I told the first half of this story last week, but if you didn’t catch it, to get you up to speed...
A long, long, long time ago there was a Raven Queen who could see a big change coming, when flesh would get separated from Spirit, and there would be suffering and war on the earth.
So a council of creatures was called and they made a plan, a plan to send out messengers - Spirit messengers - who would shine in the sun, brilliant white and beckon people back to themselves by reflecting to themselves the gifts they had to share that could heal the soul of the world.
And, in time, one of these messengers - a white rabbit named Hope - with sparkling grey eyes, like starlight in the Eastern sky was born to a litter of 12 in the deep mid-winter.
Hope, the white rabbit, was prone to wander in the woods, and on one of these wanderings, she encountered the Raven Queen. And with the flap and summons of regal wings, the Raven Queen led Hope to a cottage where there was a family - Suzy, the mother and her boys, Jonathan and Charlie. And after waiting and watching them a long time, Hope felt beckoned forward toward them.
And as this was a time when animals and people could still understand each other, she approached each of them in turn and showed each of them the gifts they had to share - to teach, to preach and to make music that could heal the soul of the world.
And with those gifts, the family inspired others, who inspired others, who inspired others who built this church - Metropolitan United Church. And if you don't believe me, if you think I’m just making up folktales there's a window in our narthex with Susanna, John and Charles Wesley, who history records, as the founders of Methodism, a founding church of our church.
And in that stained glass window, if you look very closely you will see a white rabbit looking up at them.
Now, Hope, the white rabbit, did not know that she was different from her 11 brothers and sisters, but as the months went on and the snow started to melt, the fur of all the other rabbits turned brown, but not Hope's... because she was one of the messengers called forth by the Raven Queen and the council of the white animals - for that is how it is known in the old stories.
And now, our story continues...
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A long, long, long time ago, there was a white rabbit named Hope who stayed white, even when the snow of winter melted.
And this was hard for Hope because it set her apart from her brothers and sisters, and cousins and neighbours.
She was different, and as you may know, it is not easy being different.
The other rabbits picked on her and called her names like snowball and frost-face and milk-ears - bunnies can be so cruel.
Hope was different, and so she felt sad and lonely a lot of the time. Her world became small and dangerous. Being a white rabbit when the snow melts meant she could no longer blend in to her surroundings, she had no protective camouflage, she stood out, making her vulnerable to teeth and talons and people with guns.
And in those days, the big change long prophesied by the Raven Queen was taking place. The change of metal and machine - the change within the man to forget the forest, and to stop listening to the wind, and to make war with the wild places, and with each other.
The big change that happens when flesh separates from spirit, and Hope found that the people could no longer understand her.
They would see her white fur not as a beacon or as a summons, but as a trophy. They sought to make a plaything out of her, to squeeze her too tight - to trap her in a cage, to un-wild her, domesticate her.
Some even craved to claim her white foot as a talisman for luck or for fashion.
And so, scared and alone, Hope fled. She fled to the woods and ran - and she ran and ran and ran for minutes or months, it no longer mattered. Hope ran and ran through place and space. She ran through destiny and prophesy. She ran until she got to the deepest, to the darkest part of the forest, a place seemingly set apart, where the mist laid close to the ground and the trees sat sentinel, knowing and wise since the times before time.
And in this place set apart, Hope came to a clearing, and from the Eastern direction, slowly very slowly she entered it.
And as she entered the clearing, she could see from the other three directions - North, South and West - a soft glow emanating - a soft glow growing brighter and brighter, each now she could tell, moving towards the centre of the clearing, beckoned, it felt, towards each other.
And then Hope could see the glowing shapes become more and more defined - she was not alone in that clearing.
There with her was a Bear, and a Loon, and finally, a human boy - and they were all luminous, shining with a light seemingly from the source of all things.
And they found that they could speak to each other as in the days of old, in words beyond language and so they shared their names with each other.
As we know, the rabbit was Hope.
The bear was Joy.
The Loon, Peace.
And the boy - the boy was Love.
And they felt, and they knew, that they had found each other - that they were beckoned to that place set apart for the same reason. They all had the gift to reflect goodness and Spirit that could to heal the soul of the world, but they had all been rejected for being different.
As you may know, it is not easy being different.
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Then, in that moment of understanding between them, out of the darkest part of the sky, there was the faintest sound of flapping wings, and then there in the inky black, came circling, circling an old raven, who then landed on a stone in the very centre of the clearing.
It was the Raven Queen, and how regal was her countenance.
"I have been waiting for you, my children" she said.
“The big change long seen is upon us. We are in the time of metal and machine and war in the heart of man. You have seen this for yourself and you have also seen how a healing is possible, when gifts are shared and hearts are opened.
And so in this time when the people no longer remember the old ways, I am sending you into the very longings of the human heart, only now reached though story and song, through the heavens and though the earth herself.
You are the Spirit messengers long foretold.”
Then the Raven Queen flapped her regal wings and spoke to them each in-turn.
To the Spirit Bear called Joy, she said, “I am sending you to wander the wild places of this world to spark imagination and wonder and to help the people love the land again and all the creatures that call it home.”
To the Spirit Bird called Peace, she said, “I am sending you to the waters of the world, to calm troubled hearts with your morning song, and to be that reminder of that first voice that swept over the face of the waters that called everything into being, with purpose, holy, and very, very good.”
To the Spirit Boy called Love, she said, “I am sending you into the heart of human experience - into the entirety of its joy and its pain - to be birthed in flesh and rebirthed in Spirit, to live love fully, and to call people to follow you into the heart of their own humanity.”
And to the Spirit Hare called Hope, the Raven Queen said, “I am sending you, Hope, into heavens - into the stars themselves, to remind people to always elevate their hearts and thoughts, to always dream dreams as vast as the cosmos itself, and to always hold hope that every person has gifts to give to heal the soul of the world, even if, perhaps especially if, they feel different from everyone else.”
And that is what happened.
Hope went to the heavens, Joy to the earth, Peace to the waters, and Love into the heart of human experience.
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Now... I know we are in the times of big change, and it's hard to believe in anything anymore. Maybe you don't believe that my story is true. Maybe you think that I'm just making up folktales.
Well friends, I can't make you believe - but please do me a favour.
After your Christmas meal and all the presents have been opened and all the songs have been sung, go outside tonight and look into the Eastern Sky. And find Orion the Hunter with his famous belt - then if you look very closely and very carefully, you will see… a star rabbit looking up at him.
And maybe, just maybe, if you stay there long enough, and open your heart wide enough, maybe just maybe, you too will hear the beckoning sound of regal wings on the wind.
The End.
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