BBC Studios
17 August 2019 • WAR CRY • TELEVISION 3 The people of Djenné work together to replaster the mud mosque
Wonder-full places
Documentary investigates how sacred spaces influence people’s faith, writes Sarah Olowofoyeku
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NEW series on BBC One is looking at landmarks which have inspired or been inspired by faith. Sacred Wonders takes viewers from America to Asia, exploring manmade buildings, natural landmarks and sacred ceremonies. Over three episodes, the documentary visits sites where people gather to perform great acts of devotion or test the limits of their humanity in order to show commitment to their faith. The first episode featured a man who works to maintain buildings in the ancient temple city of Angkor, Cambodia. He believes that one of the temples is home to his ancestral spirits and that they will be unhappy and leave if the temple falls into ruin.
In the second episode, broadcast last Wednesday (14 August), the 30,000 people of the mud-built city Djenné in Mali were preparing to work for hours under the blazing sun to replaster their mosque, the largest mud building on Earth. The building has stood since the 13th century, but because of the intensity of the heat that beats down on it every day, the mud cracks, so the mosque needs replastering annually to ensure that it does not get washed away in the rainy season. Scoping the four corners of the world, one of Sacred Wonders’ aims is to find out why these places or moments provoke so much passion in people. In New York, Patty Welch, pastor at the largest Anglican cathedral in the world, planned the proceedings for the Feast of St Francis. About 4,000 gathered for the service at the Cathedral of St John the Divine. Each year, the patron saint of animals is celebrated with a service of blessing for more than 300 creatures great (including a camel) and small (some ducklings). Patty co-ordinates the animal procession at the Feast of St Francis service
Patty says the animal service ‘is about connecting with these amazing creatures’ and being ‘grateful for them and what they give to us’. While some buildings are thought to be inherently holy, Patty believes that sacredness can stem from the acts of worship that take place within them. ‘We come together in these moments,’ she says, ‘and they’re sacred.’
A sense of awe can be cultivated through amazing buildings Many Christians find that a sense of wonder and awe and an urge to worship can be cultivated through amazing buildings or places. They believe that God is the one who ultimately created them all. But while some of the places they recognise as sacred are vast, it does not mean that they feel God is distant. The early Christian Paul once explained to a group of people in Athens, who were fascinated by philosophy, that God made the world so that it would point people to him. He told them that God is not limited to manmade temples and indeed ‘is not far from any one of us’ (Acts 17:27 New International Version). God longed to have a relationship with us so much that he even sent his son, Jesus, into the world so that we could recognise his great love. It’s a love that we can come to know, any time, any place.
6 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 17 August 2019
Why do angels Author PETER STANFORD tells Philip Halcrow why people still believe in angels
I PHILIP HALCROW
F angels in a school nativity play are barefoot while Mary, Joseph and the three kings are in some kind of footwear, the costume choice made by the 21st-century staff who are staging the play may go back – without them realising it – 1,000 years. ‘In the 11th century,’ says Peter Stanford, ‘Christianity taught that in Heaven you could distinguish between saints and angels because angels didn’t wear shoes. Saints had to have shoes to walk around in, whereas angels had wings and so could fly.’ The author and journalist has been considering the distinguishing features of angels a lot. Angels, his latest book, announces itself as ‘a visible and invisible history’ of the mysterious figures. ‘Angels are a part of our cultural literacy,’ he tells me. ‘They’re in our Christmas cards. If children lie in the snow and wave their arms, they make a snow angel. And then there’s Angel Delight.’ Angels were certainly part of Peter’s childhood. He remembers growing up as a Catholic in Liverpool and every evening using a prayer which asked an ‘angel of God, my guardian dear’ to be by his side. But as well as reflecting on his childhood thoughts on angels, Peter has been thinking about what adults believe about them today. In his work as a journalist for The Telegraph he interviewed Lorna Byrne, author of a memoir Angels in My Hair, in which she wrote about being able to see people’s guardian angels. When he subsequently met people who were attending one of her events, he noted that they spoke about having had a sense of something similar to Lorna’s experiences. Peter has also come across a survey reporting that 21 per cent of Britons who never participate as worshippers Peter Stanford
Religion and angels used to go together, but angels seem to have gone a bit freelance
in religious services believe in angels, as do – perhaps more surprising still – 7 per cent of atheists. He says: ‘In Hebrew and Greek, the words used in the Bible for “angel” mean “messenger”, so I wondered whether there could be a messenger but no message.’ Peter says that angels, in one form or another, have played a role in belief systems for millennia. ‘The earliest mention is of the cherubs placed at the gates of the Garden of Eden. Angels were also present at the start of Christianity, when Gabriel announces to Mary that she is to give birth to Jesus, and in Islam, when Jibr’il appears to Muhammad. ‘Religion and angels used to go together, but angels seem to have gone a bit freelance in recent times.’ Peter can see why angels appeal even to people in western societies who do not commit themselves to a structured belief system. ‘They are pretty non-demanding. If you want a guardian angel, you don’t have to sign up to a set of rules. There are no Ten Commandments you have to agree to. And there’s no sense that when you go astray, angels will ensure there’s some consequence.’ He notes that in Judaism and Christianity, angels are not always cosy figures. In the Bible, they are portrayed as being sent by God to convey bad news as well as good.
