4LentB, Sullivan Park Care Center, March 18, 2012
I share a poem written in 1942 by Margaret Wise Brown:
Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
So he said to his mother, “I am running away.”
“If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you.
For you are my little bunny.”
“If you run after me,” said the little bunny,
“I will become a fish in a trout stream
and I will swim away from you.”
“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother,
“I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.”
“If you become a fisherman,” said the little bunny,
“I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you.”
“If you become a rock on the mountain high above me,”
said his mother, “I will become a mountain climber,
and I will climb to where you are.”
“If you become a mountain climber,”
said the little bunny,
“I will be a crocus in a hidden garden.”
“If you become a crocus in a hidden garden,”
said his mother, “I will be a gardener. And I will find you.”
“If you are a gardener and find me,”
said the little bunny, “I will be a bird
and fly away from you.”
“If you become a bird and fly away from me,”
said his mother, “I will be a tree that you come home to.”
“If you become a tree,” said the little bunny,
“I will become a little sailboat,
and I will sail away from you.”
“If you become a sailboat and sail away from me,”
said his mother, “I will become the wind
and blow you where I want you to go.”
“If you become the wind and blow me,” said the little bunny,
“I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze.”
“If you go flying on a flying trapeze,” said his mother,
“I will be a tightrope walker,
and I will walk across the air to you.”
“If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,”
said the bunny, “I will become a little boy
and run into a house.”
“If you become a little boy and run into a house,”
said the mother bunny, “I will become your mother
and catch you in my arms and hug you.”
“Shucks,” said the bunny, “I might just as well
stay where I am and be your little bunny.”
And so he did.
“Have a carrot,” said the mother bunny.
I love this story because the relationship between Mother Bunny and her Little Bunny can easily be paralleled to the relationship of God and God’s children. No matter where the Little Bunny goes, where he tries to run away or hide, what he attempts to become, Mother Bunny always knows how to find him and is right there for him. And in the end Little Bunny realizes being safe with Mother Bunny is the best place to be anyway. Just as God always knows where we are no matter how far we stray (intentionally or not), and one of God’s deepest desires is for us to come to the place of simply wanting to be God’s disciples.
It truly boils down to the grace of God that pursues us everywhere because God is everywhere and God’s love is everywhere. Being a musically minded person, I often think in songs. The song that came to mind this time around was Sir John Stainer’s “God so loved the World.” It follows the text of this morning’s gospel lesson. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoso believeth, believeth in him should not perish, should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. But that the world through Him might be saved.
God’s love is everywhere. It is for everyone and it is both now and into eternity. As I worked my job this week as a certified nursing assistant, I found myself thinking once again about grieving. There is a quite logical reason for that. One of the residents that I had worked with for almost two years died in the last week. It struck me that both the book I had been reading and what she wanted displayed on her death notice were the identical passage from the Bible, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It is from Philippians, chapter 4, verse 13. She had no knowledge that I was reading this book because I had quit working on that unit four weeks earlier.
I share with you a summarized version from a book titled, “Shine and Shadow” by Kathleen McTigue. Kathleen tells a story titled, “How to give a Blessing.” That is a much more general title than what actually happens in this story. She tells about what it was like for her when her father died and having to go to the grocery store to pick up a few items. When she got to the checkout, the cashier asked her, “How are you?” She did not intend to say it, but she said, “I’m not so good. My dad died last night,” The cashier was caught off guard and his face turned red. She did not say the expected, “Fine.” Or “Everything’s good.” The exchange suddenly became an awkward moment between the two. Neither knew what to do or say next. Suddenly, the grocery bagger, a person with Down’s syndrome said the most simple, yet most profound words to her, “I bet you feel really sad about that.” She said to him, “Yes I do. Thank you.” It is not the gifts God gives you; it is the sharing of them with others. God does not expect any of us to walk alone. With God beside us, we are never truly alone. But besides that, we should always be about making connections with others because we are all God’s children, all part of God’s family regardless of what we believe. God’s life-giving grace works through all of us both now and into eternity. There is no interruption of life when we die. We continue to live on with God. As stated in the Nicene Creed: “We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” That resurrection begins with our baptism, our uniting to Christ in his death and resurrection by allowing God to transform us into the image of God in what we say, do, and think.
We may sit back and think about Little Bunny Foo Foo hopping through the forest or the Runaway Bunny as being silly, old children’s stories. However, they give us a glimpse of the two-sided nature of what it is like to be both alive and living in God’s grace and in need of God’s comfort in the forgiveness of our sins. May we always be reminded that God is there every step of the way, to forgive, to strengthen, to walk with us in our faith journeys. Faith comes by the grace of God.
It is God's work, not ours. Salvation is available to all. We are those who condemn, make exception, separate and judge. God does not do that. God loves and cares for each and every one of us. The work to procure that salvation is already finished in Jesus. In Him we live and work and have our being. Amen.
