"How You Play The Game" by Frank Ramirez
"Platypus" by Keith Hewitt
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How You Play The Game
by Frank Ramirez
Mark 8:31-38
For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? (Mark 8:36)
Is there a household that doesn’t have a copy of the game Monopoly? Or maybe even two or three?
It seems there is version for everyone’s taste -- the classic game, or one based on your state or favorite university, or built around a movie franchise. There are even unauthorized versions.
No doubt you’re familiar with the game. Players role dice, travel around the board, try to avoid going to jail, collect a couple hundred dollars every time they pass Go, all the while attempting to buy properties, create monopolies on certain street, and force everyone else into bankruptcy while growing rich.
Oh. And there’s one more thing. For you to win everyone else has to lose.
You may have read the story of the game’s origins, how at the height of the Great Depression of the 1930’s one individual devised a game in which properties were bought and sold, and how friends and families enjoyed the fantasy of actually having money and property so much they played for hours.
Soon others wanted copies of the game. At first the company that manufactures the game was reluctant to produce it. The game took too long and the rules were complicated. But eventually the game made the inventor and the manufacturer rich on the way to its becoming the most popular board game in the world.
Most of this may be true as far as it goes, but historians and game enthusiasts have been telling a much more complicated story in recent years.
Long before the Great Depression a woman named Elizabeth “Lizzie” M. Magie Philips, who was something of an inventor as well as a game designer, designed what she called “The Landlord’s Game.” There were properties to be bought and sold, a bank, a railroad, along with water and light utilities. On one corner was a square reading “No Trespassing. Go to Jail.” There was also a corner marked Public Park (perhaps the precursor to Free Parking), and though there was no square marked “Go,” you did receive a hundred dollars for completing a circuit of the board. The game was not played until bankruptcy. Instead, everyone went around the board ten times, then retired.
There were differences too, such as spots marked “Legacy” and “Luxury”, but those who indulged in luxury discovered there were consequences to high living at the end of the game.
Regardless of who was the richest at the game’s conclusion, it was possible for all the players to do well. It was not necessary to force everyone else into bankruptcy in order to win.
It was Lizzie’s hope that her game would teach children about the dangers of economic inequality. Lizzie believed children would learn how unfair the system could be, and how those who owned more could easily take advantage of those who owned less.
Over thirty years before Monopoly first appeared “The Landlord’s Game” was described in an article printed in 1902, received a patent in 1904, and was manufactured in 1906.
Ironically, when she received the sum of $500 from the manufacturer of Monopoly for the rights to her version of the game, she was thrilled. She was convinced that regardless of how much money she herself made on the game, children would see how unfair life could be and that they would strive to be more fair in the way they treated each other.
Uh, maybe not....
Monopoly has gone on to sell millions and millions of sets. Considering the cuthroat nature of many who play the game, it’s not clear how many, if any, of the people who have played the game have learned a lesson about treating others fairly, turning the other cheek, and finding a way for everyone, rather than just one, to win the game!
Might not Jesus be suggesting that it may be more important how you play the game than whether you win it when he said, “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (Mark 8:36)
(For more on this subject you might read Mary Pilon’s book The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal behind the World’s Favorite Board Game, or the short article she wrote, “Game Changer,” for the January 15 issue of The Smithsonian, pp 9-10. Or just Google the topic to learn about the roots of Monopoly and The Landlord’s Game).
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
Platypus
by Keith Hewitt
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
In four thousand years it would be called a truck stop. But for now, here on the plain of Jordan, there were no trucks, no paved roads, and no diners catering to drivers. Instead, there were the frequent caravans that carried the bulk of the date trade; the men who led and protected them; and a few places on the outside of town that catered to them, offering them a cleaner place to sleep, hot food, and reasonably priced companionship.
Curiously, there was one place set slightly apart from the others, which never seemed to be frequented by the caravans. Part of the reason for the indifferent patronage may have been that the entrance was marked by a sign?a clear indication that this was some sort of upper-class wannabe business, as virtually no one in the town or passing through could read. If they could have, the sign which said simply “Peace” in Sumerian, cuneiform, and Egyptian hieroglyphs, might have seemed quite odd.
But not half as odd, perhaps, as the patrons?
