"I don't like parties, but I
do like fancy dress."
We had a good time looking for spiritual connections in Mr Benn. We watched three episodes.
In each episode, Mr Benn notices different small events in his road, Festive Street. He visits the fancy dress shop, and selects a costume which matches the thoughts he is currently having. When he tries the costume on he notices a new door in the changing room, walks through, and is taken to an entirely new world.
In the first, Mr Benn went to a medieval time, where a dragon used to have a happy job lighting everyone’s fires for them. But a match-maker appeared and set fire to some barns and blamed it on the dragon who was cast into exile. The villagers then had to pay for matches, the price of which rapidly increased when they had become dependent. Mr Benn listened to the dragon’s story, took up his cause and explained the truth to the king. The king threw the match-maker into jail, forced him to make matched for the people for free, and welcomed the dragon back as his own personal fire-starter.
We reflected how Mr Benn was not afraid to speak to the outcasts and bring them back, restoring relationships, just like Jesus who strove to bring people who were marginalised back into the main society - cripples, lepers, bleeding women... He took great offense at the match-maker’s exploitation of the situation for his own financial gain - just like Jesus, who criticised those who exploited the poor. As a newcomer, Mr Benn was able to see the truth clearly; he had the benefit of an outsider’s perspective, but he walked, talked and lived amongst the people he was helping. Again, in a similar way Jesus spent time on Earth incarnated as a human, which he needed to do in order to relate to people, but he did keep an other-wordly element which helped him clearly see the real state of affairs, what was really important. Mr Benn appeared suitably equipped for the job too - he appeared in a suit of armour. It wouldn’t have helped if he had appeared in his suit and bowler hat - the incarnation had to be relevant to the culture. The visitation finishes with a celebratory banquet, just like the Biblical images of the great feast.
Mr Benn chose a hunter’s outfit in the next episode, and appeared in the jungle as a hunter’s assistant. The hunter was extremely proud and arrogant. Mr Benn hated the idea of him shooting the animals, so he massaged the hunter’s ego (echoing the fable of the Fox and the Crow) telling him that he shouldn’t waste his time shooting such small animals, that he should wait for a really big one... When he did find some elephants Mr Benn trained them to jump up and down so that the hunter’s shots missed. Shamed, Mr Benn suggests that he sells his gun and buys a camera instead.
This neatly parallels with Biblical examples of less powerful characters bringing about good through wisdom and cunning. The two Egyptian midwives, Shifrah and Puah, refused to kill the baby Jewish boys at birth as Pharoah commanded. When Pharaoh notices rather a lot of Jewish make toddlers around, he summoned the midwives and questioned them;
"Why have you done this, and let the male children live?" The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them." (Exodus 1) Their lie and subterfuge saved many lives.
A similar thing happened with Abraham, arguing with God about the forthcoming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing— to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? The LORD said, If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake. Then Abraham spoke up again: Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people? If I find forty-five there, he said, I will not destroy it. Once again he spoke to him, What if only forty are found there? He said, For the sake of forty, I will not do it. Then he said, May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there? He answered, I will not do it if I find thirty there. Abraham said, Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there? He said, For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it. Then he said, May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there? He answered, For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it. When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.(Genesis 18)
In the final episode, Mr Benn, as a clown, finds a circus company stuck by a river with a broken bridge. The different circus people are arguing about how to cross, each trying unsuccessfully to force their own method on everyone else. Mr Benn takes charge, assigns each of them a role and gets them working together, each using their talents as part of a wider plan.
This reminded us all of the church; how we are called to be unique parts of the body, but united and guided by the head, Christ. We aren’t to try and force everyone to be like us, or insist that everyone does it our way. Instead we need to cherish our diversity, working together according to our individual strengths.
At the end of each episode the shopkeeper reappears in the new world, unrecognised by Mr Benn. He guides Mr Benn into another room, which turns into the changing room of the fancy dress shop. We wondered if death might be like this; being ushered unsuspectingly into a new type of existence?
We finished by reflecting on the shopkeeper. If Mr Benn is like Jesus, is the shopkeeper like the Father? He certainly seemed to be aware of what was going on, and managed to appear ‘as if by magic’ at the right moment. Perhaps he inspired Mr Benn’s choice of outfit, knowing that there was a problem in a particular world that needed a visit from an incarnate saviour? Perhaps he arranged the little events in Festive Road, putting ideas into Mr Benn’s head. Does God work this way with us?
This Thursday will be the fifth in the month, which doesn't fit our existing four-Thursdays-a-month schedule. So , weather permitting, this Thursday we'll go for a short walk to Wybunbury and back. This is around two miles over gentle landscape, not strenuous at all - in fact it's lovely. We'll take time to notice the wildlife around us, and hopefully we'll see the sunset.
