Below, Anna shares an update on her inspiring companion, Beau, who hopped into our hearts when he was introduced to us in Issue 2 of TBP. Anna’s photographs of Beau appeared in the 22 July 2022 MBIT newsletter and are used here with her kind permission. Dr Anna Abram is Principal of the Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge, UK. Her academic field is Christian ethics.
As I write this note, Beau is going through a rather heavy spell of moulting. Shedding an old coat is uncomfortable. It makes him look more like a hedgehog than a rabbit. He is a bit moody though still lovely and a source of wise insight. I am struck how, despite the discomfort and a frequent desire to clean himself and escape from me whenever I try to intervene with a hairbrush, ultimately he collaborates with nature. In his rabbity way somehow he knows that coats and seasons have to fit together. Greeting a new season in the old coat doesn’t make sense in the way that putting new wine into the old wineskins doesn’t work (Mark 2:22). I wonder what “old coat” I should shed so that I am better prepared for the new season?
The Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge. Charity registered in England and Wales. Charity Number: 1191741
Kirby Laing Centre, The New Mill House, Unit 1, Chesterton Mill, French’s Road, Cambridge, CB4 3NP
© 2022 The Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology in Cambridge
