Groups at Play
How might we invite someone else into our joy?
I love musicals. I’ve had the opportunity to attend a few live productions in my life, and I won’t ever forget how those hours made me feel. I’d sit in the chair transfixed by the actors on the stage, my smile beaming. I’ve never had the particular drive to act myself, but as I watched each character volley their line to another, I realized I was watching something inherently special. I was privy to a dance, that beneath the actual plot displayed something even greater—a group of people from all different ages, life experiences, and histories who had gathered together to labor over their shared joy of theater and music. And viewing that joy on its own filled me with deep delight.
My feelings in the seats at a theater haven’t stayed there. I’ve felt that same smile in the audience of an RC airshow, at a convention center of coin collectors, and the sledding hill as I watch dozens of kids and adults careen down the hill. There’s something special going on when people come together within their play, and I think we’d do well to notice, if not join in.
For the last few articles I’ve talked about an RC airplane club and a gardening group at my own church to give some inside looks at some ways we can take opportunities to bring our hobbies within a community. Today I’m going to list a few more ideas. This is far from an exhausted list, and I would love for you to add your own additional stories of how you or the people you know play together.
Nourishers at Church:
There are so many opportunities to bake, cook, and nourish together. One way my church has done this is by creating a Freezer Meal Ministry. A group of incredible Nourishers meet together to cook several different types of freezer-friendly meals (soups, lasagnas, pizzas, breakfast egg bites, etc.) and they then package and label them, and stock them in the church freezer.. Whenever anyone in the church has an urgent need for a meal for a neighbor, coworker, or even themselves they can grab a meal or two from the freezer to pass it along.
How many times do we think, “I should make a meal for…” or “I wish I could make a meal for…” In some seasons, we just won’t be able to do it ourselves, and this is where the church shines in the way they can partner with us and enable us to love the people God has placed around us well.
In addition to the freezer meal, these women who delight in cooking also hold cooking classes for the kids in the church and their friends. I love these opportunities for intergenerational connections around skills and hobbies that we don’t often get a chance to experience anymore.
Makers in Community:
There are so many different groups I’ve heard about who are joining together to create and make within community. My church has formed a crocheting club that works together all year to crochet many different kinds of stuffed animals that they include in their boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
Another church I have heard of created a weekly crafting night, where anybody (in the church or not) was welcomed to bring whatever they were working on and do it together. I love these different groups especially because we can so often think of the activities of creating and making something as singular. And honestly, what do you actually achieve by making a stuffed animal at your home versus at a group? The pragmatic side of us would answer with nothing, but the better answer is of course—everything.
Beholders in a Club:
I recently finished a couple of fiction books, and once I was done I immediately set out to find someone who read them so I could talk to them about it. I went on to recommend that book to several friends (and one of them read it and finished it to my delight!) We gain so much when we behold not only alone, but together.
Of course book clubs are an excellent way to do this. Some of my friends have formed a book club with their neighbors, others hold fiction book clubs periodically within their church as they read and look for the themes of redemption and truth in each text. In the process, they are learning and beholding even more as they do it alongside each other.
Movers on a Mission
Recently I connected with author, Ethan Bryan, whose love of the game of catch prompted him to play the game for 365 days. He wrote about this in his book, A Year of Playing Catch. Hearing his story, I appreciated how he highlights the way the simple game draws us into connection with others: “It forces you to pay attention to the person right in front of you, that this moment, here in this place with this person, this is what matters.”1 Ethan now works as a student mentor, using the game of catch to teach important values and skills to kids in elementary up to high school. I love this story, and I love how simple the ask is. Want to be more intentional with others in play? Maybe it could simply be in a seemingly inefficient ten minutes of playing catch.
The foundation of each one of the groups or ministries I have talked about here is delight. They are all rooted in joy of the gifts of the Father. In each of these, someone said to themselves, “The Lord has made me delight in this activity. How might I do so along with others? How might I invite someone else into this joy? How might we together do something even better than if we were alone?”
Maybe none of those options I gave sounds like something you want to do. Great news, you don’t have to do them. God has made us with different deep joys. Maybe yours leads you to start a game night at your church or in your neighborhood. Maybe it drives you to a re-enactment field or to your community symphonic band. Or maybe it’s a passion that plans trips to the art museum with a friend.
The point is not to follow a particular mold, but to start to question how you might pursue your play with another. How can you join a dance with people from all different ages, life experiences, and histories who come together for a common joy?
I promise you, I’ll be beaming in the stands when you do.
If you have read Created to Play would you kindly consider writing a review? Amazon reviews (and Goodreads, if you’re there!) are so helpful to authors, and I would love it if you could contribute.
