The Chaplain tries to draw, and writes for the August and September edition of the magazine……………………

 Dear Friends

 Recently, Elizabeth and I found ourselves near Hartfield in East Sussex and went into AA Milne’s 100 Acre wood, where we found Pooh Corner, Piglets house, Owls house and other places vital to the inhabitants of 100 Acre Wood. There they all were in Ashdown Forest, a Heathland in the SE of England where AA Milne purchased a country home for his family in 1924

As we walked I quietly recalled all those stories I used to read to my children, and we even stood on the bridge in Ashdown Forest at The place where Pooh and his lovable band of buddies played their game of Pooh sticks.  

Our walk there got me thinking about the characters and writing in my mind a Gospel according to Winnie the Pooh 

I wonder if anybody can relate to any of these characters and whether we might see our church and community in the Hundred Acre Wood?

It seems to me that all of the characters in AA Milne’s story have a gospel message for us 

Eeyore is depressed, and nobody tries to tell him he has to feel better. They just accept him as he is and include him anyway. I’d like to think this is how we deal with people experiencing depression, as well as those going through times of grief. Or at least it’s the way we should. You don’t have to pretend. You still belong. You’re still welcome. But unlike Eeyore, some of us hide. We go through difficult times and we think we have to put on a happy face or stay home, and so we stay home. Those of us who aren’t Eeyore need to make sure that the Eyore’s among us feel safe to be their true (if gloomy) selves so that we can walk beside them. 

Piglet is anxious and fearful, afraid everything is too big, too hard. Piglet is afraid of new directions, afraid of the unknown, and because of that, Piglet might occasionally hold us back. But Piglet is also the one who, when push comes to shove, finds the courage he needs to move us all forward.  

Next, there’s Rabbit the micro manager, suspicious of strangers or anything that’s unfamiliar. He’s the apostle of ‘we’ve always done it this way.’ He likes the way things were in the ‘good old days’, and worries that strangers will destroy our way of life. His bluntness can hurt. And, yet, he overcomes his suspicion of strangers and makes new friends with those strangers who come to the Wood.

Then there’s exuberant Tigger, hopping through the forest, talking loudly, and sprinting up and down just to show how happy he is, a regular nuisance, disrupting the order of things – And yet his messy way of being is as real as anyone else’s

 Then there’s Rue and Kanga, foreigners, visitors, recent arrivals, struggling to find and establish their place in the story

 I wonder, do you recognize yourself, or maybe someone else?

The lovely message of Milne, like the message of the Gospel, is that all are welcome in the 100 Acre Wood, all are welcome in our community and all are welcome in the church, in spite of our differences, in spite of our challenges, in spite of whether we’re Tigger or Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Rue, or Winnie the Pooh. We need everyone in the 100 Acre Wood.

 If we were all Eeyore, where would the energy be? If we were all Tigger, where the peace come from? If we were all Rabbit, where would our welcome be? If we were all that silly old bear with the big heart, where would our brain be? We need one another in our various communities. We need everyone’s gifts, everyone’s strengths, and everyone’s weaknesses.

 We could all be Eeyore because there is so much that is gloomy. We could easily be Piglet for there is so much to fear. We could be Owl and retreat into big words that hide our own ignorance.

What do you see when you look at your life? Whose eyes are you looking through?

What do you see? Are you Rabbit and you see catastrophe and cause for panic? Are you Piglet and see danger? Are you Eeyore and see shame and disgrace? Or are you like Winnie the Pooh, who didnt always know how to define what he was seeing, or what the implications were.

But he did know that we are called to be bold. We are being called to go on adventures and “expotitions” , as he lovingly called them.

From time to time in our lives we all get confronted with change. And sometimes that change won’t be comfortable, but it is necessary.

 So the Piglets will have to be brave and the Tiggers will have to slow down and the Winnie the Poohs will have to remind us that it’s all about the love.

And because it’s all about the love we need Tigger’s energy for the work around us. We need Eeyore’s awareness of the pain. And we need Winnie the Pooh’s heart.

 And of course we need Christ, our Christopher Robin, who moves in and out of our world and never forgets us and who will be our friend forever—and even longer.

In the story The House at Pooh Corner, Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?”  “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”

 Let us be sure—of one another, of a hand to hold, and of our value here in our own 100 Acre Wood.

 Your affectionate friend and Chaplain,

 Simon