Slowing down and seeking peace...

Having just returned from four days away with our kids in NYC, I was surprised that I still took a 45 minute nap today!  We probably slept for 10+ hours each day that we were away, too but I was just played tonight, so I didn't fight it.

Now I am getting ready to lead part two of our conversation into Jaco Hamman's wonderful book, A Play-Full Life: Slowing Down and Seeking Peace. Last week 15 adults joined me for the start of this 10 week series and tonight we'll consider the "enemies of becoming play-full." Of particular concern is the demon "criticism" which Hamman calls "a corrupted form of playfulness" that "most often cultivates inferiority or shame."  Does that ring true for you?

The fruit of this corrupted form of playfulness, he goes on to note, is not peace and justice, but frustration, fear, and inner fragmentation.  What's more, corrupted playfulness can easily become part of such hurtful/harmful behaviors as addictions, eating disorders and interpersonal violence. (p. 22)

While we were away in NYC, we took in Martin Scorsese's brilliant movie, "Hugo." Not only is this a long, loving look at the beauty of the cinema, it is also a meditation on how  cultivating our imagination can be a sacred act.  And the restrained use of 3D made the magic of the movies come alive in delightful ways.  Sitting in a darkened theatre with 300 other people was communion for me for we all willingly gave up control for a time in order to be transported beyond ourselves.  We tenderly opened our senses to mystery, we let ourselves be teased and tantalized by technology and we hoped that the story teller might touch us at a deep level so that upon leaving we might be a little kinder as the result.

Being rested - and playfull with my dear family - has nourished me so that I can return to ministry refreshed.  As M. Craig Barnes has written:

My job is not to create a community of Gnostics who have turned their spiritual backs on the concerns of the material world. To the contrary, my calling is to help them find the spirituality of the material. Even the fig leaves belong to God. I cannot help them see that without first enjoying the very real, material things they spend their lives fretting over. The reason I enjoy the ordinary and invite others to enjoy it is that it contains portals which invite us to experience the holiness (of life) that lies just beneath all creation. (p. 31)

And I can do this best when I am well rested.  So, as one wise old monk once told me, "If you fall asleep while at prayer... maybe your prayers are being answered and what you really needed was a nap!"  May God's peace grow...