How about them apples?

A common 'side-game' with Apples to Apples
is that your green card's describe you.  This is usually quite funny.

Way back in the mid-1990’s  I sold upscale toys in a trendy neighborhood. By upscale I mean Brio trains and Madame Alexander dolls and hundred-dollar tricycles designed by Porshe.  It was local and stuffed to the brim with more toys and games than you can imagine.  Perhaps the best part was when game company sales representatives would visit the store after hours with pizza, beer and new games. I am still friends with a co-worker from that store, and I suspect that the opportunities to play together on an everyday basis bound us together more than co-workers in other jobs. 

It was during that time when I first encountered the game Apples to Apples.  It was just a big box of cards, and not nearly as large as the contemporary version.  No pieces to move, no international brand...'so what' was my first thought.   My retail days are long past, however I suspect that I have sold hundreds of the games since. It is my nearly fail safe, absolutely necessary, but not necessarily religious, ministry tool.  I lug that big box along on every trip, every retreat.  A local grocery store put them on clearance, and I bought four!   If you haven't played the game it is basically about comparisons and subjectivity; it is a simple game that is hard to explain, so I won't try.  I have played the game with youth for over 4 hours straight; I have enjoyed it with nearly 20 people (not the best way to play, btw) while lounging in the shade at choir camp, used it in pastoral work and even made up my own Harry Potter version for camp.  Many people young and mature are drawn to the mental playground, of the game.  It isn't for everybody, however it does seem to be for a lot of folks in my life and work.

In the time since I first opened that small cream box, Apples to Apples expanded their editions, produced a Junior version and won awards from Mensa and Parent's Choice. Eventually the rights were sold to Mattel, who now sell the game at every department store, plus there are now Bible (which should be called Bible and Christian history), Jewish, multi-lingual, and dice based versions.  There was even a Wendy’s toy prize give away.  Still, it remains a blessed favorite.  Why? Because it sets up a 'playground for transcendence', it asks people to make decisions and relate to one another on a deeper level. It makes people laugh, it creates connection, and it requires moral judgment.  Apples to Apples challenges us to consider our knowledge of ourselves, our companions and the world we live in.  Forming faithful lives that seek justice and serve the common good can be supported by something as silly as a card game of comparisons.  We need to draw stiff hands into the work of redemption,  and one way to do this is through playfulness.  The impact of Montessori based formation shouldn’t end at the atrium door.  Play matters for faith formation.  What we should strive for is the type of playfulness that is a place and time set apart from the forces of competition, perfectionism and individuality. Ministries of formation for all ages need moments where we can playfully draw from the ethical lessons of the past and consider the moral demands of the future; we need a time where these critical theological thinking can be played out with our friends and neighbors.  So what ways does playfulness build up your works of faith formation?