No Nick

Usually I would be delighted that the children's TV station Nickelodeon hsd shut down for three hours to encourage its viewers outside to play - but we have decided to resort to Monopoly for our play as we are still inside in the hospital - but hopefully home today.

Play seems basic to children - running around outside is something I certainly did a lot of. But then we grow up and forget that basic skill of play -we become serious and work oriented as if that part of us which used to run free has gone altogether.

Imagination and even play are vital parts of faith. The development of play based Christian Education curricula like Godly Play and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd should remind us that a basic learning tool is experimentation and living into the story.

Yet, if I said I was "playing my faith" folk would assume I was not taking it seriously - that somehow I might not be very sensible or even very trustworthy. There are times, of course, for the more adult behaviors in life - I am not suggesting we all turn into over-excited five year olds. But I am saying that in all facets of our Christian Life there has to be space for imagination, space to wonder and space to allow ourselves to play.

God is very big and the exploration of divinity requires us to engage all of us - including that part which we so often ignore - the sometimes awkward, often seeking and always playful, child.