Concerned with reports of increasing numbers of pastors experiencing burnout and depression due to exhaustion during the COVID-19 pandemic, McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago invited church leaders to Sophia’s Theme Park: Recess Time 2021. This virtual retreat, held from June 8 to June 12, 2021, offered church leaders a chance to experience rest, renewal and spiritual direction, nourish their inner child and gain Divine Wisdom. The virtual retreat was an example of the power of play in Christian life. The retreat began and ended with playful worship services. Each day, participants engaged in spiritual practices, the serious work of play, reflection, improvisation, movement, imagination, fellowship, interaction with biblical stories and ongoing vocational discernment. These gatherings helped participants to rest and renew themselves in a supportive community. Play was the main strategy driving the activities, which were designed to connect participants with each other and with … [Read more...]

Growing up as an only child on a remote Tennessee cattle farm, my summers were spent largely within the confines of my own mind. I roamed green pastures until the humidity – or the threat of copperheads – drove me inside. I watched hours of “Leave it to Beaver,” followed by “The Brady Bunch.” Sometimes my mother drove me to the library or, if I was lucky, the pool. With the exception of a few Girl Scout camps, my summers were as boring and unstructured as those of my storybook heroes: Anne of Green Gables, Mary Lennox in “The Secret Garden” or, my favorite, the siblings in Edward Eager’s “Half Magic,” who discover a magical coin that grants their wishes, but only by half (was there ever a better metaphor for childhood?). To make up for my own lack of siblings, I conjured fairies, elves and leprechauns, giving them the most exotic names I knew: Ambrose, Demeter, Vodka. I cleared out drawers to house them: in the china cabinet, the guest bedroom dresser, my mother’s antique hutch. … [Read more...]