What is it about bears, especially the stuffed ones? We have two stuffed bears that have matching hand knitted outfits for every month. They were lovingly made by a former parishioner who was ensuring that our children felt welcome at St. John's. The bears are now living on a cabinet in our living room and each month I try to remember to change their outfits.
The original stuffed bear was created in honor of Teddy Roosevelt and was first put on display in 1903.
When our children were little, they received more stuffed bears than any other stuffed animal. I never purchased a stuffed bear. They were all gifts. Then there is Pooh Bear and other celebrity bears that have entertained children (and adults) for years. Nor can we forget the reprimanding bear with which I grew up, Smokey the bear.
The problem is that humans transferred their affections from stuffed bears to live bears, which created numerous dangerous and sometimes deadly incidents in places such as Yellowstone National Park. By the time I started backpacking in 1974, the public was a bit wiser than in previous years. While waiting for a pass to go on the Fifty Mile loop in Glacier National Park, my backpacking partner and I camped for two days and during that time I read "The Night of the Grizzlies", a terrifying story of two staff members of one of the wilderness lodges where they used to throw leftover food in back of the lodge providing "entertainment" for the guests rather than packing it out. The bears got their revenge when the two staff camped out about a mile away. Much to the consternation of my backpacking partner, I then insisted on wearing a "bear bell" so we didn't see much of anything that was alive. I have since in my hikes in the mountains encountered numerous bears and hugging them was the furthest thought in my mind. I was always happy that we simply agreed not to have a relationship and go our separate ways.
In many Christian circles, Jesus has become a spiritual teddy bear, warm and fuzzy, giving us great comfort when we are distressed. He has become our best friend; our footprints disappear when he picks us up on the beach. All of this is well and good, of course. I would be the first to say that Jesus has carried me many a hardship. However, Jesus does eventually put us back on our feet and it is at that point that our understanding of Jesus has to expand. It expands in ways which Jesus starts to ask things of of us: feed your neighbor, sell what you have and give it to the poor, offer the woman at the well a cup of water, question unjust authorities, look for connection rather than opportunity in people.
In the end, when we are ready to let go of the Teddy Bear, we had better be able to look Jesus in the eye and listen to how he can enable us to live more meaningful lives as we ponder his words "Those who are not against us are for us" (Mark 9:40) or in the words of Eldridge Cleaver: "You are either part of the solution or you are going to be part of the problem." Give that bear a hug and walk out into the world.
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