Holy Humor Sunday. As we noted a year ago, if you are not
familiar with the concept, it is only because your experience has
not been in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is based on the
understanding that the resurrection of Jesus is God's ultimate
cosmic joke on all the forces of evil and death. We bring bells
and noisemakers to worship and use them heartily at any points in
the service that reflect celebration - "alleluia," "praise,"
"rejoice." The resurrection is comedy of the best sort, the
unexpected reversal of expectations. Mary comes to the tomb on
Easter morning expecting to find a dead body. Her train of
thought keeps barreling along one track, and she almost literally
stumbles over the risen Lord. Humor of the highest order.
Resurrection reverses the expectation of gloom and doom in the
face of death and instead brings celebration. Party Time! Blow
the horns! Ring those bells!
Doesn't sound much like church, does it? Oliver Wendell
Holmes once said, "I might have entered the ministry if certain
clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like
undertakers." Robert Louis Stevenson once entered in his diary,
as if he was recording an extraordinary phenomenon, "I have been
to church today, and am not depressed." Amazing!
How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?
- If you are Charismatic: Only one. Your hands are already
in the air.
- Baptist: At least 15. One to change the light bulb, and
three committees to approve the change and decide who brings
the potato salad.
- Catholic: None. Candles, only candles.
- Episcopalian: Eight. One to call the electrician, and
seven to say how much better they liked the old one.
- Methodist: Undetermined. Whether your light is bright,
dull, or completely out, you are loved - you can be a light
bulb, tulip bulb or a turnip bulb - you are loved.
- Nazarene: Six. One woman to replace the bulb while five
men review church lighting policy.
- TV evangelist: Just one. But for the message of light to
continue, pick up that phone and pledge your support today.
- Amish: What's a light bulb?
- And finally, Presbyterians: Change? My grandmother gave
that light bulb!!!
After the baptism of his baby brother in church, little
Johnny sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His
father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally the boy
replied, "That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a
Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you guys."
Tom Mullen, a modern theologian of laughter, wrote a book
with the intriguing title, Seriously, Life is a Laughing Matter.(1)
Tom takes on that common vision of religion as restrictive,
punitive, and dour that implies that Christian faith is like
going to the dentist - if it is good for us, it is supposed to
hurt. Tom disagrees. So do I.
Our scripture lesson does too. Listen again:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth
into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can
never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you,
who through faith are shielded by God's power until the
coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in
the last time. In this you GREATLY REJOICE, though now
for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in
all kinds of trials.
Yes, there are trials. We know that. The news this week is
grim. War rages at the site of Jesus' birth as Palestinian
refugees seek sanctuary in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
The man who has rung the bell at the church faithfully for 30
years - a Palestinian Christian - is dead of a sniper's bullet
this week. Even young girls are now strapping explosives to
their bodies, making their way into populous shopping or eating
areas and blowing themselves up. And 9/11 looms over it all. Or
the trials might be personal and private as jobs disappear,
children disappoint, or families fail. But the word of God says
those trials are not the last word. Salvation is.
Do you know what that means? Salvation? Lots of people do
not. It is a "churchy" word that is often misunderstood as pie-in-the-sky, bye-and-bye - salvation equals fire insurance. Not
really. Salvation is so much more. The word comes to us from a
Latin root, salus, which has nothing to do with life after death;
it means HEALTH or WHOLENESS. It is very similar in meaning to
the Hebrew word shalom which folks over-simplify in translation
as PEACE because it too carries the idea of WHOLENESS. And it
begins here and now. Study after study insists that a positive
mental outlook, an optimistic view of the future is crucial to
health and wholeness...salvation. That means, for you and me,
salvation has already begun. We can have all the confidence, all
the optimism anyone would ever need because, you see, we know how
the story finally ends - not with the whine of missiles or the
whimper of war-ravaged children, but with the 'tidings of great
joy,' first heard over Bethlehem and the Hallelujah Chorus sung
by the hosts of heaven. Rejoice! We have all the reason in this
world...and the next one too!
I like the way the lesson closes: "Though you have not seen
him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you
believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious
joy, for you are receiving (present tense) the goal of your faith
(and what is that?) the salvation of your souls."
Interesting, isn't it? Perhaps we Christians CAN be seen as
a bit odd: we love someone we have never seen; we daily speak to
someone we do not hear aloud. We are strongest when we are
weakest and richest when we are poorest. We die so that we might
live and give away so we can keep. We see the invisible, hear
the inaudible, and know that which is beyond knowledge.(2)
Christian. Strange? No. We just know the end of the story, and
that makes all the difference.
In a moment, we will gather at the Lord's Table, normally a
reverent and solemn occasion despite the fact that we say we are
CELEBRATING the Lord's Supper and the liturgy begins, "This is
the JOYFUL feast of the people of God." Most often, the church's
observance more resembles a funeral than a festival. How do we
get beyond that on this Holy Humor Sunday? I admit I was tempted
to substitute Doritos and Pepsi for the bread and the wine, but
in the interest of preventing heart attacks and insulin shock, I
stayed with the conventional (although our serving pieces will be
non-traditional). But to help us focus on what this time of
worship is all about, I leave you with this one true out-of-the-mouths-of-babes reminder. Years ago, back in the days before
Presbyterians welcomed young children to participate at the
Lord's Table (we did not think they knew enough to partake - we
were wrong), the church I was serving had communion one Sunday.
After the worship was over, as I prepared to leave the sanctuary
with my three-year-old son, David looked up and asked, "Daddy,
when will I be big enough to come to the party?" Did not know
enough? Ha! Here was a toddler who knew as well as anyone what
was supposed to be going on..."the joyful feast."
Kids, of whatever age, you are welcome now. Let the
celebration begin. It is Party Time!!!
Amen!
1. Waco, TX : Word Books, 1978
2. A.W. Tozer
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