A Game of God

Not many people in my world of connections have heard of Maximus the Confessor.  I am sure I never heard of him until I was in graduate school.  Since then, he has become an important resource.  He lived primarily in the seventh century.  He was born in Constantinople (modern Istanbul).  He became a luminary of the Orthodox Church, the counterpart to the Roman Catholic Church.  The thing I really like about the Orthodox Church---sometimes divided up among Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc.---is how grounded they are in the early church and the church fathers (and mothers) of that period. 

Maximus is part of an anthology I am reading as a possible resource for a class I teach.  Bumping into him and reading his thoughts reminded me how much of a treasure he is.  I want to share one particular focus for both its insight and persuasiveness.  It comes in a section where he is dealing with two major issues: salvation and the eucharist (holy communion).  Maximus provides a summary, which is where I will begin.   

Maximus says, “The whole world is a game of God.  As one amuses children with flowers and bright colored clothes and then gets them later used to more serious games, literary studies, so God raises us up first of all by the great game of nature, then by the Scriptures (with their poetic symbols).  Beyond the symbols of Scripture is the Word…” (77) There are many noteworthy elements here, which I would like to breakdown and address. 

The first thing that hit me was the image for our God and our world.  Life in our world is like a game of God.  I suppose we could be miffed at this image as ridiculous and frivolous.  Spiritual folks, who are sourpusses, probably take this angle.  But they are no fun to be with, so I will leave them to sulk in their corners!  I rather like the fact that life is a game and I am one of the players.  Certainly, there are serious things going on in life---no debating that.  But surely, there also is some levity. 

I never want to forget that finally Christianity is a comedy, not a tragedy.  Finally, it is not a story of sadness and defeat.  Clearly, there was sadness and death, but in the end it is a story about healing, life and, I dare say, laughter.  I like to think about Christianity (and maybe all major religious traditions) being an ironic joke.  It all turns out well in the end, which is the definition of a comedy.  We all applause and go home! 

So God has created a game.  Maximus gives us a hint how it works.  And delightfully, he uses kids to make the first point.  He begins by describing how children are amused.  I trust that we adults never lose our capacity to be amused.  Of course, that is a real risk of growing old: we become so realistic---or serious---that we are never amused any more.  We lose our curiosity, our sense of adventure and capacity for wonder.  We no longer play games.  Life is too serious for that ridiculousness.  For these kinds of folks, religion is not kid-stuff. 

But kids are amused.  Kids are amused by things like flowers and bright colors.  I don’t know whether Maximus would have intended it, but this is a funny way of saying to all of us “serious adults,” don’t be turned off by the color in life and of life.  Don’t get to the place where all is drab.  It reminds me of entering the old East Germany back in the Communist days.  The first thing that hit me as I moved from West Berlin into East Berlin was the drabness and the lack of color.  I never want to live a life like that! 

So God uses flowers and bright colors to educate kids to get ready for more advanced engagement---more serious studies.  We learn to read and think at a deeper, more abstract level.  The God of flowers and bright colors is now understood in more abstract ways.  That God now is seen as the God who loves, who demands justice, etc.   

I think it is a similar kind of growth in the world of spirituality.  And this is what the second part of the quotation discusses.  Instead of flowers and bright colors, God uses nature as our early training focus.  Nature is the game of God.  Like kids, we can play around with nature and play in nature.  If we do this playing with awareness, we will be led to understand we actually are in the very Presence of God.   

You don’t actually have to do anything to get to God.  You are already there.  Again the joke is on us, when we become aware enough to realize it---to get it.  Sure we can sulk about the stupidity of this game.  Or like me, I can laugh with relief that I was there all along.  Why not laugh and have a good time.  We are already where we wanted to go.   

If we want to do graduate studies, then we turn to scripture and learn the stories and the theology behind the game.  But Maximus is clever.  He knows that delving deeper and deeper into the scriptures and other sophisticated writing only takes us into the reality of God---which we already knew when we relished our participation in nature itself. 

I like this game of God!