On our recent holiday we took charge of our grandchildren James and William for the day which included putting them to bed. This gave their mum and dad an opportunity to have some time together. At bedtime I read an adapted version of ‘The Velveteen Rabbit.’
This is one of my favourite stories that I first came across while working and living in London in the 1980’s. We started up a ‘Story Time’ evening when a small group of adults would gather, between six to a dozen on a regular basis, and someone would read a story. Usually, the story could be read in one sitting or at most three or four sittings. ‘Charlotte’s Web’, a number of Oscar Widle’s stories, ‘Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, and one of our favourites, ‘Winnie the Pooh’ which was always accompanied by a ‘Pooh Party’ and always with a ‘little something to eat.’
('Story Time' is not the same as a book club.)
I remember spending over a
week at Prinknash Abbey in Gloucester and following the Benedictine custom one
of the monks would read a story aloud while everyone ate in silence.
Communal reading was a
common practice up until the 18th century with reading material
being relatively rare, the level of literacy and the communal aspects of
living.
And we see this in the story
of the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts, 8:28-30
‘…and
on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the
prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that
chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man
reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip
asked.
It is also worth remembering that the Gospel’s and the Epistles would have been read aloud, discussed and debated before being passed on to another community of Jesus’ disciples.
It would be interesting to
consider if ‘Story Time’ might work in a prison setting.
However, to come back to the
wonderful story of The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real). This is a British
children's book written by Margery Williams and illustrated by William Nicholson. It
chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire to become real through the
love of his owner. The story was first published in Harper's Bazaar in 1921
featuring illustrations from Williams' daughter Pamela Bianco. It was published
as a book in 1922 and has been republished many times since.
The Velveteen rabbit is
given as a Christmas present to a small boy. The wisest and oldest toy in the
nursery is the Skin Horse, which was owned by the boy's uncle, and who tells
the rabbit about toys being made real by the love of children: "Real isn't
how you are made... It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you
for a long, long time - not just to play with, but REALLY loves you - then you
become Real”. The rabbit is awed by this idea but feels his chances of
achieving this wish are slight due to the boy forgetting about him in favour of
playing with his newer, more modern and mechanical toys.
One night, the boy's nanny
gives the rabbit to the boy to sleep with in place of a lost toy. The rabbit
becomes the boy's favourite toy and the boy eventually begins to regard the
rabbit as real. Time passes and the rabbit becomes older and shabbier but
remains happy. He meets some real rabbits in the summer, who tell him that he
is not a real rabbit upon learning that he cannot hop as they do.
One day, the boy comes down
with scarlet fever and the rabbit sits with him as he recovers. The doctor
orders that the boy should be taken to the seaside and that his room should be
disinfected and all his books and toys burnt, including the velveteen rabbit,
to prevent further spread of the disease. The rabbit is bundled into a sack and
left out in the garden overnight, where he reflects sadly on his life with his
boy. As the rabbit cries, a real tear drops onto the ground, and a flower
appears. A fairy steps out of the flower and comforts the velveteen rabbit,
introducing herself as the Nursery Magic Fairy who takes discarded children's
toys and turns them real. She explains that because the rabbit has become real
to the boy, who truly loves him, she will take him away with her and "turn
him Real" to everyone.
The fairy takes the
velveteen rabbit to the forest and kisses him, whereupon he becomes a real
rabbit and joins the other rabbits in the forest. The next spring, the rabbit
returns to look at the boy, and the boy muses that the rabbit in his garden
looks just like his lost rabbit toy.
"Real isn't how you are
made... It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long,
long time - not just to play with, but REALLY loves you - then you become Real”.
Jesus saw people and had
compassion on them. (Cf Matthew 14.14)
The English noun compassion,
meaning "to suffer together with."
And Jesus loved people them and made them really Real!
Sex workers, the lame the blind, the outcasts, the least the last and the lost, Jesus made them really Real by loving unconditionally. Although he did warn people from returning to a path of wrongdoing, such as the woman caught in adultery to whom he said, ‘go and sin no more.’
And Jesus still looks out
with love and desire for people to become really Real, and he invites you and he
invites me to be the ones who like the little boy demonstrates that love.
There are a lot of false and
harmful narratives out in society that promise a way of becoming ‘real’ and to
live the best life.
But Rabbi Jesus says, “The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life
and have it to the full.” John 10.10
Jesus is the way for people to become really Real. We are his ambassadors and bring that message practically demonstrated in our love and compassion. For all those whom we will encounter in
the week ahead we will have an opportunity in helping them become really Real.
https://youtu.be/yS0jfvEKSgI?si=e9KeWF7i5vQC-CO_
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