delight? ‘Islam has this rather lovely idea that everyone has two angels: a guardian angel and a recording angel, who watches you and keeps a note of what goes on. The recording angel is not acting in a nasty way – its presence is more about a person knowing themselves. I do believe that human beings are flawed and we sometimes need someone to ask us whether we acted in the best way that we could.’ Angels seem to fly in the face of the science and rationality that society rightly prizes but which perhaps have their limits. ‘We’re told that we’re less religious as a society because fewer people go to church
17 August 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 7
We still have the same needs and hopes that we’ve always had
services or belong to faith groups,’ Peter says, ‘but I don’t think that means humans have particularly changed. We still have the same kinds of needs and hopes that we’ve always had – as well as the sense that there’s more to the world than meets the eye. We are still searching for the transcendent, just more randomly. ‘I spend quite a lot of time in Norfolk, where my local Anglican church has an “angel roof”. ‘If you go to a Sunday service, there may be only a handful of people there. But throughout the week there is a steady procession of people who go in and look up at these 30 carved
angels on the hammer beams. There’s something special about sitting underneath those angels, who don’t quite smile but seem to look down on you benignly and allow you to think different thoughts. ‘I think that ultimately it is rather dissatisfying to have angels without God, but people like angels – they seem to highlight our fundamental yearning for something transcendent.’ l Angels is published by Hodder & Stoughton
10 INTERVIEW • WAR CRY • 17 August 2019
Page turner NICK PAGE, author of a new book about the Bible, tells Andrew Stone why he thinks some people have the wrong idea about the Scriptures
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UTHOR Nick Page has a surprising opinion on what is arguably the best known book in the world. ‘I think we’ve been told wrong things about the Bible,’ he says. ‘We’ve been misinformed. ‘For example, sometimes we’re given the impression that God wrote every word in it, but the Bible is the writing of many people across thousands of years. ‘Some other Christians treat the Bible like it is God, and end up worshipping it. But the Bible isn’t God – it was written and created by men.’ Another ‘problem’ that Nick has identified is that people do not always realise that the Bible is a collection of writings. ‘Because it is bound together, some people think the Bible is one book,’ he explains. ‘The fact is, it wasn’t bound together until about AD350. Before then, some of it would have been on scrolls and some on codices [early forms of books]. ‘In a sense, we need to unbind it. Then we would have more awareness that these are different books written by different authors. ‘As well as being bound together, it is also translated by committees, which flattens all the voices so that it sounds like it has one author. ‘For example, the final book of the Bible, Revelation, was written in extremely bad Greek,
It doesn’t matter to me whether everything in Genesis actually happened by someone for whom Greek was their second language. It’s a very important piece of writing, but it would have been full of grammatical errors. You never find the grammatical errors in the translations, though – it’s always tidied up.’ In an attempt to rectify such misconceptions, Nick has written The Badly Behaved Bible.
Nick Page
‘The aim of the book is to come to the Bible and see what it actually is as a text,’ he explains. ‘We have to remember that it’s an ancient text, and its writers didn’t have the same categories of writing that we do. We go to it expecting the history parts to be our type of history. But the writers had no concept of writing history as we have.’ Nick makes his point by highlighting the first book of the Bible, Genesis, which has an account of God making the world in six days – something that is at odds with the scientific evidence of today. ‘It doesn’t matter to me whether or not everything in Genesis actually happened,’ he disarmingly admits. ‘Genesis is not a scientific treatise, so expecting it to be is wrong. ‘We should note that the first two chapters of Genesis contain two different accounts of Creation. The people who put Genesis together didn’t see any problem with including those two accounts. So I don’t see that they were ever trying to deliver an absolute statement on how the Earth was created. ‘I see in Genesis primal stories about what it is to be human. Genesis tells us that human beings are made in the image of God.
