Party Games

I heard on the radio today from a local supplier of party materials (hats, poppers, costumes, helium balloons etc) that parents were trying to outdo each other with children's parties and the aim was to impress other parents rather than children. This was presented as a news item as if it was something new!

 

Oneupmanship has been rife probably for as long as there have been parents and children, in one form or another, and I can remember from my own children's youth how a parent would hire a conjurer or some act or have a mini-disco or anything special to make it better than other parties.

 

They didn;t mention the academic or sporting competition, where there is again "my child is brighter / more sporty than yours" is also there, and also "my children goes to snobs academy, where does your's go?".

 

As my eldest is severely autistic, and goes to Mont A L'Abbe special needs school, I usually mention that at this point in the conversation, which kills of that ridiculous game at once. How can a parent boast about their child's achievements over yours when yours is handicapped? It throws into sharp light all the foolish values which are being pushed, all the "better than" goes out of the window.

 

Wordly games often take the form of this kind of competition, but Christianity says that God is found in weakness, not power:

 

Let your mind dwell upon Bethlehem , and your Christmas festivity can include every bereaved and suffering family in our land. And in every third world country, every country traumatized by war, the only kind of God who makes sense is the one who is never on the side of the big battalions and knows nothing of that sort of power, but can say with literal age-long truth, I was hungry, I was naked, I was in prison. There is no contradiction between this Christmas message and the people's agonized and invincible hope.

Let your mind dwell upon Bethlehem , and the weakness of God will command your worship more than the images of his omnipotence ever did. I recall a wistful Muslim from Pakistan who said: 'I did not want to change my religion. I did not want to join the church. I am a Christian for one reason only. Having seen Christ, I can worship no one else. And if ever someone proved to me that, after all, God is not like what I see in Jesus, I should turn atheist. I had rather kneel down and worship the next little child that offered me its stick of candy out of love.'

From "The True Image of God" in The Incarnate God by John V. Taylor (Continuum, 2003).