OPENING SONG
Teddy Bears' Picnic

WELCOME

Today we turn to children and childlike persons who have much to teach us about that great mystery many of us call "God." Today is a day for fun and celebration, for joy and a little silliness, for singing and playing. We will not forget the no good, terrible, awful, very bad things in our world. But for the next hour, we will focus instead on the irreplaceable, blessed, magic moments that feel holy when they happen.

CHORAL READING
Leader: [dramatically unrolling a large scroll.] I have this proclamation. By the authority vested in me as Chairperson for the Committee On How To Keep Growing Young I hereby invite all here present to become members of The Society of Childlike Persons. With your membership in this esteemed society come many rights and privileges. I have asked some people here -- who are charter members in the society to read off some of those rights and privileges. Will the members of the Society of Childlike Persons who volunteered to help me before this service now stand? I will begin with some introductory words. When I point to you please use a big voice to tell everybody what's written on your paper. When all of you have spoken, I will conclude the reading with the formal induction of all present in the Society of Childlike Persons.

Here ye, Here ye. By this proclamation, know ye that everyone here present is a lifetime member in good standing in the Society of Childlike Persons and is hereby and forever entitled to: [I point to each reader in turn.]

Readers: [The readers are children and adults of all ages; before the service, each reader has chosen what s/he wishes to say.] Have pillow fights, jump in mud puddles, blow bubbles, walk in the rain, collect rainbows, build sand castles, watch the moon and stars come out, go barefoot, sing in the shower, act silly, fly kites, talk with animals, stay up late, take naps, play with toys, play under the covers, be a clown, make up new rules, tell stories, make friends.

Leader: Do anything that brings you and other humans and beings on this planet more happiness, celebration, relaxation, communication, health, love, joy, creativity, pleasure, abundance, grace, self-esteem, courage, balance, spontaneity, passion, beauty, peace and life energy. As members in the Society of Childlike Persons, you are officially authorized to frequent beaches, meadows, mountain tops, swimming holes, playgrounds, birthday parties, circuses, cookie shops and ice cream parlors, zoos, toy stores, summer camps and all other places where children of all ages come to play. You are encouraged to remember the motto of the Society of Childlike Persons: It's never too late to have a happy childhood!

SONG
House at Pooh Corner

STORY
The Bear That Heard Crying by Natalie Kinsey Warnock & Helen Kinsey

SONG
Puff the Magic Dragon

REFLECTION
On Bears And Children And Magic

I'd like to begin this morning with a profound theological observation made by a five-year-old girl. When asked the question "Who is God?" She said: "For me, God is a five-year old girl; for my cat, God is a cat." Hers is such an incredibly simple way of saying something complex, something that many scholars and theologians -- and plenty of ordinary grown-ups, too -- spend a lifetime trying to understand and explain. Perhaps they -- we -- should turn to our children for responses to some of life's mysterious questions. You know, the cosmic ones like: Why am I here? This morning, I'm suggesting that grown-ups pay attention to the children and the bears in our lives.

Take Sarah Whitcher, for example. Her story has a lot to teach us. Sarah's uncle was a childlike person; Sarah was a child. They both knew how to follow their hearts to find magic. Of course there's the harder-to-swallow lesson in Sarah's story. We also learn that sometimes when we follow our hearts in search of magic, we find some pretty scary things. And what of the bear? The book, The Bear That Heard Crying, tells us: "No record is given as to what happened to the bear." I wonder about that bear. Do you think that bear felt sad when they took Sarah away? Did the bear come back again and again hoping her little, cuddly friend would be there? Imagining how the bear might have felt makes me think of the song "Puff, the Magic Dragon." Without his friend, the song says, Puff could not be brave. Did Sarah's bear friend bend in sorrow? Did her tears fall like rain? Did she slip into her cave?

We don't know. Bears. Magic dragons. Mysteries. We're venturing into the realm of the unknown. Sometimes, the unfathomable. Unfathomable to grown-ups, maybe. But not always to children. They don't worry so much as grown-ups about finding answers. They don't always seem to have that driving need to explain everything; though children ask plenty of questions, they're also willing to believe in some very important things that don't make sense to grown-ups.. Listen to the children. Learn from our children.

