The Roberts clan (my mom’s side of the family) is a family that gets together often and when we do we play. Day long games of monopoly, bingo complete with prizes, jeopardy, wheel of fortune, texas hold’um, you name it, as long as it’s a game that you have to think for, we play it (games of chance are not allowed). The point is we like games and more importantly we love each other, which makes playing together that much better. As a kid growing up my family used to go out to our cabin on Dow Mountain and the four of us would play games until the wee hours of the night. On road trips criss-crossing the country we seldom went to bed without a game of cards. My daughter is learning the family passion already as we play game after game of Candyland, Lady Bugs, Memory, Chutes and Ladders and Go Fish. This love of games extends beyond just the times when the whole family gets together too and every member just seems to have it in their DNA. I wasn’t surprised when I learned one cousin has a regular bridge night and whenever I gather like I did this week with my colleagues I make sure that one night at least is a game night.
There is something very special for me about getting friends together to eat snacks that we rarely indulge in and to play. It has become a tradition each time we descend upon Wenatchee that one afternoon will be devoted to playing one of the nearby putting courses. A few years ago when I first attended the event, which brings together three hundred United Methodist clergy from Washington and Idaho, I didn’t know a lot of people. I was newly returned from graduate school and was just getting to know my colleagues and make a few friends. There wasn’t much time on the schedule that allowed for getting to know each other either, so we improvised. They had given us a tourist map of Wenatchee and there was an arrow on it that pointed to a “putting
course” somewhere off the map. At that point we weren’t sure what the difference was between
a putting course and mini-golf, but I managed to convince a few people to grab lunch to-go and use our precious little amount of free time to go try it out. The few I knew got a few more and I think eight of us went that first year. We ended up loving it so much we missed a session that I think talked about our retirement plan so we could play the entire course. It was and is a par 70 course of natural grass complete with water hazards and sand traps.
By the second year there were eleven of us and after seeing some of us having such a good time at lunch the Bishop had canceled the evening session so that we would have more time to do things like having fun together. Last year we even got the Bishop to come with us. This year 14 clergy played the course together including a number of new folks who were immediately hooked. Later that night many went out and had great fellowship at restaurants and such, but true to my DNA
I managed to get six to come and play games around a card table in the basement of my hotel that I had scoped out for that very purpose.
The beauty of playing games with people you don’t know all that well and people you enjoy being around is that time gets lost, you get to know each other in a different and I think more genuine way, and you laugh no matter how competitive you are. We played two games that were new for me, which makes it even better, and before we knew it we had been playing for four hours and it was almost 1am.
I believe that there are times which connect us. When a group of people works together, studies together, lives together and argues together, I don’t think the connection can be complete without playing together too and it makes all those other things better. When I was in Geneva a year and a half ago there were some awkward getting to know you moments that in their structured way started to open us up to each other, but it wasn’t until we started playing ping-pong, volley ball and UNO (which I was moved by that inner force in me to buy for the institute) that you got a sense we were finally connecting and building community. Maybe it’s about letting yourself be silly a little or maybe it’s getting in touch with some inner child in all of us, but whatever it is playing together is the root of joy. Even for those who don’t like board games and such it’s really just about playing and letting yourself play together. When we do, something real and I think beautiful comes out. It’s good to play.
Tripping the Light Fantastic 