, and jolts them able as people on a Christian pilgrimage. There road to follow Jesus we are bidden to out of their foolish unbelief. He shows them all that the p take up are a number of different stories as to why the our cross daily. Scripture foretold about the suffering and subsequent

s scallop shell was adopted as the pilgrim symbol Perhaps we do not wear any outward symbol glory of the Christ, and their hearts burned within them. one being that to be able to show a scallop shell of belonging to the Christian faith. What is it Though they did not yet realise why, they insisted he

e proved that you had fulfilled the pilgrimage you that makes us instantly recognisable? How stay with them at the end of the day. They needed more had set out to do. You had made it to the end would people know that we are ‘of the Way’? than newly kindled hearts before they’d change direc-

h and achieved your goal. Bunyan’s lovely allegory of the Christian life as tion. They needed their eyes opened, to see that the

t Those who wear a visible cross today also a pilgrim in the world takes us straight back to prophesied Messiah was Jesus himself, the one who wish to make a statement about their faith. It Bible truths about grace and remind us that it is walked with them all along and broke bread with them. has of course become an issue in the news that an inward work of God not an outward object Once they see it, they turn around and run to share the has generated a good deal of opinion from that marks us out. news. The crowd in Jerusalem during the Pentecost festival must deal with the sudden reversal of their expectations and thoughts about Jesus too. He was not a crucified fail- ure, another in a long line of disappointing messianic pretenders. They had judged him badly, and written him off, but God had appointed him both Lord and Messiah An opportunity missed? (titles which Mary and the Shepherds knew right from By Chris Key declare the child “a gift from God”, the start of Luke’s Gospel). They are cut to the heart by Baptismal Integrity who, along with each one of us, is Peter’s preaching, stabbed by a sudden realisation. “known to God by name and loved Like a car screeching to a halt, the smell of burning Many parents find it a great relief from all eternity” (p. 203). The fam- rubber rising from the tyres, they are arrested in their that a realistic alternative, very ily is described as founded on “the tracks and forced to reconsider. They are not just affect- well-suited to their needs, is avail- mystery of human love” in which ed emotionally, but volitionally too, asking the apostles, able in the C of E instead of, or prior the child is “entrusted to our care”, “What shall we do?”. The only course of action open to to, Baptism for their child. But so so that “by their example [they] them must be to repent and do a U-turn. Gears begin to often the clergy do not seem to reveal the love and truth that are in crunch as they try to find reverse. They will find, if they know about this opportunity and Jesus Christ”, so that “through our do so, says Peter, more than adequate reasons to pursue miss the chance to offer something love he/she may come to know a different course: the gift of the Holy Spirit is for all who that might be just what is needed. (where the full name of the child is God’s love”. believe and are baptised as a sign of that change of heart. A priest is required to explain the used, and one can add the blessing Finally, in outreach to the family, This is also an offer for their children (quite normal for seriousness and meaning of the “in the name of the Father, and of friends and wider community, this those who thought so easily in terms of family solidari- promises to be made by at least one the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”, service allows the church members ty), and for those who are far off (that is, in context, the parent (and the godparents) for which the text unaccountably does to give a wholehearted welcome Jewish Diaspora, though it perhaps hints at a wider ulti- themselves and for the child at a not). (rather than a muttered, “I hope mate concern). About 3,000 souls were saved from a cor- Baptism, but if no alternative is Yet no requirement of regular they mean those promises and rupt generation that day. So many that they were not given then many simply go along churchgoing, nor of individual com- return