2018.9.16 Sabbath Practice: Play!

2018.9.16  “Sabbath Practice: PLAY!”     Rev. Laura Bogle

Foothills UU Fellowship

Introduction

Our monthly worship theme is Sabbath—what are ways we as Unitarian Universalists can observe Sabbath?  What are Sabbath practices to cultivate?  Last week we talked about gratitude.  Today we are exploring PLAY. 

In his book Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal and Delight in Our Daily Lives, Wayne Muller describes play as “engaging in purposeless enjoyment of one another.”

So, our service is a little different.  We are not going to talk about play so much as we are going to play together!  You don’t get to sit there and just hear about play as a spiritual practice.

You will be invited to join in three different playful practices.  Now, for some of us this might feel uncomfortable.  Some of us grown ups have a harder time accessing our playful side – everyone has permission this morning to be playful and even silly. 

Here’s my invitation to you:  try it out.

Playful practice #1: mirror game

According to the Gospel of Matthew Jesus said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven". (NIV)

Now that is sometimes interpreted to mean—humble, innocent, naïve, simple, lowly as in powerless.  But what if it means to be playful like children?  I mean, I actually don’t think children are as innocent and naïve and simple as we say they are.  What if this scripture, which is quoted so often, actually is inviting us to play?  Telling us that the most powerful or the playful ones.  Telling us that one of the keys to spiritual health, to finding a little bit of heaven, is to be playful, to play.  Afterall, what is it that children do best, *all the time*?  Everything can be turned into a game, into play.

As we talked about last week, part of observing Sabbath for UUs is remembering our interconnection with all of life, and remembering our place in that web.  Remembering that we receive so much that we didn’t create, we didn’t earn, we could never earn.  Sabbath is spending time delighting in those things—friends, the earth, our bodies, life itself—without expectation of producing anything, or buying or selling anything, or doing anything “right.”  Play invites us into that kind of Sabbath space.

So, here’s your first invitation to play this morning.

Cathie and I will demonstrate.  You are going to find a partner. And decide if you want to stand or sit.  You will face each other.  No talking. You will put your hands up facing each other, but not touching.  You might actually have to look each other in the eye.  And then you will pretend that you are looking in a mirror, or that the other person is your shadow.  And you will move.  You do NOT get to decide who will lead.  You simply see what happens. 

Invitation to Playful Practice #2: Energy Ball

Dr. Stuart Brown is a psychiatrist and founding director of an organization called the National Institute of Play.  He originally honed in on the importance of play for healthy human development after an extensive study of homicidal young men and seeing how they were deprived of play in their young lives.

One of the things Dr. Brown says is that the basis of human trust is developed through play.  Power differentials can be erased when people are playing with one another.  Play allows us to be vulnerable in a safer kind of space than everyday life.  I think about this when I watch kids engage in rough play--  they push the boundaries of themselves and each other.  Dr. Brown says this is one way empathy gets developed.

He also makes a distinction between play and contests—humans and animals engage in play for the pleasure of it, for the learning that occurs, for the connection that occurs – but not to win, not to show domination. 

Play is a dance of invitation and acceptance.  Play moves energy around from person to person.

Playing can be a little dangerous, too. Have you ever seen kids playing and laughing and then suddenly someone is crying?  Play can walk that edge and sometimes when we think we are just being playful it isn’t received in that way by another person.  So you have to invite others into play with you. 

For our next practice we are going to play ball.  Except it is not competitive, there’s no way to mess it up, because the ball is a pretend ball.  You have to use your imagination.  Cathie and I will start by tossing a few different kinds of balls, if you catch a ball, then you have to pass it on to someone else.

Make eye contact with the person you are throwing to.  Invite them.  Make sure they are ready to catch the ball, we don’t want to bean anyone in the head.

We will end when all the balls get tossed back up front.

Playful Practice #3: Bingo

We’ve heard a couple of quotes this morning from Bernie de Koven, Since the 1970s Bernie was a play advocate for adults and studied and written about how groups that play together build strong community ties. He published many books, included “The Playful Path.”  He died just earlier this year, but left behind a huge catalogue of games through his website and book called Deep Fun – a lot of cooperative games, games whose purpose is simply to bring joy and connection.

“Sometimes, something as simple as a game of double dutch, or even single dutch with a lot of people jumping can transport you to a different dimension, where it’s all about being together, kind of like love.”

So, our next game is all about being together.  We’re gonna play bingo and it requires you to talk to one another.  A different kind of way to knowing and engaging with one another.  Whoever finishes first can come up here and ring the bell to stop play, but everyone wins really and the prize is connection.