大象传媒

Good morning.

Today is a very special day for one beloved character from our childhoods; 61 years ago Paddington Bear arrived from darkest Peru and took up residence in Windsor Gardens in London and went on to capture a place in the hearts of generations of children.

I would imagine we all have our favourite fictional childhood character and even as we grow older and wiser, and more serious and cynical, those characters can still stir something in us that reminds of long gone innocent days when our imaginations ran riot and we could create our own stories to pass the time.

Even as we grow up our imagination is still active, maybe not as sweet and innocent as it was when we were children, but it鈥檚 still a part of our human existence. We have the capacity to dream and dreams are what fire creations. Dreams have taken us to the moon, dreams have given us medical and scientific advances, dreams have helped us aspire for a better life.

Sometimes we dream for the life we once lived, for days and communities long gone but they are gone and will likely never return. But by dreaming of them perhaps we can set about trying to restore what was good about them in our day so that the children of today can look back and see that we gave them a life which encouraged their imagination and so the planet moves forward to a brighter tomorrow.

May we all, gracious and life giving God, appreciate the wonder that is the work of your hands and strive to bring our world back to the beauty it was when you first created it. Amen.