next week”!) necessarily all baptised by immersion, as some suggest with it all without much thought, mitment to Christian faith or It can be part of a main service, must be normative, since there was no river near to the which may allow such people to lifestyle, is made (which is why it is with worship offered in a manner Temple. make commitments they do not a relief to so many parents who are accessible to those unfamiliar with Reflecting on these events some years later, Peter mean. not ready for that) because it is just church life and where the regulars writes to the dispersed exiles of far off Asia Minor about “There must be a better way,” the opportunity “for supporting can be urged (preferably in their trust in God, “who raised Jesus from the dead and says one advert, and there is! A friends and relations to make a advance) to greet and to pray for gave him glory.” They too have been redeemed, ran- Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child commitment to the child and fami- this family. Parents may be encour- somed from the futility of their former ways and that of (from Common Worship: Pastoral ly” (p. 212). aged to attend on at least one Sun- their ancestors, by the blood of the true Passover lamb. Services, to which all page num- Certificates are provided for the day prior to their special service, so This had always been the eternal plan of God for our bers below refer) is often so much family and any supporters that are that the children are more used to redemption, yet only now had this way of salvation been more what a family is looking for, chosen, and a Register of such the building, etc, and a card of cele- revealed with the coming of Christ. They now knew that being for those “who recognize that services is kept in church (p. 212). bration sent at the anniversary to purification which only comes through obedience to the something [in the birth or adoption Parents may offer a prayer them- offer further support. truth, and so they must “love one another deeply, from of a child] has happened for which selves, and could add their own fur- Visiting the family in advance the heart.” The living word of God gives us new life — a they wish to give thanks to God”, ther one where they dedicate their means one can pray in the Thanks- fresh start, a new direction, a new family. Heartfelt but which is “not the same as Bap- child to the Lord (if they are Chris- giving for each by name, along with engagement in reverent fear of God is the only true tism which is the sacrament of initi- tians who do not [yet] agree with any specific needs, and perhaps response. ation into membership of the the baptism of infants, but who invite them to choose a Christian church” (pp. 200, 201). want to offer him/her to God). And hymn or song for the service. A Lee Gatiss is Editor of the NIV Proclamation Bible and Often called a ‘Thanksgiving and they are themselves prayed for, ask- Gospel must be given (p. 204), Director of Church Society (www.churchsociety.org) Blessing’ (after the heading on p. ing for wisdom, patience and the though I find a ‘Children’s Bible’ 203), it offers a wonderful pastoral ability to provide for their children, with stories and pictures is more opportunity, alongside clear theo- (indeed, the Supplementary Texts, likely to be used (and I can write in logical understanding, and a sensi- pp. 208-211, provide prayers for the front about the service, and HYMN SUGGESTIONS tive outreach to the family, yet few almost any circumstance: a rich commend Christ there too). churches seem to make use of it, resource). I find Thanksgiving Services either in their main services or at Theologically, the service deeply appreciated by families and other times or places (as the Note, acknowledges the “sense of awe at church regulars alike, so I’d urge All I once held dear p. 200, allows). the creation of new life”, with God every parish to take up the great In the garden, Mary lingers Pastorally the parent(s) will be as the source who “became one of opportunity it offers. We have a gospel to proclaim assured of God’s love for them and us in Jesus, and understands all We’ll walk the land with hearts on fire their child, his protection of the that surrounds the arrival and The Rev Chris Key is Vicar of St You met God’s great fury (Hail the Risen King Jesus) child, and his blessing upon them upbringing of children”. Parents Luke’s, Maidstone

