A Theology of Play

Peter Berger, in his book A RUMOR OF ANGELS (an absolute must-read) argues that there are a series of paradigmic human experiences, the phenomenology of which point to the existence of a transcendent source of meaning and value in the universe. I will discuss this more when I return to my apologetics project. But right now I want to talk about one particular 'signal' that I think is particularly relevant right now: the experience of play.

Berger says play is our first encounter with eternity. When we play, we step out of our normal experience of time. Think about football for example. It isn't 3:00 PM on Sunday. Not for those playing, and not for those watching. Instead it is 4th down, 1 yard to go, 2:39 on the clock in the fourth quarter. It isn't true that time simply flies when you are having fun. On the contrary, a single moment, a single throw of the ball, can be an eternity. No, in play we step outside of time. Eternity is willed and known intimately. Play brackets off time.

And just as it brackets time so it brackets the seriousness of the world. Whatever pain or tragedy a person is going through, it melts away the moment that joystick, ball, or crossword puzzle is picked up. This is why plays and musical groups' activities can go on even as the city around them crumbles due to an invasion. It is how Christmas could be celebrated by warring parties in WWII.

Of course some may see this as simple escapism, and it may be. But if one chooses to take the experience itself in full earnestness, then a different picture emerges, both of us and our world. Jesus transvaluates human values. The lowest are raised up as the highest, the highest are made the lowest. The seemingly unimportant becomes of supreme value. This is the real meaning of the Matthew passage. Children were, in, Jesus time, the most insignificant, the lowest. To command others to seek to be like them was oxymoronic.

Jesus Himself embodies this idea, as I've said many times. God comes as the lowly, not the great. This vision of God ultimately justifies our experience of play. For what is insignificant, silly, un-serious, is elevated over all that seems to threaten life and all that is, by the lights of the world, important and supremely serious. Psalm 98 shows us a cosmic picture of play. God skips, jumps and dances with the world. Life must be joyful, even in the face of great tragedy. When we make it so, we give witness to the God of Psalm 98 and to the Truth of Christ.