Play and Pray

In May 2019, at the FA Cup Final, I (along with many others at Wembley Stadium) sang the nineteenth century hymn Abide with Me. It was written by the Victorian clergyman Henry Lyte who was suffering at the time with tuberculosis, aged just 54. The tradition of singing the revered hymn goes back to 1927 when King George V was at Wembley for the FA Cup Final and wanted it sung. It has been sung at the Final ever since and is one of the rituals of the British football calendar. Given that it's sung by the masses in the midst of a sporting occasion celebrating the life of our physical bodies, it's perhaps an odd time to sing about death and remind us all that we will all one day face life's final whistle and die. 'Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day' starts verse 2.

The hymn, also popular at funerals, celebrates the Christian hope of eternal life: 'Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me'.

For many people today watching and playing sport is like a religion. The Puritans believed play was a distraction from more worthy pursuits. Time was a precious gift from God and had to be invested carefully and with an eye to its productive outcome. So spending time playing was not time well-spent and could lead to laziness and we will have to give account to God as to whether we spent our time productively or not.

For the majority of us who aren't professional sports men and women, play doesn't earn us an income – so what's its point? It doesn't produce anything tangible, it doesn't earn us money to pay for food to eat in order to survive. Work has to be done, play is non-essential!

We might think of other reasons why play and sport is not good for us: it brings out the competitive nature in us and we see our opponents as enemies whether it be playing scrabble, ice hockey or something so seemingly innocuous as croquet; it tempts us to cheat and have a win-at-all-costs mentality. There are many reasons why recreational and professional sport is a microcosm of our human fallenness and evidence of our sin that has perverted God's originally good creation.

But play and sport also enables us to honour God's good creation of our bodies and minds when we exercise and engage them. When we use our energy, skill, power, ability and talent we are giving glory back to God because we are magnifying the powerful image of God within us. So we do not need to feel guilty about spending time playing! Play has so many positives – it helps us temporarily forget about the pressures and problems of life, it's recreational, it keeps us fit, it's fun, it's relaxing, it exercises care of our bodies, it releases the stress in us, it helps us avoid workaholism, it is an outlet for the aggression in us that might otherwise build up and manifest itself in other ungodly ways, it is character building and helps us show godly characteristics, it teaches us to be honest, disciplined, to respect the opponent and referee/umpire, and to be gracious in defeat and humble in victory.

While it is certainly possible that play and sport will cease to exist in the afterlife of the eternal New Creation, it may be more accurate to anticipate instead some new, perfected forms of play and sport which flawlessly express our blissful and harmonious existence, dwelling in perfect peace with God our Creator.

But we're not there yet and for those of us who are still here in this present life we must learn to play not just to beat an opponent, but ultimately to maximise the God-given potential of our bodies. Play and pray!