Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood – Day 5 – Monday after 1st Sunday of Lent
To Read:
Well, [Pooh] was humming this hum to himself, and walking gaily along, wondering what everybody else was doing, and what it felt like, being somebody else, when suddenly he came to a sandy bank, and in the bank was a large hole.
“Aha!” said Pooh. (Rum-tum-tiddle-um-tum.)
“If I know anything about anything, that hole means Rabbit,” he said, “and Rabbit means Company,” he said, “and Company means Food and Listening-to-Me-Humming and such like. Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.”
So he bent down, put his head into the hole, and called out:
“Is anybody at home?”
There was a sudden scuffling noise from inside the hole, and then silence.
“What I said was, ‘Is anybody at home?’” Called out Pooh very loudly.
“No!” said a voice; and then added, “You needn’t shout so loud. I heard you quite well the first time.”
“Bother!” said Pooh. “Isn’t there anybody here at all?”
“Nobody.”
Winnie-the-Pooh took his head out of the hole, and thought for a little, and he thought to himself, “There must be somebody there, because somebody must have said ‘Nobody.'” So he put his head back in the hole, and said:
“Hallo, Rabbit, isn’t that you?”
“No,” said Rabbit, in a different sort of voice this time.
“But isn’t that Rabbit’s voice?”
“I don’t think so,” said Rabbit. “It isn’t meant to be.”
“Oh!” said Pooh.
He took his head out of the hole, and had another think, and then he put it back, and said:
“Well, could you very kindly tell me where Rabbit is?”
“He has gone to see his friend Pooh Bear, who is a great friend of his.”
“But this is Me!” said Bear, very much surprised.
“What sort of Me?”
“Pooh Bear.”
“Are you sure?” said Rabbit, still more surprised.
“Quite, quite sure,” said Pooh.
“Oh, well, then, come in.”
(Winnie the Pooh – Chapter Two – Pooh Goes Visiting)
From the Scriptures:
Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9v33-37)
To Reflect:
“…could you very kindly tell me where Rabbit is?”
“He has gone to see his friend Pooh Bear, who is a great friend of his.”
“But this is Me!” said Bear, very much surprised.
“What sort of Me?”
“Pooh Bear.”
“Are you sure?” said Rabbit, still more surprised.
“Quite, quite sure,” said Pooh.
“Oh, well, then, come in.”
Judging by his initial response to Pooh’s greeting, Rabbit doesn’t seem to be putting into action his declaration that Pooh was “a great friend of his.” But then, looking at Pooh’s reason for visiting…
“If I know anything about anything, that hole means Rabbit,” he said, “and Rabbit means Company,” he said, “and Company means Food and Listening-to-Me-Humming and such like. Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.”
…perhaps we should not judge rabbit too harshly as Pooh ends up eating him out of house and gets stuck in his home!
However, as the famous book and slogan goes, What Would Jesus Do if Pooh were to come and visit him? And as the book reminds us, it would be to welcome him, even knowing that he had an appetite for honey and condensed milk. The answer Jesus gave to people in many different circumstances was to always welcome everyone. Not just the little child and power-hungry disciples, but also the physically hungry and diseased, the Roman Centurion and the Syrophoenician mother, The Rich Young Ruler and the Pharisee who crept in under the shadow of darkness. Not all of them followed Jesus on the way – He never promised that the Calvary road would be easy – but nonetheless a welcome was offered.
To be imitators of Jesus, who is Host and Guest and Feast, is to open all the pantry cupboards in the rabbit warrens of our lives and allow them to be emptied. It will be costly, people will think we are foolish, some will see us as a ‘soft touch’, but it is only by welcoming everyone that we will know for certain that we have welcomed Christ into our lives.
To Pray:
Let us not forget what Thou hast done for us,
and when Thy hand hath wondrously been there,
then let us not seek it again as ungrateful beings
who only ate and were satisfied.
(Søren Kierkegaard)
To Do:
- Have a look through your food cupboard at home and give away anything you bought six months ago but have not been able to use.
- Invite someone with whom you could be a better friend for tea (or go out for a coffee or even a pint).
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 from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
These Reflections, ‘Hunny! 40 Days in the 100 Aker Wood’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2024
Suffolk Vicar 