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Margaret Barker has been A cracking caper for all the family at the forefront of those who Love Punch (cert. 12A) is a highly onboard. Grandson Matt (Jack have emphasised the unlikely but very funny rom-com Wilkinson) does the computer hack- importance of the Jewish caper. Mr & Mrs Jones are long ing for them, and Kate manages to Temple for studying both divorced, but circumstances throw get to say “We’re in!” coupled with a the Old and New them back together, in an attempt to self-referential “I’ve always wanted to Testaments. A Methodist steal a valuable diamond. say that”. local preacher, her work has been hailed by Richard Jones (Pierce Brosnan) Battleship Potemkin (the pram) and many scholars and church leaders, including and Kate Jones (Emma Thompson) The Italian Job (the cliff edge) get a Bishop Rowan Williams. She has served on the are losing their youngest daughter nod, but there is generally rather an Ecumenical Patriarch’s Symposium on Religion, (Tuppence Middleton) to university, old-fashioned feel about the film. It Science and the Environment and as President but more upsetting is when Richard’s may be mildly absurd in places, but of the Society for Old Testament Study. In her business is taken over by an engulf- it’s never dull, and as Richard and latest book King of the Jews (SPCK) claims that and-devour operation, leaving Kate fence round their renewed the Temple was central to the Fourth Gospel employees out of work, and their pen- attraction to each other, Brosnan and and that the Johannine Community were the sions worthless. The rapacious entre- Thompson do have the necessary disciples of Jesus who saw themselves as the preneur is Vincent Kruger (Lauren “spark” to make that aspect of the true high priesthood restored. Highly Lafitte), based in Paris, so off to Paris Richard and Kate call on old friends story credible. recommended. go Richard and Kate to beard him in Jerry (Timothy Spall) and Penelope If Brosnan portrays fear in a scene his den. (Celia Imre), who quickly agree to where Thompson drives a car down a Genesis: The Bibluffer’s That’s a posh office block where join in this criminal enterprise. flight of steps, it’s because Thompson Guide (DLT) is a comic they use an old gate-crashing ruse to After all, what do they have to lose, was really driving. It’s tying all the retelling of the first book of get past security, but Vincent is less apart from their dignity and freedom? other emotions together that needs the Bible written and than sympathetic and they are Their lives actually – getting into the the acting, and with Spall and Imrie illustrated by Paul Kerensa, thrown out. They see Vincent’s chateau past security entails swim- they make a great ensemble cast. a well-known comic and fiancée Manon (Louise Bourgoin) ming across the bay in scuba suits It’s a tight 90-minute movie that script writer. Kerensa has wearing a huge diamond, and a stu- then scaling a cliff. I didn’t notice punches above its title (though I appeared on ‘Pause for pid “but brilliant” plot is hatched. where they kept the grappling irons missed its significance). If nothing Thought’ and written scripts They will steal the jewel at the cou- in their scuba suits – or the slits cut in else, it’s almost worth it just for the for comedy shows on radio ple’s wedding reception on the Côte Timothy Spall’s suit to get him into it. running joke about Jerry’s previous and TV. He won ITV’s [i] d’Azur, posing as two Texan couples, It is very far-fetched, and writer- wide military experience, with con- Take the Mike Award and invited for their business connections director Joel Hopkins (Last Chance tacts in the French Foreign Legion, has taken five solo shows to – who first have to be kidnapped and Harvey) hasn’t bothered too much and skills learnt in the Australian the Edinburgh festival. His book [b] So A drugged in their rooms at the Carlton avoiding plot holes, relying on his Parachute Regiment – all barely cred- Comedian Walks Into the Church was voted Hotel in Cannes. For that, another witty script and the underlying moral ible but rather entertaining. one of the top eight comedy books of 2013 by couple is needed – and for this excuse of righting a wrong to keep us Steve Parish [i] The Independent. His latest book is just as funny and just as entertaining.

