What place connects these clues...

'The Flying Kipper' an episode of Thomas and Friends

A limerick spoken by Roald Dahl's Matilda

'The ultimate reality' according to Alan Garner

Where 'a silly girl' was being taken, according to Marie Lloyd

A real life crater on Mars

The lectionary for today seemed to invite a reflection on what it means to pray for the city (town) (Jeremiah)  and who are the 'foreigners' whose actions gives us pause (Jesus and the ten lepers in Luke).  So I was wondering what that mean in this town, that is less than two hundred years old, was once right at the forefront of a technological innovation (rail travel), is the place where people of more than 30 nationalities now live, with roughly 1 in 10 not being born in the UK; where notionally two thirds of people are Christian, around thirty percent claim to have no faith and there are small, but numerically significant, groups of Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Buddhists.

What does it mean to listen to the 'foreigners' the people who don't look like think like, or believe like us?  What does it mean to pray for this place, and how do our lives express those prayers?

I am not sure that the 'sermon' 'landed' (though the Thomas the Tank Engine video went down well!) but it certainly gave me plenty to ponder in the preparation.