The traveler arrived shortly after dark, and glanced around the large common room that took up most of the ground floor. At the center, an oven glowed in the gloomy half-light, giving off an almost irresistible aroma of baking bread; two or three figures sat at the table nearest to it, talking with quiet earnestness. To his left, behind a rough wooden bar, a bartender was rinsing out mugs and putting them up to dry. To his right, in the corner, a lone figure sat at a small table, barely illuminated by the flickering lamp.
The traveler?call him Jeremiel; his real name cannot be duplicated by human vocal cords?caught the bartender’s eye and nodded, then nodded again toward the table. The bartender flashed a thumbs-up, and Jeremiel hung up his cloak on a peg next to the door, then hurried across the room to the far table. The bartender was just a step or two behind, with two mugs of something that could be considered beer?a fermented grain drink?but it was like nothing Milwaukee had ever seen.
“Thanks,” he said, sitting down.
“Don’t forget to tip,” the bartender grunted, and picked up the three empty mugs, carried them away without another word.
Jeremiel chuckled softly as he raised one of the mugs to his lips, took a sip of the thick brew and shivered. “I will never get used to this stuff,” he said thoughtfully.
“And yet, you keep trying,” his companion at the table observed, raising en eyebrow as Jeremiel took a second sip. “So, how did it go?”
Jeremiel leaned back in his seat and smiled, shaking his head slightly. “It was?amazing. Absolutely amazing. You should have seen his face.”
“The Old Man?”
“The human?Abram. Abraham,” he repeated, correcting himself. “You should have seen his face when the Old Man gave him the news?that he was going to make a covenant with him, and make him the father of many nations, and kings who would rule them.”
“Surprised?”
“That’s not the word for it. Remember Noah?when we told him that there was going to be a flood, and he was going to have to build an ark to save his family? That was the face. Like shock, fear, and happiness all rolled into one. Like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but he couldn’t doubt it, either.”
His companion snickered. “If I was a hundred year old human with a barren wife, I wouldn’t believe it, either.”
“Ninety-nine,” Jeremiel corrected playfully. “You know, that year will make all the difference.”
“I’m sure.”
“Anyway, the Old Man convinced him this was all on the up and up, so I think everything is going to be OK. He’s going to have a son, Isaac, and I’m sure everything will go right after that. With so much hanging in the balance?the covenant, and all?I’m sure Abraham’s descendants will do a great job at whatever the Old Man has planned for them.” He fell silent, then, for a moment, took another long sip of brew. “And what is planned for them, anyway?”
“Why ask me?”
“Because you supervise us Messengers. You’re hooked into the right rumor mills. You know what’s going on. What’s planned for these people?”
His companion shrugged. “You heard the Old Man?Abraham will be the ancestor of many nations, and there will be a covenant between them and God, and he they will give rise to kings, and will have a land of their own forever.” He looked closely at Jeremiel. “That’s what you heard, right? That’s what the Old Man said?”
“Yes, of course.”
“So there you go.”
“But why? What’s so important about this man, these people?”
There was a long silence before his companion stirred and said quietly, “That’s on a need to know basis, Jeremiel. And you don’t need to know.”
“But it’s such a beautiful plan?why can’t we know what the plan is for?”
“When the Old Man created the stars and the planets, did you need to know why?”
Jeremiel shrugged. “No. We just went along with it.”
“And it worked out. When he created mankind, did you need to know why?”
“No. I mean, it was kind of weird, but no. But you have to admit they’ve been a lot of trouble.”
“Granted.”
“So I knew there were reasons for what he did, and I accepted them. But I remember when I came to you about the platypus, and you just said, ‘Trust him, Jeremiel.’ And I did, and it’s worked out OK?but an egg laying mammal? That took real faith.”
“Then just accept that there is a reason for this, too. A very good reason. But you’ll have to wait a couple of thousand years to find out.”
“So it’s the platypus all over again, eh? Just wait and see.”
His companion smiled faintly. “I’m afraid so. But don’t worry?when this platypus egg hatches, it will be the birth of something completely new. Something the world has never seen.”
Jeremiel frowned. “What’s that?”
“Hope.” His companion said simply. “Hope. And that makes it worth the wait.”
Keith Hewitt is the author of two volumes of NaTiVity Dramas: Nontraditional Christmas Plays for All Ages (CSS). Keith's newest book NaTiVity Dramas: The Third Season will be published September 2012. He is a local pastor, co-youth leader, former Sunday school teacher, and occasional speaker at Christian events. He lives in southeastern Wisconsin with his wife, two children, and assorted dogs and cats.
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StoryShare, March 1, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
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