17 August 2019 • WAR CRY • INTERVIEW 11
Now, that’s a massive statement, because it means that every human being is precious and unique. ‘Genesis also talks about a God who has personal relationships – that’s a constant of the Bible in whatever part we’re reading, and
Previously, my impression of Jesus was of him wandering around Galilee in his nightie I believe the Bible is a place where we can encounter God and begin a relationship with him.’ That was certainly Nick’s own experience. ‘The Bible has had a massive impact on my life,’ he says, as he recalls his own conversion. Having grown up in a Christian home, Nick drifted away from faith as a teenager and found a ‘different direction’. However, when he started university and felt homesick, he found himself turning to the Bible. ‘For some reason I read John’s Gospel. Previously, my impression of Jesus was of him being slightly hippy, wandering around Galilee in his nightie, being meek and mild and with a lamb around his shoulders. ‘But when I read John’s Gospel, a very different image leapt out at me. It was someone who was challenging, rebellious and passionate. Jesus was someone who
was deeply concerned for the poor and the excluded and was deeply against religions that excluded people. ‘After reading that, I thought that this was someone I could follow and give my life to. Since then, when I have read the Bible, verses have continued to leap out at me.’ It is because of the positive impact the Bible has had on his life that Nick hopes his book will encourage other people to read it and have their lives changed as a result. ‘I talk about the Bible as being a place of encounter, a way in which God communicates with us,’ he enthuses. ‘I want people to realise that, if they read the Bible, they face the possibility that God may say something to them through its words and that their lives may be changed. I think that’s an exciting way of viewing the Bible and that’s what is so special about it.’ l The Badly Behaved Bible is published by Hodder & Stoughton
12 INNER LIFE • WAR CRY • 17 August 2019
Prayerlink YOUR prayers are requested for Norah, who is having eye problems; and for Garry, who is on remand. The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances. Send your requests to Prayerlink, War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN. Mark your envelope ‘Confidential’.
Becoming a Christian There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong. Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free. Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International
Nigel Bovey gives chapter and verse on each book in the Scriptures
Obadiah NLIKE the books of prophecy that U precede it, Obadiah is not addressed to Israel or Judah but to other descendants
of the patriarch Abraham – the people of Edom. A land of salt marshes and sandstone mountains, Edom is a territory southeast of the Dead Sea. Today, it is part of Jordan, with Petra its most prominent city. Many Edomites were descendants of Esau, the elder son of Isaac and Rebekah. Esau’s younger twin brother, Jacob, persuaded him to give up his birthright (see Genesis 25:29– 34). As a result, Jacob inherited Esau’s birthright and he and his sons went on to inhabit the land flowing with milk and honey, while Esau headed for the barren hills of Edom. The perception that Jacob – renamed by God as Israel (Genesis 32:28) – had cheated Esau and his family seeped deep into the Edomite psyche. Israel was the old enemy. Over the years, Edom refused to allow the Israelites to pass through on their way to the Promised Land, they fought against King
Key verse Key verse: ‘As you have done, it will be done to you’ (Obadiah 15 New International Version)
Jehoshaphat, and they rebelled against King Jehoram. Now, God presents a charge sheet of Edom’s recent offences: allowing violence against Israel (verse 10); distancing itself from Israel while Jerusalem was plundered (11);
The perception that Jacob had cheated Esau seeped deep into the Edomite psyche rejoicing over the fall of the city (12); plundering it (13); killing those escaping bloodshed and handing over survivors to the enemy (14). In the hour of Israel’s greatest need, cousin Edom allowed herself to be governed by centuries-old prejudice and resentment, rather than by basic compassion. Instead of offering refuge within its mountain borders, Edom turned its back and let Israel down. God’s judgment is therefore clear: ‘Your deeds will return upon your own head’ (15). The family of Esau will be destroyed (18), foreigners will occupy Edom (19) and the country will be ruled by Israel (21). Jerusalem fell in 587BC. Edom fell to Assyria less than 30 years later.
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