How do you feel about flying kites? In my view, there is something quite delightful about it, literally and metaphorically. If you love Mary Poppins, for example, you may remember that, in the sequel to P.L. Travers’ original book, Mary comes back on the end of a kite string. In Walt Disney’s film of 1964, kite flying is even more prominent. Together with the Sherman Brothers song ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’, it forms part of the conclusion as Mary’s work with the Banks’ family is completed. The song is sung. as the father, George, realises that his family is much more important than his financial job in the City of London. He mends his son’s kite and takes his family kite flying. Eventually all the film’s characters join in, and sing the song, even the forbidding crusty old men of the Stock Exchange. In that sense, kite flying is a delightful metaphor of transformation, both for individuals, families, and also for communities and the world as a whole. For the film’s ending invites us all to join in, and to sing:
Oh, oh, oh! Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
… Oh, oh, oh! Let's go fly a kite
For, like the mustard seed in our Gospel reading this morning, humble and fragile though it may be, the kite is a wonderful metaphor for a key to life and transformation…
Oh, oh, oh! Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
… Oh, oh, oh! Let's go fly a kite
For, like the mustard seed in our Gospel reading this morning, humble and fragile though it may be, the kite is a wonderful metaphor for a key to life and transformation…
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