Psalm 104 ~ Recreation

The first time I went to Disney World I was 35 years old. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to go because I’m not an amusement park fan. I don’t enjoy riding roller coasters because I tend to get sick, but my sister told me Disney isn’t like that & there are lots of things to do other than ride roller coaster, besides, she said, my niece & nephew really wanted me to go. So I finally agreed, but honestly, was pretty skeptical about the whole trip. Needless to say, my attitude that first night wasn’t the best & we were standing along the street in the Magic Kingdom watching the Electric Light Parade & I was just leaning against a light pole probably looking bored & uninterested when a float came by with Chip & Dale dancing & waving on the top. Do you remember Chip & Dale? They were cartoon chipmunks who had a show that was popular back in the 1990’s called Chip & Dale’s Rescue Rangers. I loved the show & watched it with my nephew, anyway, I looked up at Chip (or Dale, I couldn’t tell you which one it was) & noticed that he was looking right at me. I know that he was looking right at me because he stood exactly like I was, & then he shook his head & waved his finger & then started to dance & play on the top of the float.

I was being called out by a chipmunk for having a bad attitude.

A chipmunk was telling me I need to lighten up & have some fun.

I had to laugh & you know, the entire rest of the week I did lighten up & laugh & play & I become a child again & I had a great time.

It took a chipmunk in a Disney World parade to teach me one of the important truths of God – sometimes we need to play. God created us to recreate, to play & laugh & dance & to enjoy life. Too many times we think that faith & the church always needs to be serious & somber, & while the truth is there are always serious & deep spiritual issues we deal with–we can never lose sight of the fact that part of what God created us for was to play. Recreation is part of creation, it is a part of the created order – that’s what we heard in Psalm 104. If we look at this entire psalm we see outlined here the story of creation. In verse 5 we hear that the earth was created, in verse 11 the beasts of the field, verse 12 the birds of the air, verse 14, the grass which grows for food, verse 19 the moon which marks off the seasons & the sun that knows when to rise & set. This is the story of creation & the created order. It’s the story of all those things that God created & saw & then said, yes, this is good.

Now what’s important for us to see here is that as part of the created order, one of the building blocks of creation is play. Look at Psalm 104:25-26.

25 There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

Did you hear those last few words? God created the leviathan (a sea creature) to frolic in the sea. Frolicking, which means merriment & playing, is part of creation. God made something just to frolic in the sea, so we know that play & recreation is part of God’s plan; it is part of the created order. This isn’t the only place we see this. If we look at Ecclesiastes 3 we see that there is a balance & rhythm that is needed in life & in faith. There is a time for everything & we need to keep everything in balance & it says here that there is a time to laugh & a time to dance.

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

Just as there is a time to work so is there a time to play. Recreation is a part of the created order, in fact I think recreation or play helps us get in touch with the fullness of life that God desires for us. In 2 Cor. 5:17 the apostle Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old ha passed away; see everything has become new! I’m not sure we can become new or be recreated in Christ until we learn how to play – after all it was Jesus who said that in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven we have to become like children. It’s not that we become childish & self centered, we are to become child like & part of what it means for us to be child-like might be to learn once again the joy be being able to play.

It’s sad to think that as adults we need to learn how to play again, but somewhere along the line, our lives have gotten too full & too serious & too stressful, & so as we need to figure out how to refocus & reorient ourselves enough so that regular times of recreation are part of the rhythm & routine of our lives. For many of us, the ability to lighten up & play may require us to let go of the expectations that others place on us or that we place on ourselves. Again, if we go back to the story of Jesus & the children we see that as a religious leader, the disciples had certain expectations of what Jesus should do & how he should act. Mark 10:13-16

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

The disciples’ expectation was that Jesus would not associate with children – it was beneath him & it was beneath his position as a rabbi & a teacher. As a religious leader Jesus faced many expectations & one of them was that he should only associate with certain kinds of people & that did not include children, or lepers, or prostitutes or tax collectors. But these were the people Jesus did spend time with & not only did he hang out with them, he had fun with them, he ate & drank with them, he went to dinner parties at their homes & provided the best wine at their weddings & when people looked at what Jesus was doing, they thought he was having too much fun & they criticized him for it.