Daniel Strange has already made his mark as a theologian who has thought deeply about the relationship between Christianity and other A new perspective on the Great War faiths. He has published and edited a number of The Great War in Portraits books on this topic but For Their Rock is Not as at National Portrait Gallery until 15 June Our Rock (IVP) is a major work that deserves study not only from theologians but from Amid media battles as historians replay the diplomacy anyone interested in the mission of the church. and campaigns of World War One, sober perspectives It is warmly endorsed by other experts on the from that era’s art offer deeper, more respectful com- subject, including Harold Netland (evangelical) memoration. and Gavin D’Costa (Roman Catholic). ‘Miss it at National Portrait Gallery’s relatively small scale but your peril,’ say D’Costa. certainly major impact exhibition, The Great War in Por- traits, finely exemplifies this. Traditional-genre authority Donald McCleod served for many years as portraits of the warring heads of state at once confront Professor of Theology and later as Principal at us: Britain’s George V, Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, the Free Church of Scotland College in Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm (in Edinburgh. In Christ Crucified he gives a fine brazenly self-important propaganda pose for August evangelical and biblical exposition of the Bocher’s 1917 portrait, when his and his nation’s fate atonement. The incarnate Son of God offered hung in the balance). himself in our place, bearing the penalty for our A century ago such imposing images instilled respect, sin, and the cross achieved expiation, awe, even fear - yet none of the latter three survived the propitiation, reconciliation, justification, war in their exalted roles, swept away in the catastrophe redemption, forgiveness and victory. No single unleashed by Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip, modestly one of these concepts tells the whole truth. Dr recalled by a small press photo. McCleod shows how they are interrelated and Military leaders were imaged in the same stiff manner how together they give a coherent picture of as heads of state. War Artist William Orpen’s restrained the salvation achieved on Calvary. study of British C-in-C Field Marshal Haig contrasts with Bocher’s ultra-stern image of adversary von Hindenburg, Joyce Meyer uses inspiring stories, scripture but neither suggests both men preferred mass carnage to and straight talk to drive home the message of intelligent tactics. Perhaps most harrowing recalling of those four years of her book You Can Be Born Again (Hodder). While these authority portraits give no hint of the multi- mass killing and suffering are Henry Tonk’s pastel draw- God can turn tragic endings into new thousands consigned to slaughter, such is readily ings of terribly disfigured men - often shunned back in beginnings. It is never too late to find grace. glimpsed from Geoffrey Malin’s documentary film Battle Blighty - awaiting reconstructive surgery, with their med- With God, new beginnings are not the of the Somme and its German counterpart With our Heroes ical photos. exception: they are the rule. This is a readable on the Somme, as war’s grim realities break through pro- The exhibition mood steadily darkens, as the boastful and moving book by an author whose last work pagandist purpose. assurance of authority portraits gives way to horrific real- spent five weeks on the New York Times Grim reality thrusts on us too, in such works as CR ities and sheer war-weariness, with Kirchner’s Self-Por- bestseller list. Nevinson’s Futurist-style image of French machine-gun- trait as a Soldier - a uniformed figure with amputated ners, a charcoal study of an utterly exhausted Royal Irish hand, in a brothel - exuding the final cynicism of so many. In the year before he died, Henri Nouwen Fusilier, and Gilbert Rogers’ uncompromisingly bleak The statue of Edith Cavell, executed by the Germans in planned to write a book on the Apostle’s Creed. image of a blood-spattered dead stretcher-bearer, feet 1915, stands opposite the National Portrait Gallery. Pon- Instead he left as his final book a meditation on dangling into muddy water. dering its inscription - her final words ‘Patriotism is not the life of a severely handicapped man from the Exhibition centre-piece is a 40-photo montage of war enough’ - is fitting postlude to this sombrely engaging Daybreak Community, Adam Arnett, who died a participants - soldiers, artists, poets, imperial combatants, exhibition. year before Nouwen. Reflecting on Adam’s life women on the home front - from familiar names Wilfred Brian Cooper Nouwen found a way to describe his own Owen and Baron von Richthofen to Harry Farr, shell- understanding of the gospel. DLT have now shocked but shot as a deserter, little known but deserv- The Great War in Portraits is at National Portrait Gallery reissued Adam. Highly recommended. ing respectful memory (he was pardoned in 2006). until 15 June. Admission Free.

