ENGLAND, July 4, 2007 — The inhabitants of Manchester may well have been puzzling over a few biblical riddles recently.
Since mid-May in the ten urban districts situated around Britain’s third largest city, advertisements on billboards, bus shelters, trams, buses, taxis and even pub beer-mats have been drawing attention to the relevance of stories in the Bible to daily life.
The high-profile competition, mounted by the British and Foreign Bible Society, consists of seven different riddles, each hinting at a story from the Bible but conveying it by means of a headline – in the style of a modern tabloid newspaper – from which one word is blacked out. The point is to draw people into solving all seven riddles by searching for the answers in the Bible. A special website, www.theriddleoflife.org, has been created to offer extra clues. Anyone who successfully solves all seven riddles stands a chance of winning £7,000. The competition runs until the end of July.
The broader motive is to encourage people to engage with the Bible and to lead them, in doing so, to discover its relevance to daily life. The stories used in the campaign include those of Sarah giving birth to Isaac, David and Potiphar’s wife, the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, all chosen for the universality of the characters and events they depict.
Even the terms under which the prize will be given are Bible-based. The final winner of the money will not keep it personally but will have to nominate a local charity to receive it.
“It’s all based around the biblical principle that it’s better to give than to receive,” said Sue Green, a Riddle of Life representative in Greater Manchester.
PHOTO: British and Foreign Bible Society
Jessica Berry, winner of the prize in the category Best Film Maker Under 18, at the awards ceremony for the British and Foreign Bible Society’s film makers’ competition.
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The riddles, though, are just one of many initiatives sharing the same broad aim and audience. The Bible Society campaign is being run with the active involvement of more than 250 churches across Greater Manchester and by the end of June local Bible Society supporters had held dozens of community events in churches, parks and other public venues across Greater Manchester. They included theatre productions, concerts, talks, debates and events for children.
June's programme of 'Headline Events' included a fashion show, a performance of The Walk, a one-man play about William Wilberforce, and a performance, in one of Manchester's largest parks, of the story of the Prodigal Son. The story was told through a spectacular fire-show involving gigantic puppets, live music, fire sculptures, fire-torches and fireworks.
There was also an invitation to new film makers to produce a five-minute film based on or inspired by the Bible. At a ceremony held in a Manchester cinema on June 9, all the short-listed films were shown and Nick Park, the producer of the British Oscar-winning animated comedy film The Wrong Trousers, was one of the judges of the best films in four categories.
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