In Matthew 9 Jesus is attending a party at the home of Matthew the tax collector, & the Pharisees, these men who spent their entire lives being serious & following all the rules, came to Jesus disciples & said, why does your teacher eat & drink with sinners? Why is he not fasting? Why is he having so much fun? In their minds true religious leaders didn’t have fun, but Jesus was having fun because he understood that there was a time for everything. There was a time to be serious & Jesus was serious, & there was going to be a time to sacrifice & Jesus take up a cross & there was going to be a time when Jesus would challenged people to step up in their commitment to God, but he also knew there was a time to laugh & a time to play. Jesus knew the teaching of the OT & he knew that while there was a time to mourn there was also a time to dance – so let me ask you, when was the last time you danced?

I told them I was going to share this today, last night at Jeremy & Michelle Luckovich’s wedding reception, when it came time for the couple to have their first dance, they started out with a very nice calm song – but then it transitioned into this amazing dance routine that included just about every dance & dance song from the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s. I have never seen anything like it & as they were dancing & people were laughing & cheering & clapping – I thought to myself - this is what it means to frolic & then I thought what a wonderful way to begin a marriage. Maybe marriages & families would be stronger if we had more times of dance & play & laughter & love.

When we are willing to let go of the expectations people have of us & be true to who God created us to be, then like Jesus we will be offering a hope & love & faith that will change people & bring about a deeper faith & healthier lives & marriages & families. I read this story a number of years ago about a family that was struggling with one of their teenage sons. He was rebelling against his family & the world & nothing that they had tried seemed to work so a counselor suggested that they go home try something different. Here’s what happened…

When you get home tonight, he advised, go down to your son’s room, ban on the door, and when he answers tell him to turn his music off and come upstairs because you both want to talk to him. When he finally saunters into the room with a chip on his shoulder and slumps into the kitchen chair with an attitude, look him square in the eyes and say, “Ron, your mother and I are counting to one hundred. Now go hide.”

When you love your son like these parents did, desperation combined with love will motivate you to try anything – even pay. And one night that is what they did. Can you imagine the look on Ron’s face? Can you imagine what Ron said to his friends the next day? “You guys are never going to guess what happened last night. I played hide-and-seek with my parents until three in the morning. I still can’t find them.” Ron didn’t become a Republican or start listening to country and western music, but when his parents played hide-and-seek with him, they did break through the longstanding tension and began the long process of healing. (Story is taken from Dangerous Wonder, by Mike Yaconelli, copyright 1998 by Navpress. A book I would highly recommend.)

What this story shows us is that because recreation is part of God’s created order & part of God’s will for our lives - recreation can play a key role in the re-creation of our hearts & lives. Recreation can bring healing & wholeness, so we need to be intentional in making play a part of our lives & this means we might need to actually schedule regular times of play. One of the phrases I have heard in the last 5-10 years that I think is kind of sad but a reality of life is play dates. We schedule times for our children to play with other children & the reason we do this is because the schedules of our children have become so full that we need to make sure friends are available to play. So let me ask, when was the last time we scheduled a play date with our family? Do we schedule regular times of recreation & play as a church family? We have a great opportunity to do this today at the church picnic & I hope that even if you weren’t planning on attending, that if you have time this afternoon you’ll join us for some food & some fun.

Recreation is part of God’s created order. It is part of God’s purpose & plan for his children & it is a vital part of how we experience new life in Christ. Recreation can bring healing & wholeness to our bodies, minds & spirit & as Jesus showed us, it can be a powerful witness to the love & grace of God. So can we lay aside the expectations of others & make room in our schedules for some time to play? It is, after all, a God given part of our lives.