Sab- (or) Holy Snugglebunnies, part III
Richard M. Wright
(Warning: This article contains mature content.)
(Note: This article was first written for the church newsletter. Because it was going to a broad audience I used the euphemism “snugglebunnies”. Some parents with young children might feel that “look, I’m not afraid to talk about sex, but I was hoping to give my 6 year old a couple more years before explaining it”. However – here on the Internet… I could very comfortably switch out snugglebunnies for “sex”. Cut me some slack.)
(The Sab- is going somewhere. Trust me.)
There is a theological theme that has been… Play.
Many years ago during that tender first year I bought a book called The New Joy of Snugglebunnies* by Alex Comfort. Have hardly looked at it since then. But I will never forget something the author states in the introductory chapter. That snugglebunnies is for adults a “form of play.” (It is much more than that of course. But let me focus on that important insight. Snugglebunnies is fun. Play-ful.)
A few weeks ago I shared how Kevin Carroll – one of the speakers at the Catalyst Conference in Georgia – said adults do not play enough. (Not referring to snugglebunnies.) What if modern Western technological society… what if our culture… does not allow enough time/opportunity/permission for play? For children as well as adults? What happens if the deep human need for play goes unfulfilled?
Let us put the pieces together. Human beings need play. The need for play goes unsatisfied. Snugglebunnies is a form of play.
Then perhaps human beings will sometimes meet that need through forms of snugglebunnies that are broken and distorted. Before marriage. Not within marriage. Not with anybody. Hurt others. Hurt themselves. And so on.
Dare we consider that failure to play enough… perhaps even the failure to practice Sab- keeping… is one of the causes of s’ual sin? Our exceptional minister with youth recently urged dads to pay attention to their daughters – or their daughters might try to meet that need elsewhere and less appropriately. Perhaps we can say, “Parents – play with your kids!”
Speaking of Sab- keeping and snugglebunnies… Turns out the Jewish rabbis taught that snugglebunnies on Sab- is actually a mitzvah. A commandment. That one of the benefits of observing a whole day of rest/play/prayer/worship is it provides time/opportunity/permission for snugglebunnies. (No books to recommend. Go write your own.)
Children or not… married or single… do we play enough?
*(Borrowed from Opus the Penguin, “Broome County”)
