Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood
Day 2 – Thursday after Ash Wednesday
To Read:
Pooh is floating in the sky holding on to a balloon pretending to be a cloud so that he can dupe the bees into letting him near their honey.
There was no wind to blow him nearer to the tree so there he stayed. He could see the honey, he could smell the honey, but he couldn’t quite reach the honey. After a little while he called down to you.
“Christopher Robin!” he said in a loud whisper.
“Hallo!”
“I think the bees suspect something!”
“What sort of thing?”
“I don’t know. But something tells me that they’re suspicious!”
“Perhaps they think that you’re after their honey?”
“It may be that. You never can tell with bees.”
There was another little silence, and then he called down to you again.
“Christopher Robin!”
“Yes?”
“Have you an umbrella in your house?”
“I think so.”
“I wish you would bring it out here, and walk up and down with it, and look up at me every now and then, and say ‘Tut-tut, it looks like rain.’ I think, if you did that, it would help the deception which we are practising on these bees.”
Well, you laughed to yourself, “Silly old Bear!” but you didn’t say it aloud because you were so fond of him, and you went home for your umbrella.
(Winnie the Pooh – Chapter 1 )
From the Scriptures:
Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love. (1 Corinthians 16v13-14)
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13v8)
To Reflect:
Well, you laughed to yourself, “Silly old Bear!” but you didn’t say it aloud because you were so fond of him…
Next week, along with several hundred others, I will be in Westminster attending a meeting of General Synod at Church House. After reading today’s extract I am starting to wonder if it may be possible to change the Canons of the Church of England to prevent us from insulting each other and instead compel a spirit of fondness one of the other?
It is a sad sign of the times that one piece of our work has been re-jigged because members have not always been kind to each other and that we are beginning a process to find ways to discipline those who abuse and bully others.[i] Sometimes I wonder if we have ever read the Scriptures which are, allegedly, at the heart of our faith… 😔
Lent is given to us so that we may have the opportunity to love one another more deeply through the means of loving ourselves a little bit less.
This does not mean we should not love ourselves – after all if we do not know how to love ourselves how can we learn to love others? Lent gives us Forty days of grace in which to put self-serving habits to one side and learn to bite our tongues, temper our testiness, and put aside our incessant desire to always be right and have the final word (…as I type these words I own up to this particular challenge!). In their place we will choose to fetch umbrellas and balloons, wellington boots and cork guns, out of a tender affection and care for those whom God has given to us as companions on the way home.
Lent, in the words of a Franciscan prayer is an opportunity to ‘Sit lightly on the things of this world’, and, as any experienced sinner will tell you the ‘things of this world’ are not simply money and possessions but also behaviours and attitudes.
After all if we can’t manage to learn to laugh to ourselves instead of out loud or keep our judgemental thoughts to ourselves we will very soon find that we have less and less friends. Which would be very sad indeed….
To Pray:
Make me pure, Lord:
Thou art holy:
Make me meek, Lord:
Thou wert lowly.
(Gerard Manley Hopkins)
To Do:
- Do something silly with someone else. Note: Toddlers have lots of silly ideas which are often great fun.
- If you have bullied or abused someone try to find a way of apologising and making amends. This may take more than 40 Days to complete…
Please Note: These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com on Twitter as @SuffolkVicar, and on my public Facebook page Rev Andrew Dotchin
If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to vicar@felixparish.com
Acknowledgements:
Text from ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and ‘The House at Pooh Corner’ by A.A. Milne copyright © The Trustees of the Pooh Properties.
Line illustrations copyright © The Estate of E.H. Shepard.
Colouring of the illustrations copyright © 1970 and 1973 The Estate of E.H. Shepard and HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Prayers are from ‘The Little Book of Prayers’ edited by David Schiller copyright © David Schiller 1996: Workman Publications.
Scripture quotations are copyright © New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
These Reflections, ‘Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2024
[i] Draft Legislation for a Code of Conduct for Lay Officers https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/16-february/news/uk/synod-asked-to-tackle-bullying-behaviour-by-lay-people-in-church
Suffolk Vicar 