Recently I was reading Psalm 104, which is one of my favorite Psalms.  It is a glorious hymn of praise to God as creator.  You can read it as a prayer to God and I highly recommend that you try doing just that.  I’ve read this Psalm dozens of times in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP), but what struck my eye during my most recent reading was in this little section (vss. 24-26): 

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the great and wide sea
with its living things too many to number,
creatures both small and great.
There move the ships,
and there is that Leviathan,
which you have made for the sport of it.

If you look this up in most translations of the Bible you will find verse 26 refers to the Leviathan (sea monster) ‘sporting’ or ‘playing’ in the sea.  The BCP, however, renders the verse differently.  It says that God made the great sea monster ‘for the sport of it.’  I love that.  I can believe that God made the sea monsters and the whales, the crocodiles, the elephants and hippopotami for the sport of it – just for fun!*

And you know what else?  I think God made us just for the sport of it too.  Creation isn’t necessary.  God didn’t have to make the Leviathan or Lynn.  God didn’t need anything.  God is sufficient in God’s self.  Nevertheless, God – out of an overflowing love – creates a cosmos to invest with love:  Leviathans and lizards and each of us, made for the sport of it and for the sake of love.

Prayer:Creator God, how manifold are your works and how lavish is your loving care over all your creation!  Thank you for the love that brought worlds into being and which brings even the dead to life.  Amen.

*This is not necessarily a bad translation.  The literal reading is: “There the ships pass, and Leviathan which you formed to play (or frolic or sport).”  The preposition which is translated “to” play could also be translated “for” play, depending on the context and the judgment of the translator.  Remember, every translation is also, to some degree, an interpretation.