Between work and play...

I happened to be on the church tower roof today, and in the sunny weather you could see, to the north-east, the towers of Canary Wharf and, to the north-west, the big wheel of Chessington World of Adventures.

It struck me that that's just where our church is sited - between work and play. In the suburbs, we're not in the world of work, exactly, though we're trying to relate Church and God to the workplace. But we're not in the world of play either - or at least, not as Church is usually done in our society!..

The other evening a senior member of the diocese was addressing the churchwardens of the deanery. He was talking about stress amongst clergy and Church leaders. He was arguing that, if stress is to be avoided, the work of Church and of the Gospel needs to be shared out among the whole of the congregation.

So far, so fine, and pretty uncontentious - after all, I find myself spending a lot of time encouraging people to share in the active life of the church.

But, as he repeated the word work quite a number of times, I found myself wondering whether it is the most exact - or only - metaphor, or image, for who we are as Christians and what we're trying to do.

The work of the Gospel. I have no problem with that kind of language, since we are called to serve God and the world, and to expend our energies in that service. Serving God and human beings has its own demands and challenges, and we had better be clear about that.

But I do have a problem with the language of work being used as the only image of what Church is about. Work language, on its own, can sound so... demanding and joyless! To speak of Church involvement only as work risks putting people off from getting involved. After all, they work hard the rest of the week, and clergy and Church leaders are not the only people who risk stress. Are we saying that becoming a Christian and being involved in Church is really, at bottom, about more work - even though God will no doubt give us the strength for it?

Here at Christ Church we've been gently exploring some other images of Church. Play, for one. In case that sounds too flippant, holy play, if you like.

When you play, you try new things. You put things in different orders and relations to each other, just for the joy of it. You take risks, just to see what happens. You enjoy yourself. You have fun. You test yourself out. You do it with other people. It's supposed to be creative and life-enhancing. Play is vital to human development, whether you're a child or an adult. In play, you learn deeply how the world works, and something of your part in it.

That sounds, to me, a bit like a good description of Church, or at least of what Church should and could be like.

Another image we've been trying is that of space, holy space. This image cuts deeply into the assumptions made by the work metaphor deployed in the talk to the churchwardens. 'Church as space' starts off from the premise that the constant activity with which we encircle ourselves can often become a trap for us and an obstacle to the God who often wishes us to stop, reflect and listen. This is why we've invented WorshipSpace, one of our monthly evening services - so as to give people permission to stop and listen. To listen to God, to themselves and their hearts and bodies, and to each other.

God is complex; people are complex; and so, therefore, is what we call 'Church'. So, probably, no one image will suffice for it, since we're trying to describe the subtle matter of following God and of being his people in the world. What we need is a collection of images, images which will challenge and critique each other.

Put holy work, holy play, and holy space together and let them rub up along and against each other - and you might have something that looks like the kind of people we are supposed to be becoming. If we could do this, seriously and joyfully, we might just be more whole as people, and less stressed, as a result.

Comments

[Maybaby]

worshipspace, a place to stop and listen. that's really good but when will we get to play as well? and how do we create such a place in which people can worship and play without inhibition and follow spontaneous promptings from God?

[Andrew]

Thanks for commenting, Maybaby. In a sense, I think we are already. We're allowing ourselves to be freer of structure in worship than we might always be. We're throwing ideas around to see where they will land. We've laughed at cartoons, played with paper. "Without inhibition": I think this comes from trust, in God and in each other, and this can only come with time. We've opened the door to it, anyway...