The Bear Hunt

The Bear Hunt: Yesterday at church we were reminded of ‘The Bear Hunt’, popularised by Michael Rosen. A family, on a bear hunt, travel through various obstacles – long wavy grass… deep cold river… thick oozy mud… The repeated chorus is, ‘Can’t go over it, can’t go under it, we’ve got to go through it.’

Friends, on their ‘Bear Hunt’, are facing unexpected bereavement, school exams, job interview, life-changing hospital treatment, family crises… Obstacles… can’t be avoided… have to be gone through.

Finding the Bear: Minister-Lou was preaching on ‘courage before certainty’. Joshua and the Israelites face an obstacle – the River Jordan – to enter their Promised Land: ‘…you will know which way to go since you have never passed this way before.’ Their God offered courage and confidence…

Before each obstacle, the Bear Hunters say: ‘We’re going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We’re not scared.’ Courage and confidence on my Bear Hunt are good for facing my obstacles.

Facing the Bear: In the Joshua narrative ‘The priests… reached the River Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge.’ Stepping forward into the obstacle the water miraculously stops flowing; the Israelites cross the Jordan on dry ground. Courage and confidence in their God are rewarded!

The Bear Hunt family find the bear in a gloomy cave. They panic and run home, across all the obstacles, chased by the bear. Courage and confidence have disappeared! They resolve never to go on a bear hunt again!

Considering Bear Hunts: I’ve been reading ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. Expelled from school, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield struggles with his identity, he’s confused, disillusioned; he hates the phony adult world. Mr. Antolini, his former English teacher, advises Holden: ‘The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.’

Hunting my bear courageously… mature hunting – living humbly rather than dying nobly.