Dear Good Shepherd and friends,
A while back, Laura and I played tag with our kids. It took a bit of time to let down our "grown up" attitudes and let the game take us away and just have unhindered fun. There were times of strategy, of out-flanking the kids, of anticipating their next move. And there were times of full-on chase.
Eventually, because Laura and I were both in the game, there was a moment when one of us was after the other. Full on chase. Take no prisoners.
I ran. Laura ran. We climbed up the park slide to avoid being tagged. We put our lives at risk. And we couldn't help but smile and giggle. It made my face feel funny. I almost felt like we shouldn't be acting this way. We're grown-ups, right? Tag is a kids game. But, no. The joy took over our lives for a few moments. The kids loved watching it. We loved it.
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We had opened the doors to childlike play. And I think it was a spiritual moment.
What did we feel? Well, in a purely mechanical universe mindset, it was the firing of synapses and neurons in our brains in response to certain physical and mental triggers. Pretty cool how that works.
In a more complex world that dares to consider the possibility of unseen and unknown realities, we experienced the joy of God. And in those moments we were reminded of the fact that God became human in Jesus Christ to free us to live in joy.
In the gospel according to John, Jesus said things like: "I have come that they might have life -- life to the fullest expression...As the father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love...I have said this so that my joy will be in you and so that your joy will be overflowing."
Christian spirituality is not being constrained by expectations we put on ourselves or that society or the church puts on us. We are free to be open to finding and expressing the joy of God in all of life.
In fact, because of the resurrection, the Spirit of Jesus is everywhere and everything can be a spiritual experience of his presence. And, to push a little further, why limit the spiritual stuff to the special, removed-from-the-everyday, Sunday or "religious" times?
I'm pretty sure in some ways modern Christianity has muted spirituality by turning it into this special, only for certain people, only for certain times sort of thing. Somehow we have convinced ourselves that spirituality is only for the really religious folks, the professionals, and the "religious" rituals.
That's sad, I think. Because spirituality is not about that. And I am afraid there are two unfortunate results: 1) we miss out on experiencing God in the daily moments of life, and 2) we close the door on play and on fun as spiritual things. Plus, it just makes us really boring grown ups.
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Why can't a game of tag be a spiritual experience? How about a game of bags? Croquet? Or shooting hoops (do y'all call it that?)? Cooking a meal with someone? Eating the meal (of course). Maybe a good game of Sorry or Mario Kart? The only thing I can think of that is not a spiritual experience, for me at least, is golf. It only makes me mad at God. But, I digress...
Jesus leads the way here, as always.
I'm sure Jesus meant business at times. He took prayer seriously and wanted us to, also. He objected to human pride, judgmentalism, and injustice against the poor. He challenged a lot of people. It got him killed.
But Jesus also embraced playfulness and joy all the same. The same Jesus who said, "when you pray, go into your room and close the door" also spoke of welcoming children and becoming like them. He brought joy and a ton of wine to a wedding celebration. He often was at parties and gatherings with people. I don't imagine Jesus ever saying in those times, "Ok, let's settle down and stop the fun. Time to talk about faith."
It's not that the message he brought, the message about the kingdom of God coming to earth, wasn't important. It was what he lived and died for. But, Jesus recalibrated how we envision God among us. The life of the kingdom of God is not something we learn, memorize, and talk about. It's what we live! It's not removed from "real life." It is real life. Jesus came to resurrect all of our moments to be moments of divine presence.
I like to think that in doing this, Jesus re-calibrated playfulness and fun into a spiritual experience. He opened the doors to those experiences and said, "Let's let God in here. This is where God belongs, anyway. Quit being so serious about God and faith."
Some days we need to be reminded of this.
And you know what? It does amazing things for my life and the relationships I have with those near me. Playfulness creates room for God to increase joy, strengthen love, heal tension, and cultivate forgiveness.
Pretty significant spiritual things, I'd say. All from a game of tag. Maybe we should take enjoyment and playfulness more seriously for the good it can accomplish in our lives.
But you can't force it. You must allow space for it, though. You can't have such a mindset of business, work, and tasks. And you can't schedule playfulness. Don't make it another thing to do.
Cultivate it into a way of living life. Let your mind daily be transformed to make room for joy, into seeing playful moments as spiritual experiences, encounters with the Spirit of the risen Lord. Then give thanks to God for the gift. That's it. Very simple.
And go all in. It was only when Laura and I went all in on the game of tag that we really experienced the joy. We abandoned our "too grown up" or "too cool" mentality; we let go of the false expectations that were hindering us, and only then we found joy that made our faces hurt because we smiled too much (God forbid we smile too much!).
Create space for playfulness. Go all in. Shed the silly expectations. Find the spirituality in the simple moments of play and laughter. Cultivate the spiritual discipline of playfulness. Let God in.
You don't need kids to do it. You just need other people and the openness to recognize God in the joy.
In defiant hope,
Pastor Kyle
"After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best thing: it is good for a person to eat, drink, and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has gifted to them -- for this is the hand they've been dealt...remember your creator in your prime, before the days of trouble arrive, and the years in which you take no pleasure...before dust returns to earth as it was before, and the breath of life returns to the God who gave it." ~Ecclesiastes 5 & 11
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