No Time For Play
“There’s no time for play; we’re at war! ”
A brother challenged me the other day concerning the work I've been doing. He said, "you preach play when a war is going on." He isn't wrong—a war is raging through all creation. I know it's real and will have eternal consequences, so I held myself open to his rebuke. If I'm in error, I would like to know. I also know my friend's heart; he earnestly seeks the Lord and tries to do the work he has been given. However, I don't think I'm in the wrong either. I am trying to be faithful to the work God was given to me to do.
Disagreements over play are nothing new; the church has a history of not understanding the significance of play. In his book The God Who Plays, Brian Edgar points this out: "Play is seen as secondary in value to work and service." Play is an activity that has been relegated to children and only for a short time. Why has play been placed on the shelf when the church continues to appreciate and indulge in the other pleasures of life? Depending on your denominational affiliation, you may enjoy some or all of the following: food (especially desserts), sex, music, good drink (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), dancing, and movies. Yet, why is play the one who receives frowns and dirty looks from the adults in the pews?
“Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.”
The error my friend had fallen into, which I'm sure he would strongly disagree with my assessment, was that he focused solely on one aspect of God's word to the detriment of all others. We're all guilty of it. Each of us has our favorite verses and characteristics of God, which speak most deeply to our souls, and we return to them often. I notice when falling into this trap when I quickly rebut a person's point by pointing to a different part of the scripture or offering a counterpoint instead of simply listening to them.
The challenge we face is to hold all of creation's fullness in our minds, even when aspects feel at odds with each other. There is nuance, complexity, and paradox. We serve a God who demands justice and shows extravagant grace, instructs us to be in the world but not of it, and to lose our lives so that we may find them. Life is this vibrant tapestry where all the strands of fabric are interwoven and connected. Yet, something inside us wants to dissect life and categorize its elements—each with its order, rank, and ascribed value. So, things like play get lost and forgotten, and the understanding becomes hollowed. Brian writes, “[The] connection between work, rest, and play is something that is often lost in the life of the church, which is a tragedy as play takes one's relationship with God beyond doing, having, and achieving and takes one into enjoying, appreciating and sharing. It emphasizes the creative life rather than merely the productive one and the aesthetic life rather simply the ethical one."
“The true object of all human life is play.”
If you are a "video game missionary" like I am, I'm here to let you know that you will likely experience some pushback from within the body. But we shouldn't get defensive when we're not understood. Video games are still new in light of the church's history, and we tend to lag behind culture as a group. It takes people time to understand, appreciate, and adopt new technologies, so don't lose heart. You see something that only some can. I'm not ashamed of preaching play; I'm confident in our mission because video games are a mission field. They are a new digital continent that must be explored—because people are there, and we are called to take the gospel everywhere people are.