I had the importance of this brought home to me again this week when I was reading Sophia Lyon Fahs' landmark book, Today's Children and Yesterday's Heritage. Listen to our children. Learn from our children. That was her message.

While preparing for this service, I came across a pamphlet titled "UU Kids Say..." It is a wonderful collection of children's answers to the question "Who is God?" like the one from the five-year-old girl I quoted earlier. Another child had this to say:

"God could be the sparkthat keeps everything everything."

"God is like magic."

There's that word again, magic. Seems like it's an important concept to little people. So what is this magic? Is it, maybe, just possibly what some of us call God? Such amazing acceptance of mystery. What grown-up among us can match that? Well, we can match these children's acceptance of mystery. It takes one important thing, though: remembering to be a childlike person.

Like my friend Betty. Betty died a few years ago. But right up to the end, she was a childlike person. I don't mean that she was a simple person or simple minded. I mean she knew -- right up to the end of her life -- how to follow her heart to find magic. And during her 80 years, she taught a lot of other people to do the same. Betty was born into a wealthy, well-traveled, well-educated family. Eventually she married a man who became famous in his field. She was accomplished in her own right: a college graduate, a frontier nurse in Kentucky, a social worker, a potter, a philanthropist and fund raiser. When she died, however, those who loved her best remembered her as a devoted wife and mother, a beloved aunt and friend who was loving and lovable, whimsical and funny, creative and plucky. They told stories of how she'd make an occasion out of anything -how she'd suggest a pageant as an excuse to liven up a cloudy day, or organize a flotilla of boats -- decorated with whatever was at hand -- to carry the neighborhood children and their families to a picnic on a nearby island. Betty loved flowers and had beautiful gardens wherever she lived. So, in the summer, for no particular reason, she would weave flowers into the children's hair or make them garlands to wear around their necks. Sometimes, she'd even make flower garlands for the children's pets! She was known for her whimsical pottery and her handmade children's books -- each created for a child, a grandchild, niece or nephew -- sometimes for a special occasion or sometimes for no occasion at all.

You might think to hear me tell it today, that Betty didn't have any scary things in her life. But that's not true. Her "bear" was epilepsy. There were others too. But the epilepsy, caused by a traumatic birth, condemned her to a life of unpredictable seizures. It forced her to be dependent on medications that might work for awhile, then stop working. Or might not work at all. It meant that, as she grew older, the side effects of her medications were nearly as debilitating as the epilepsy itself. I did not know Betty well enough to know whether the "bears" had anything to do with her being a childlike person. Or whether her being a childlike person had anything to do with the way she coped with her "bears." I do know that her life seemed to be based on this truth: "You gotta squeeze every ounce of joy out of life!"

And she did.

At Betty's funeral, when person after person stood before us and told wonderful, funny, courageous tales about Betty, we laughed and cried all at the same time. Her legacy, as one niece described it, was this: "She never wanted you to be anything other than who you are." After they shoveled dirt on her casket in the grave, they released 80 balloons into the sky -one for each year of her life -- and sang. Just like Sarah Whitcher's family. Everyone gave thanks for having Betty in their lives. Then everyone sang.

So what's this all about -- this reflection on bears, children and magic? What am I trying to say? It's about accepting the mystery, about seeking the magic, about trusting the unknown, the unfathomable. At its most pragmatic level, it's about questions, not answers. It's about living with questions like: Can we trust the bears in our lives? Can we accept that the things that seem frightening may, in fact, save us and then disappear. Can we listen to and learn from our children? Can we follow our hearts and find magic? Can we hear and accept their profound insights when our children respond simply to complex questions like: "Who is God?" Can we rely on our own bear energy -- that intuition that comes from a deep place within us -to help us with the mysterious questions?

If there is a moral to my message this morning, it is this: Be a childlike person. Look for the magic. Don't be too quick to shoot the bears!

BUBBLE MEDITATION
We're going to end our Teddy Bears' Picnic with something I thought up with some friens. To some of you it might look like playing. And to some of you, it might look like praying. If you're not sure what it is, that's OK; it doesn't matter. That's exactly the point.[Ask children and childlike persons to come forward and get some bubble soap. Direct them to teach a few people to blow bubbles. Tell them to make sure everyone has a chance. Now instruct all to blow bubbles.]

CLOSING SONG
Chorus of Teddy Bears' Picnic