At Play on the Railroad Tracks of the Lord

There is always so much more to say about any sermon text.  One of the elements of the Parable of the Wedding Feast is that the first invitees are just too damned serious to participate.  I use that curse-bound description advisedly, because that focus results in their destruction.

I would commend the book, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown  and Christopher Vaughan.  If the book is more than you wish to tackle, there's a fine TED Talk that summarizes the work.  As someone who is chronically "play-challenged," I need to return to this book periodically.  Brown puts it plainly:

"I have found that remembering what play is all about and making it part of our daily lives are probably the most important factors in being a fulfilled human being.  The ability to play is critical not only to being happy, but also to sustaining social relationships and being a creative, innovative person." (page 5)

Of course, playing is much better than talking about playing.  So when I next report my continuing education work to my bishop, I shall perhaps include my return to model railroading as a hobby (N-Scale at this point).  

It is barely a start right now--just a small track layout and a few pieces of rolling stock.  But even that is already a helpful and healthy distraction.  I have intentionally located the layout in my home study rather than in another room to remind myself that play is a necessary part of full human existence.

Nonetheless, I still feel a bit silly and shy about the whole enterprise.  If I am not careful, I can easily persuade myself that it is all a useless waste of time and money.  And if I am not even more careful, I can turn this play time into yet another "job."

So we come back to worship.  I think of Marva Dawn's wonderful book entitled A Royal Waste of Time.  I first read it during the height of the worship wars as "traditional" and "contemporary" were lobbed like musical mortars from one worship camp at another.  I was so grateful for Marva's permission to resign from the wars and focus on what made for good worship, whatever the brand name might be.

These days I find that I must re-inject playfulness and whimsy, poetry and wonder, into worship planning and leadership.  If worship doesn't feel at least a bit like play, then it is probably not done for God's purposes.  "The truth is," writes Stuart Brown, 

"that in most cases, play is a catalyst.  The beneficial effects of getting just a little true play can spread through our lives, actually making us more productive and happier in everything we do." (page 7).

Brown  lists the properties of play based on his studies:

• apparently purposeless (done for its own sake)
• voluntary
• inherent attraction
• freedom from time
• diminished consciousness of self
• improvisational potential
• continuation desire

This is an interesting list when applied to Christian worship.  What if our worship planning included this list as a planning template?  I would have more fun...and I suspect others would as well.  Most of all, worship would contain the joy of surprise.

I'm good with that.  Whoo-whoo!  All aboard!