[email protected] facebook.com/churchnewspaper @churchnewspaper Superman, the Da Vinci Code and now the Golden Goose; it is stag- gering how much confusion there is around what is in the Bible. We COLLEGE STREET are called to share the Good News to those around us, but somewhere along the line there has been a bit of a mix up, it seems. The Bible Society has long been warning us about society’s lack of biblical SW1 knowledge, but it now seems most people can’t distinguish the Word of God from the creations of Brothers Grimm. Are your CITY OF WESTMINSTER friends confused, too? Let’s help them out. with Amaris Cole

More than a quarter of young people think the Hare Still don’t know enough about the Bible? There’s an app for and the Tortoise may have something to do with the that. Easter story. I’m afraid not. The main animal in the Bible Society is launching a fun free app to help parents Easter story was the donkey that carried Jesus into share a Bible story with their children at bedtime. Written by Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Despite being the Son of children’s author, Martin Coleman, the App is his unique take God, he chose this humble animal to carry him. on five Bible stories with many cheeky asides that will sur- prise traditionalists. To help parents participate in the five-day challenge, launched by Bible Society, the free Bible Bedtimes app, is available for download from the App Store at: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bible- bedtime/id824218900?mt=8

One in three British children aged eight to 15 don’t know The Golden Goose has some role to why we celebrate Good Fri- play in the resurrection of Jesus, 23 per cent day. Good Friday is when of young people think. It doesn’t. But just like the Jesus was crucified. This may boy who shares his food with the old man is rewarded not seem ‘Good’, but it is the with the Golden Goose in the Fable, Jesus tells us that reason we can go to heaven – “Whatever we do for the least of my brothers, you do Jesus died as a sacrifice for unto me.” This means helping those in need is helping our sins, so that we might live Jesus, which will be rewarded. forever.

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home of Amos (5) mixed-up sound [Gen] over a cathedral or col- PRIZE CROSSWORD No. 896 by Axe 13 Belief in many, or all, (6) lege church (7) gods (9) 2'But now ----- from the 14 Son of Aaron and priest 17 Son of Seth, who, it is law the righteousness of of Israel [Num; Chr] (7) said, met his maker God has been made 15 Position of an ordinand before death [Gen; known...' [Rom/NIV] on successful comple- Heb] (5) (5) tion of training (6) 19 One whose stance is 3'Such teachings come 16 'Am I a dog, that you totally opposite to 13 Ac through hypocritical come at me with ------?' [1 (7) liars, whose con- Sam/NIV] (6) 21 Emblem of Christianity sciences have been 18 Minor prophet of the (5) seared as with a ------' [1 Old Testament, c 720BC 22 Pertaining (in language, Tim/NIV] (3,4) (5) etc) to both Hebrew and 5Senior monk (5) 20 Philistine who became a Arabic (7) 6Steward in the house- commander in David's 23 Prophet of David instru- hold of Hezekiah [2 army [2 Sam] (5) mental in Solomon's Kgs; Isa] (7) Solution to last week’s succession [2 Sam; 1 7'Yet your people say, ''--- Across: 7 Semite, 8 Enrich, 9 Kgs; 1 Chr] (6) --- of the Lord is not Edge, 10 Adonijah, 11 Aramaic, 24 Non-Christian priests of just''' [Ezek/NIV] (3,3) 13 Javan, 15 Micah, 17 Babylon, Celtic Britain (6) 9Peoples of an empire 20 Nazarene, 21 Lady, 22 Hanani, north of the Black Sea 23 Thomas. Down who, along with barbar- Down: 1 Reader, 2 Nile, 3 Denarii, 1Word, thought to ians are, in Christ, 4 Demon, 5 Ordinary, 6 Achaia, emanate from an alter- acceptable to God [Col] 12 Mt Ararat, 14 Talents, 16 native name for Baby- (9) Isaiah, 18 Ordeal, 19 Media, 21 lon, meaning a confused 13 Dignitary presiding Lion.

T h e f ir s t c o r r e c t e n tr y d r aw n w il l w in a b o o k o f t h e E d i to r ’s c h o i c e . S e n d y o u r e n tr y t o C r o s s wo r d N u m b e r 8 96 , T h e C h u r c h o f E n g l an d Ne ws p ap e r , PRICE £1.35 / 1,70€ / $2.20 1 4 G re a t C o l le g e S tr e e t , W e s t m in s te r , L o n d o n , S W1 P Across named in the NT City, the new 3 R X b y n e x t Fr id a y 1Usurper of the (6) Jerusalem...pre- throne from the 8'After securing pared as a -----...' N am e sons of Jeroboam the support of ----- [Rev/NIV] (5) [1 Kgs] (6) --, ...they asked 11 Formal service of A d d r e s s 4Ancient Greek for peace...' a Church (7) weight and unit [Acts/NIV] (7) 12 Town south of P o s t C o de of currency 10 'I saw the Holy Bethlehem,

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