the hunter and the honey-bird

Thursdays I'm in at the school quite a bit. Today was no different.

'Respect' was the theme again. The value for the month.

The Head was stressing respect for the natural world and told the children present about the so-called 'honey-bird' and the way the bird co-operates with hunters in the jungle.

Both the bird and the hunters like honey.

But the bees make the honey high up on the top of the trees. The bird can see where the honey is, but can't get the honey itself. While the hunter can't see where the honey is, but is able to get it out.

So, in a remarkable display of mutual understanding the bird and the hunter will travel along 'til the bird spots the tree where the honey is: the man then climbs up the tree and 'smokes' the bees away until it's safe to reach inside and pull all the honey out.

And he leaves a bit of the honey, of course, for the bird who's his partner in crime.

(Well, you'd think it was a crime if you were one of the bees!)

Co-operation. With those we might not see as 'one of us'.

I've been struck for a while by the need that we have to learn to think like that.

We had folk along here the other night for a meeting of an organisation called PlaneSpeaking. We probably don't share a lot in common - except a concern for environmental issues.

And so I'm impressed by the way that a thorough-going Christian organisation like TearFund is involved in the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, a loose confederation of very different bodies who share a common burden in regard to climate change.

The hunter and the honey-bird phenomenon. A lot more of that will be needed in coming days.

I don't stop being a hunter when I team up with a honey-bird. As it were.

You can see that I get as much as anyone else from my trips along to the school!

And I was there again later for the weekly SU group. We were thinking about dilemmas today and how Jesus differed from everyone else in the way that he treated people. Bullies and baddies included.

I think they got the point OK.

If the morning was all at the children's end of the spectrum the afternoon went right the other way.

I was along at a local Nursing Home to conduct a service of worship there. Four hymns, two prayers, a reading from Scripture and a brief little message as well. All within a quick half-hour. Which is about (or beyond) their limit.

The hymns that I chose were all well-known - at least I thought they were. And the Home has a set of music CDs with some good singing choirs pumping out all the hymns that are sung. So I don't end up singing solo, thankfully.

Well, not quite.

But the hymns are all so evocative. They seem to engender a welter of different memories, so it's not just the words and their meaning that count, but the associations they induce.

Some of the folk sing along. Some simply sit there and listen. And some just fall (or stay) asleep.

They seemed to have found a measure of comfort and strength from the message I brought. I find it very humbling to be able in this way to bring a word of relevance to folk like this.

The word of God and the praise of God. The music and the message. The hunter and the honey-bird again, I guess. A potent combination.

We hosted a workshop here tonight. Exploring Prayer. A visiting 'speaker'. Or, more, I suppose, a 'facilitator'. Enabling and encouraging us to find the rich resources that there are for corporate prayer.

She did the 'honey-bird' bit in a way. Showing us where the honey high up on the trees could be found. We have to do the hunting bit ourselves. And pull the honey out.

I'm a 'hunter' by name. So we will.