Brambly Hedge - Jill Barklem

By far, above all other books I read as a child, this one will always hold dear to my heart. I can remember spending hours pouring over the intricate pictures on a rainy day, and looking in hedgerows to see if I had found the fabled mice of Brambly Hedge on sunny ones. It is quality of writing and illustration which is hard matched.

If you've never been driven to rake through hedges on a day out before, here's what it's all about...

The stories follow a community of mice who have made their homes in the hedgerows and countryside of wild England. They wear cute clothes, deal with everyday life and roll with the seasons!

The mice of Brambly Hedge live very fulfilling lives. They forage and store food (in the Store Stump), raise their children (who get into all sorts of scraps) and build businesses (Dusty Dogwood's flour mill powered by the stream for example.) They are quintessentially English in all they do, quite literally living the idyllic dream. It's the foundation of lots of stories which seep into our hearts - the desire for a better, more wholesome and easier life.

But this is not the fundamental human truth we are going to think about with these stories (that will come in another book!) What the mice in Brambly Hedge show us is this - we desire community.

These mice do not, in fact, cannot, live independently alone in the hedgerow. They need one another. What we find between the pages is Lord and Lady Woodmouse living alongside Mrs Crabapple, both of whom need the other. The Toadflax family, with their four children, are friends with Mrs Eyebright - who is about 100 in mouse years. And in all their endeavours, mishaps, joys and sorrows they are united. I think this is what speaks to our hearts deep down in these stories. And it's not just hedgerow mice that tell me this. Reports in the media of a loneliness epidemic, social media's entire bases on the formation of communities forming remotely, the parents congregating at school gate, the youth club, the workplace - community is inescapable because it's how we are hard wired.

This is a controversial thing to say. I have just finished reading an article titled "We Shouldn't Glamourise Being Reliant On Other People." It seems the "No Man Is An Island" thinking, is dead.

Now, let me say this, there is a huge risk in living in community with others, whatever that community is. We open ourselves up to being hurt, abused and damaged by the sinful behaviour of others. What we love about Brambly Hedge is, none of the mice are behaving like that - they live in perfect community. Which is lovely for them, but we don't. Community living and dependency, this side of heaven, is a melting pot for some of the worst sins committed against other people, and the church is not immune. Most of us have been hurt by another believer at some point in our lives (probably more than once). Most of us have also done the hurting (probably more than once). The world's response to this is to cut yourself off from others - independency is the currency that buys you all you need.

So what does the Bible say about this?

"The Lord said, 'It is not good for man to be alone...'" Genesis 2v18

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labour: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up" Ecclesiastes 4v9-10

We are told in Colossians and 1 Corinthians we are a body with many parts all needing one another. And in Hebrews to not to give up meeting together. And in Proverbs that just as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another. So here's the Bible truth - we are thrive best in community.

And so we find ourselves in a bit of a no mans land as believers. The ingrained desire for community built into us from creation, coupled with a deep fear of it from the world. The need for human connection coupled with the negative impact of new ways to be hurt by other people. God's design for us to be placed amongst others, coupled with those others fatally flawed. We do not live in Brambly Hedge, we live in a thorn bush of brokenness.

It's amazing how much Brambly Hedge reminds me of the church. The unitedness of those participating. The 'others centredness' of the mice. The working together for a common good. So much of it mirrors what our Christian life should be. Of course we all know it isn't like that, not all the time. There is a huge amount of grace needed for church community - a HUGE amount. The ability to forgive, and forgive and forgive again, we call it grace. And grace is what separates us from the every other community on offer - even the community of one ( I realise that's not a community!). There is very little grace out there in the world, but the church should be awash with it. Because those who have been forgiven much, forgive much. Our ability as Christians to be wronged and carry on living with those who have wronged us has always been counter cultural, but never more so than now. Make no mistake, we do not excuse sin, but we do deal with it. We do not allow abuse or neglect, but we do deal with it. We do not pretend all is well, but we rejoice in the moments that are, knowing that one day it all will be.

Church community can be hard work. I will say this now, you will be hurt by others if you are part of a church - which is really sad. But how we deal with this is different from other communities where this also happens. Our hurt is not the end of the matter. Our God is so big that our pain and hurts caused by others is taken and weaved into something bigger and utterly beautiful. Our church communities are broken but they are not a scrap heap. They are a workshop, the broken pieces being reworked into something useful. Church community has hope.

And yet, so often I would rather stay staring at the broken pieces than let God take them and remake them. My hurt often feels like justification for me to opt out of church, or relationships with others "If God takes those broken bits," I say, "then no one will remember how justified I was to walk away or be angry." Truthfully I don't always want God to remake my brokenness, I want vengeance. Which in turn is just me repaying hurt with more hurt.

Life can be terrifying - and seems to become more so every day. The pace is so fast it is impossible to keep up with and defend yourself against it. So we have nothing left but to throw ourselves on the loving care of our Saviour. Trusting that the path we tread will be made straight, and that the burden will be easy and light. Letting others in knowing the dangers and trusting the one who holds all things together. Allowing yourself or those you love to risk it, because God is big enough to hold you fast to Him. We need community, as broken, messy and painful as it is. But that pain and hurt and anguish should push us to long for perfect community not isolation. Because one day we will live like that. One day we will know what it is to be truly united to one another and to Christ. One day there will only be joy in community with the saints and all that has gone before will fade away - like withered hedgerows.