In my first church appointment, I had a Treasurer who almost never came to church.  She was always there to help if we had a project, but seldom attended Sunday worship.  Consequently she would often have to stop by my home to give me my paycheck.  One day after I had been at the church for a few months, she acknowledged her lack of attendance, wanting to assure me that it was nothing personal.  She said, “I grew up in a church where you went to worship on Sunday morning to feel guilty for the good time you had Saturday night.  I don’t think I should feel guilty for enjoying my life”

Dr. Len Sweet, author and seminary professor talks about his early church experiences, and said because of them he had to go through a deconversion experience.  What he meant by that, was he had learned that the church was not a place where people laughed and had fun, but a place of deep seriousness.  Len said he learned that the church “was a group of nice people who were always in a bad mood.”  One wonders how the church learned that being somber and serious is what it meant or means to be Christian.  In the Psalm we read this morning, we read that God restored the fortunes Zion, by filling the people’s mouth’s with laughter and by placing shouts of joy upon their tongues.  The people rejoice, because the Lord has done such great things for them. 

It makes sense to me, that since God is absolute love, that in that love God would want us to absolutely enjoy the gift of life God has given to us.  I do not want to suggest that we do not have times when we have been hurt and that life has thrown us the proverbial curve, but again the Psalm states that even when we sow in tears, God desires that we reap with shouts of joy.  That God seeks to restore life, or seeks to have us again rejoice in life.  The suffix “re” literally means “to return to the previous state.”  So to rejoice means that God seeks to return us to the state of joy.  Joy, laughter, happiness are God’s hopes and desires for us, so again one must wonder where some have learned that somberness and seriousness are an expression of faith.

Howard Clinebell, now deceased, but a former author, professor and Pastoral Counselor talks about the importance of laughter and play in his book, Well Being: Exploring And Enriching The Seven Dimensions Of Life.  Obviously the term wellbeing is part of the definition we have used to define “shalom.”  The word we translate peace, means more fully joy, harmony, wellbeing and wholeness in our lives, and in our relationships.  Clinebell says that, ““If we help another laugh, to see humor in their life and situation-we can transform their situation and empower them to face life more healthy.” He also says, “When we laugh we take a mini-vacation.”  I share all of this, for I feel I need to document the biblical witness to laughter and the health of play before I reflect upon why playing creatively is an act of love and a tool for strengthening relationships.  Clinebell goes on to say about laughter and play, “Laughing and playing together with others is a joy-full, healthy way to enrich relationships.”

First, let me define what I mean by play.  When I use the word play, I mean much more than participating in a game.  Play is defined in the Pastoral Counseling Dictionary as, “an activity engaged in for the sake of relaxation and refreshment.”  I love the way the writer of proverbs expresses this thought.  “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.”  To help people play, to find relaxation and refreshment in their lives, to help them find humor and laughter is such a great gift of peace and wellbeing.  The dictionary also says that play is something we perceive a child does naturally.  There may be a reason why Jesus says, “We need to be like little children if we want to enter into the kingdom of God.”  Matthew Fox, a spirituality writer claims that 90% of all children are creative, but by the time we reach adulthood only 20% of adults are creative.  Creativity seems to be filtered out of our character.  I would suggest that the same can be said for playing.  Something that is so natural as a child seems to be filtered out for many by the time we reach adulthood.

Nancy mentioned last week that a couple of weeks ago we were at a clergy gathering where our guest speaker was Dr. Luther Smith, a professor at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia.  His focus was on the topic of spiritual growth.  He made a statement that sometimes we need to suffer, we need to face a crisis as a way to grow spiritually, or to open ourselves to the spirit of God.  He gave this example.  He referred to a county around Atlanta that is one of the richest counties per capita of people in the United States.  Also, this same county had the highest cancer rate in the United States.  His point was, it was not until many of these over-achievers, these people who worked continuously without a break or a Sabbath, who did not ever take time to find refreshment, it was not until they contracted cancer that they finally gave themselves permission not to work, and gave themselves permission to rest, to have a Sabbath.  One can only think of Jesus’ words when he said, “God did not make humanity for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for humanity.”  Sabbath is about finding a way and a time to refresh ourselves and our lives.  So, one might say that worship actually is a time to play with the church.  When we gather, some of us come from weeks that may have been tiring, hurtful and maybe even experiencing crisis.  Sabbath is about finding a time where we can gather in the presence of God and rejoice, to return to the state of joy.

Jesus, himself tells us this is why he came.  In the Gospel of John Jesus says, “I have taught you these things so my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”  Jesus teaches us how to fully live life in God’s joy.  It is not often an association we make with the life and teaching of Jesus.  Jesus is so often pictured as this somber, serious person walking around with the weight of the world upon his shoulders.  Yet Elton Trueblood, biblical scholar and author wrote a book , The Humor Of Jesus, where he cites 30 examples in scripture where Jesus expresses his wit and humor.  I remember the first time I heard someone express their belief that Jesus must have been someone who had a wonderful sense of humor, for how else would he have attracted so many people to him and his beliefs about life.  The person said, “I can just picture Jesus walking along the road with his disciples and then giving Peter an elbow saying, Peter.  You see that tree about a hundred yards down the road.  I’ll race ya.”  Peter probably reluctantly agrees, and so Jesus says, “Ready. Set. Go!”  And just as Peter starts to run, Jesus would stick out his foot and trip him and then jog down the road laughing.  I may have thought of other ways that Jesus may have expressed his sense of humor rather than dump Peter in the dust, but the person’s point of Jesus having a sense of humor was important to me. “I came,” Jesus says, “so you may know my joy and your joy may be complete.”  It is all about the relationship and its gift to life, and health and wellbeing. As another preacher once said, “Why should we want all things to enjoy life, when we have been given life to enjoy all things?”

Nancy talked about the closed heart last week, and how it prevents us from feeling.  It is hard to love deeply with a closed heart. Yet, often in the midst of our day to day living, we find ourselves facing stress, being focused on our work and consequently finding our ability to be opened to life diminished.  Our ability to feel is severely diminished by our tiredness and our stress.  I know it is easy in our relationship for Nancy and me to get so caught up in the work of the church, and now having teenage daughters trying to get them to all of their commitments, that we run out of time to rest.  I find that even when we are together we can easily get focused on parenting issues, and problem solving, or worst of all house work and putting clothes away.  We get so focused on the doing of life we can forget about the living of life and we forget to have fun together.  We forget or have no energy to find Sabbath together.  And I know we are more the rule than the exception.

It is imperative that we become a source of play to each other.  It is what helps us open our hearts and find health and peace and joy.  We can and are a gift to those who we bring enjoyment to life.  The suffix “en” literally means, “to become or cause to be, to come to have or cause to have.”  So to help someone to “en”-joy life is to cause ourselves and others to have joy.  But my favorite definition of the suffix “en” is “to cover or wrap.”  To help someone “en”-joy life means to cover and wrap them in joy.  We may be a source of helping another “re”-joice.

There is so much more that can be said about playing and laughter and joy, as there has been in each topic we have shared so far.  Let me simply say to us all, let us indeed find time to play in our lives.  May we keep the Sabbath holy and find time to relax and refresh ourselves and our lives.  It is God’s commandment to do so.  May we know joy fully in our lives as we walk more closely to Christ.  And may we be a source of enjoyment to those we love most deeply.  May we help each other wrap ourselves and cover ourselves in joy, experiencing the real sense of wellbeing emotionally, spiritually, physically and relationally.  Surely to help another know joy and know it completely is one of the great gifts of love we can give to another.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on February 19, 2006.