three little pigs

Isaiah 26:1-6; Psalm 118 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Matthew 7:21,24-27

Nursery rhymes and nursery tales these are things of child hood that never leave but cling to our subconscious and wait for the moment to burst forth from our cerebral folds, no longer dormant, no longer hidded and buried beneath our old age and grown upness but once again alive and full of song.

Nursery Rhymes mean so much more to me, now that I am old and able to appreciate the rhyme and meter and story told.

Like Baa Baa black sheep, have you any wool, yes sir yes sir three bags full, one for the master, one for the dame, one for the little boy who lives down the lane...The generous sheep who keeps giving, who sheds it precious wool for the sake of others. The precious lamb that never ceases in its generosity year after year growing the wool, in order to give it away.

Or All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel, the monkey thought it was fun until Pop! goes the weasel...Another lesson with gravity and seriousness, it ain't all fun and games, sometimes what we think is fun can truly hurt...

Then of course there is the Farmer and the dell, high ho derry o the farmer and the dell...I am not sure what this one is about but I know the farmer takes a wife, the wife takes a child, the child takes a nurse, the nurse takes a cow, the cow takes a dog, the dog takes a cat, the cat takes a rat, the rat takes the cheese and some how in the end the cheese is all alone... maybe this is a reality check for life...There is always soemone in need of something or someone else and that we are all in it togther..It could be the social teachings of the church.

But the gospel of today reminds me of the Three little pigs...They each built their home, one out of straw, one out of sticks, and one out of bricks then along comes the big bad wolf, who wants some bacon for breakfast and a pork tenderloin for supper.

"Little pig, little pig, let me in
Not on the hair of my chinny-chin-chin
I'll huff and I'll puff and blow your house in.'

Then of course we know how it turns out, the hot air consumes the straw house and the stick house but the brick house is too great, to fortified for the hot air from the outside to affect it and it remains standing and the pigs are safe and the wolf gets it in the end.

Jesus in the gospel invokes the image of the brick house, "Everyone who listens to the words of mine and acts on them will be like the wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock."

Okay...Advent is the time to check the foundation. Is our life founded on the rock? Is it firm or have we swayed, are there cracks. Now is the time to remove the straw and sticks and fortify with bricks, the words and life of Christ will do.


What say you?

Because the rain will fall, the flood will rise, the wind will blow regardless, the wolf with its hot air will fight against any house, this we should come to expect.

But if we stand firm, this too shall pass.

Advent and nursery rhymes and tales, perhaps now we are old enough to finally understand.

You decide what will it be, sticks, straw, or bricks?