No fun is no fun

“A little footling round about, will stop you going up the spout.” Mr Willie Wonka. He was right, was Mr Wonka. Too much seriousness and not enough fun is really no good at all. Too many frown-line, wrinkly things on your forehead telling all and sundry that your brain is overloaded and weighed down with heavy stuff. Not good. Not enough fun. Very bad.

How about this? Ever been in a meeting that has gone on for far too long in a room far too small with not enough windows and the funky smell of boredom and cold coffee? Ever been in that kind of meeting and been so despairing and in much need of fun that mischievous plans and schemes fill the void in your mind? That frustration fuelled urge inside of you to jump upon the meeting table and at the top of your voice sing the entire version of “Everybody Dance Now” by the C+C Music Factory. Or maybe just slowly pack up all of your things, bid farewell to your companions and spootle out of the door with a Dickensian skip and a jump. Or maybe offer a large, extended 12 inch edit remix version of a yawn complete with reverb and echo finished off with a loud and proud “booooooooorrrrring”. Not me, I’ve never done any of those things, but oh have I been so close on so many occasions. No fun is not fun.

At Redeemer one of our core values is fun. We don’t like that assumed unwritten rule of Christianity that the moment you become a follower of Jesus you must adopt a position of semi-glumness and seriousness. After all, isn’t one of the underpinning values of the Kingdom of God, Joy? See Romans chapter 14 verse 7. Isn’t the very character of our God saturated with Joy? Do we really think that Jesus floated around the Middle East 2000 years ago with 12 tough lads, spending days on the road, sleeping and eating together without cracking a few jokes around the fire and having a laugh? There are some strange views on this. One of our team was even handed a tract by some ‘missionaries‘ on the streets of Belfast a few weeks ago which claimed that fun is an idol that Jesus can deliver you from!     

On a Wednesday night at our midweek meeting we always give a good bit of time at the beginning for people just to hang out. It’s there that you can hear it the air. You can pick out laughter above the gentle hum of conversation. You can see frowns being usurped by beaming smiles. Jokes being passed around, “…did you hear what happened to me” kind of stories. It’s a sound I look forward to hearing every week - it’s the sound of fun. He was right was Wonka “a little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.”

Comments

i would opt for the ‘booooooorrring’. i think i already have…

i also appreciate that at Redeemer we also don’t have church fun. ie: board game night. bowling.

you know lame things. we have real, normal fun. the kind of fun that i’m not embarrassed to invite my other friends to.

so cheers Redeemer, way to be awesome.

By Leah Gallant. Posted on Sunday 4th Oct 2009 at 23:47

great comment - Pastor Scott Thomas on Sunday was excellent on this - He talked about holding onto the cross while reaching the lost - check it out on the resources page.

....If someone genuinely wanted to play board games though (why I dont know!)  and they were not saved ...  I would play with them…......to be honest if somebody wanted to watch paint dry I’d sit with them…...

...here’s to being missional!

By David Capener. Posted on Monday 5th Oct 2009 at 09:55

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