The Importance of Play
Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 9:13PM There is an old adage: The family that plays together stays together.
I wonder...when was the last time RCA had a good time playing together.
Some of my favorite moments of life together as a church family in the churches I have served have been around playful acts of fellowship. From hiding underneath the stage beneath the choir and leading the church secretary to believe she was going crazy during choir practice... to tripping over my wife's purse when I was being introduced to the congregation for the first time and having to try to act graceful and dignified afterwards have been playful moments in my ministry. Moments of planned and spontaneous play bring us to a place where we remember that we were made, in large part, for God's good pleasure. Through the laughter, we as a community can share a laugh and experience, if ever so briefly, playful interactions where we let our guards down and simply be together.
I have the honor of attending General Synod this year as a delegate, and I hope that there will be a time for us to play together. The build up to Synod, or at least blogs that are leading up to Synod, seem to be so serious. And while we will be facing some important issues, hopefully we won't take ourselves so seriously that we miss the joy of being together as a community of sisters and brothers in Christ.
Reader Comments (3)
To play with the "play" analogy, I wonder if it becomes to difficult to play together when there is a no consensus on the rules of the game or of how to interpret those rules. Its difficult to play together when there is are kinds of other little games going on during the GAME. It is difficult to play together when some players are threatening to quit the game and some wonder if they are really in the right game and some hope other players will quit the game. It is difficult to play together when it feels like the game is scripted toward a certain result by those not directly playing the game.
Blessings,
David Vandervelde
David,
All the more reason to have a time to play when the game we are playing is life draining rather than life giving.
The "game" that you describe seems to have been our game for too long, and it has hardly proven to build any kind of real community that Christ calls us to. My hope is that we won't come to play any particular game at first but simply play with one another. As I watch my 3 year old and 7 month old the games they play hardly have any rules, but they know that when they play with me and my wife and with each other that they are loved and their smiles can light up the darkest room.
Play like that can change us and then maybe we will be able to resolve the game that we are all growing tired of playing.
Maybe Synod should start with dodgeball..or maybe a nice game of shoots and ladders.
It's worth noting that Synod has often started with a sort of "game" during orientation. It didn't fly very well last year but some years has been a downright blast as "delegates" made recommendations and amendments around an overture to do all sorts of fun things.
I know, not exactly what you're talking about.... but Synod can be fun if people are willing to join together in community/fellowship/meals/receptions/etc. and not constantly segregate themselves with people they perceive to be similar....
Grace and peace,
`tim