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In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

 

Sing for the underdog

Hannah and her song remind us of those who are unfairly prejudged (1 Samuel 1.4-20 & 2.1-10).

• A little bear goes a long way – ‘Paddington in Peru’,  the third Paddington film in the much-loved series, broke box office records when it was released last weekend. Alongside the gorgeous Ben Whishaw, who voices Paddington, a returning cast from previous films is joined by Emily Mortimer, Antonio Banderas and Olivia Colman as a guitar-playing singing nun. 
• A little bear raises a lot of money – Pudsey Bear is back on the BBC on Friday 15th November for Children in Need – an entertaining evening of fundraising, accompanied by laughter and singing.

  

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

• Like Hannah in this week’s lead bible passages, Paddington Bear is often overlooked, underestimated or misjudged by those who meet him. Paddington may have been named after a UK railway station, but in his latest film story Paddington travels all the way back to the country of his birth, (Darkest) Peru. Based on the wonderful characters created in the stories of author Michael Bond, ‘Paddington in Peru’ begins as Paddington receives a letter from Peru telling him that his dear Aunt Lucy has strangely gone missing from the Home for Retired Bears in Lima where she lives. Paddington and the Brown family set off on a rescue mission, which takes them through the Amazon rainforest and into the mountains of Peru. Like Paddington, Hannah, although much loved by her immediate family (ie. her husband Elkanah), is seemingly overlooked by God, abused by her co-wife Peninnah and unfairly misjudged by the priest Eli. Yet Hannah’s faith is such that, despite all her years of being overlooked, she continues to pray to God for the child she longs for. So great is her faith and desire that she pre-commits that child to serve God all his life.
  
  
• Pudsey Bear is named after another UK town with a train station, the home town of his creator and graphic designer Joanna Lane: Pudsey in West Yorkshire. The teddy bear mascot has seen several makeovers during his nearly forty-year lifetime, but each time he has retained his characteristic bandana across one eye, a symbol that no one has to be ‘perfect’ in order to be appreciated or loved. Pudsey was created to represent children with various additional needs, but also to tug at the heartstrings of both children and adults when it came to raising money for the many good causes the BBC programme supports. Like Hannah (along with Ruth and Naomi in last week’s bible passage), Pudsey is a symbol of empathy and resilience in the face of struggle and suffering. How many women, children or men have been overlooked or mistreated because a disability has labelled them as ‘less-than’ those around them?

• In these very pages ten years ago, when the first Paddington film came out, I commented about how Michael Bond had gifted Paddington Bear’s character with a lovely sense of wide-eyed innocence, too often prone to take things literally, but accompanied by an unshakeably strong sense of justice and kindness. Yet, to those who don’t know him, he has always appeared as the underdog (or should that be under-bear?). It is at the very heart of Paddington’s character to gently (and often unintentionally) reveal to those who dare underestimate him that his approach to life is one which carries a humble power. His is a story of quiet resilience. Like Hannah’s song of praise (1 Samuel 2.1-10) we can see a story of standing against injustice and of coming to the aid of the powerless, with defiant kindness. As we are reminded in Hannah’s defiant song of praise, God can turn around the fortunes of the poor and the powerless, whilst offering those who stand against them a large slice of humble (marmalade-flavoured) pie!

 

Questions for discussion

• Consider times when you feel you have been overlooked, underestimated or misjudged in your life. In what ways did you ask God to help you or to give you the courage to move forward?

• How do humble characters such as Paddington, Pudsey or Hannah inspire and encourage children and adults to be brave in the face of adversity?

• Which actual songs that praise God for lifting up the poor and humble inspire us or spring to our lips  – whether that be others or ourselves? What songs of justice and kindness are we called to sing to the world today?

 

Tim Lowe is a minister of the United Reformed Church, serving in the Leeds URC Partnership. Tim is a lifelong Paddington fan and religiously plans an evening in with the family every year for Children in Need.

 

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

Our daughter has been singing the praises of Olivia Colman so I asked her why. “She’s absolutely wonderful in Paddington in Peru” was the reply.

What sort of song shall we sing? My daughter’s song was a song of praise for the entertainment and pleasure that a particular actress in a particular film had given to her.

Based on this recommendation my wife and I went to see said Paddington in Peru. There is no need for a spoiler alert. I am not going to write anything that hasn’t been shown already online or on tv. I simply want to mention the song Olivia Colman sings (as the Reverend Mother of the home for retired bears where Paddington’s Aunt Lucy lives). It’s a sort of pastiche on Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music as she sings excitedly of the preparations they are making for Paddington’s visit to Peru.

What sort of song shall we sing? Maybe we too can sing a song of excitement about something we are looking forward to.

Not all songs are joyful. What sort of song do you think the people of Gaza and Kyiv are singing? Or those people who know that the financial demands of the next few weeks will lead to new year debt that will be difficult to repay.

What sort of song shall we sing? God’s action transformed Hannah’s song of anguish and despair to one of joyful praise. Let us listen to the songs of those around us and lend our voices in prayerful support to them.

Revd Stuart Wild is a Methodist Minister with three daughters and he is very fond of marmalade sandwiches.

 

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