Pastor's Weekly Word

On Sunday we began a new sermon series titled “A Playful Faith.” I look forward to walking through this topic with you, mainly because I believe that playful and faith are two words we do not often equate with one another. Deep faith maybe, or solid faith, or fervent faith, or even joyful faith, but playful faith? How many times have you ever heard someone say that the church they belong to is playful? If being playful is something we ever had as Christians, we seem to have lost it somewhere along the way.

The phenomenon of losing our playfulness is an interesting one. Some of us become less playful as we age. Others of us have never really understood what true playfulness even means, and yet, I would submit that playfulness lies at the heart of what it means to be Christian. Our Westminster Confession informs us that “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” We are to enjoy God. Surely this enjoyment involves a great deal of playfulness.

Dr. Jako Hamman, a professor at Western Theological Seminary, observes that “many of us would rather watch others at play than engage in playful behavior ourselves. We become observers and rarely participants. It is no coincidence that, as our own uncertainties and anxieties mount, we are willing to pay large sums of money to watch and admire professional players.”

What might it look like for you to become less of an observer and more of a participant? Where in your life are you the most playful, if anywhere at all? Have you, in fact, lost your playfulness somewhere along the way? Over the coming weeks, let’s try to reclaim it together.