Have you played Wordle yet? I first heard about it on Twitter, when a couple of friends started posting mysterious colored blocks. Then came a New York Times article about how the creator, Josh Wardle, created it for his partner as a way to show love for her and their shared affinity for word games. Soon, my social media feeds were filled with these colorful squares.
If you aren't familiar with it, it's a free online game where the player gets six chances to figure out what that day's five-letter word is. It's the same word for everyone. And you only get one word (one game) per day. You get clues along the way: a correct letter not in the right spot shows up as gold; the right letter in the right spot is green. Letters that aren't in the answer at all are grayed out on the keyboard once they've been guessed. It's luck and strategy and simple.
There are a lot of theories about the popularity of the game. One is how slow, low-stakes, and almost quaint it is. It's not a timed game; you can take as long as you'd like. Once you've played that day's game, it's finished; that's all. It doesn't demand or tempt you into giving more and more time looking at a screen. Many folks share that day's outcome (colored squares showing their progression, as to not spoil the game for anyone who hasn't played yet) on various social media platforms or text it to a group of friends who are also playing. That fun communal element makes this game special, too.
Wordle reminds me of spiritual disciplines: there's a daily centering rhythm to it; it's calming but can be challenging; other people are engaging in it as well. Since I started playing, I've played 52 games/days in a row. The phenomenon of so many people playing this simple game day after day is reminding me of how it is possible for you and me to engage in daily prayer practices. Sometimes we get wrapped up in notions of praying wrong or not enough to the point that we just don't. Or we don't open ourselves up to a new way of praying for the same reason. It all feels so high-stakes at times. Preparing or psyching yourself out about Wordle isn't helpful, just like with prayer.
Prayer is slow and simple. There's not a right way or a wrong way. Showing up each morning to pray can be just as easy as showing up each day to play a simple word game. This Lent, UCC is focusing on spiritual disciplines. Leading up to Easter, we'll lean into regular prayer, deepening our connection to God. We'll try out prayer practices like contemplative prayer, sabbath-keeping, and self-examination -- practices that will possibly challenge us some days and will most definitely renew us most days. Rev. Heidi Haverkamp recently wrote that "A spiritual discipline is supposed to help us grow in wisdom and love, not to grow in how well we keep the spiritual discipline." Let's keep that in mind this season as we try new things. Be easy with yourselves and each other, and in addition to sharing our Wordle scores, let's share how our Lenten journeys are unfolding.
Blessings,
Pastor Megan