Dear Fellow Preachers:
Now that another hectic Lent season has culminated with the observance of Christ's resurrection on Easter Sunday, it's natural for both preachers and congregations to be weary and distracted -- and that's often reflected in the pews on the Sunday after Easter. One way to keep up everyone's energy and interest is to celebrate this Sunday as "Holy Humor Sunday," and in this week's installment of The Immediate Word, team member Thom Shuman considers the growing popularity and theological underpinnings of this refreshing approach. After all, raising Jesus from the grave is God's ultimate "joke" on death and sin!
Team member Steve McCutchan offers another approach to the week's lectionary texts, focusing on some of the issues raised for Christians by our country's response to immigrants, including who truly owns the land. Illustrations are also provided for both the main and alternate topics, as well as a special liturgy for Holy Humor Sunday and a children's sermon.
Low Sunday!
Slow Sunday!
"Oh No" Sunday!
by Thom M. Shuman
The Sunday following Easter is one which most preachers dread -- why else would so many associates or guest preachers be in the pulpit that day? The Sunday following the great highs and crowds of Easter Day is one which many churches don't know what to do with -- why else is Youth Sunday scheduled then? Traditionally known as Low Sunday, due to diminished attendance, offerings, and liturgy, the Second Sunday of Eastertide is a challenge to every congregation. One way many churches are seeking to "resurrect" this day from the doldrums is to celebrate Holy Humor Sunday.
THE WORLD
From Jack Paar to Johnny Carson, from Gracie Allen to Paula Poundstone, from Richard Pryor to Dave Chappelle, humor has always been a way for people to deal with the tensions, the news, the struggles of the world in which we live. Journalists, psychologists, doctors, teachers, even preachers know that laughter is good for us; laughter releases tensions; laughter can cause creative outbursts; laughter can bring about a positive outlook; laughter does every single one of us a world of good! According to Aristotle, a person didn't laugh for the first time until after their fortieth day on earth, and only then(!) did you become fully human! The Navajo have a special rite of singing and dancing to celebrate the first laugh of a baby.
So why shouldn't the church join in on the laughter? Why shouldn't every preacher have a chance to be Jay Leno or David Letterman? Why shouldn't good, old-fashioned belly laughs be considered appropriate offerings to our God? After all, early church theologians like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom believed that Easter was God's supreme joke played on death; Jesus being raised from the dead was a great practical joke played on the devil.
In the 1200s, Orthodox Christians often celebrated the resurrection of Jesus for the entire week following Easter Sunday to the next Saturday. "Bright" week was filled with parties, picnics, feasts, joke-telling, and good-natured pranks. Other Christian traditions held parties on the day after Easter ("Bright Monday") as another way to give thanks for the good news of Easter. Sadly, between the efforts of such folks as Pope Clement X, who prohibited such practices, and the Reformers, who were so serious about everything (admit it... ever seen a picture of Calvin, Knox, or Luther smiling?), the laughter soon went out of Easter.
But if the God we worship is One who "sits in the heavens and laughs" (Psalm 2:4); if a "cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones" (Proverbs 17:22); if someone like Paul is willing to be a "fool for Christ's sake" (1 Corinthians 4:10) -- then maybe it is time for us to bring back laughter and joy into the house of God. That's the purpose of Holy Humor Sunday: to continue the energy and enthusiasm of Easter, to continue to sing the glad songs of life and hope, to celebrate God's grace flowing out of the darkened tomb.
 ANOTHER VIEW
by Stephen P. McCutchan
I think the continued outpouring of Hispanics and their supporters in recent protest marches has surprised everyone across the country. While Congress decided that their two-week vacation was a higher priority than finishing an immigration bill, they will eventually return to work and complete some type of reform addressing the issue of some 12 million immigrants in this country who provide labor in many of our labor-intensive industries. Individual states are also passing their own laws, some of them more punitive than others. How should Christians respond to such issues?
Psalm 133, offered to us by our lectionary, celebrates the preciousness of community: "How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!... For there the Lord has ordained his blessing, life forevermore." In Genesis there is a statement of God's conclusion that it is not good for a human to be alone (Genesis 2:18). We are meant for community, but we live in a world that constantly pulls at our community bonds. This emphasis on God's purpose of healing the breaches that separate humanity is again reiterated by Paul: "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us" (2 Corinthians 5:19). As the psalmist suggests, God's presence becomes visible and productive where people dwell together, enriching and refreshing each other under God's guidance. All attempts to demonstrate our goodness that result in division of community are a failure to discover the blessing of God that produces the fullness of life (Psalm 133:3b). We cannot love God and hate our neighbor (1 John 4:20). If we do that, it is a failure to receive the precious gift of God which results in human community where we never have to be alone.
At the core of our faith is an emphasis on Christian community. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to calculate how many undocumented immigrants are also Christian. What is our responsibility toward our Christian brothers and sisters? The passage the lectionary offers us from 1 John (1:1--2:2) is a strong challenge to those who would try to justify the ill treatment of immigrants on the basis of their being categorized as illegal: "If we say that we have fellowship with (God) while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:6-7). We also have to be haunted by the fact that it was the legalities of the political world by which the crucifixion of our Lord was justified. Sometimes the law can become an excuse for doing that which we know is not right.
But even if we were able to separate the Christians from the non-Christians, our faith does not let us make that distinction for long. We are confronted with the truth of our faith declared by 1 John: "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" (2:2). We just cannot escape the fact that our political boundary lines were drawn by humans and are not recognized by God as a legitimate rationale for ignoring our neighbor in need. We are not talking about a conditional atonement, which will come about once the world has confessed their sins. This is a much more radical claim for Christ than that Christ is just for Christians. Christ's atonement affects the whole world.
And then we come to the scariest passage of all for Christians in this wealth- and property-obsessed world. The lectionary asks us to read Acts 4:32-35: "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common" (v. 32). The very fact that this passage is so disturbing to many is evidence of the powerful hold our possessions have on us. We have been so educated to believe in private ownership and possession of wealth that to suggest that what we have is not ours is almost unbelievable. Actually, when we recall that Jesus considered all those who did God's will to be part of his family (Mark 3:31-35), the passage makes sense. In the healthiest of families, we would all agree, if a person was in need, we would bring family resources together to meet that need. In the case of immigrant Christians, even if our family member were in trouble with the law, we would do our best to respond to his or her need.
Most of us understand that the effect of greed, envy, and covetousness is to create distrust, suspicion, and protectiveness. When we look at the Ten Commandments, twenty percent deal with overcoming our desire for what our neighbor has: "You shall not steal" and "You shall not covet" (Exodus 20:15, 17). Acts claims that the power of the resurrection can be seen in its ability to break the power of things and possessions in our life. Consider the impact of only loosely holding on to our possessions. Such a move requires an act of trust. Note that the distribution was through the apostles (or church leadership), so the first risk you have to take is whether you trust the Body of Christ as it is manifested in the church. Recall that in at least one of the proposals before Congress, it would become illegal for a church to respond to the need of an illegal immigrant.
In this passage, such an act of trust results in their lives becoming centered on God rather than themselves. It also lessens interpersonal rivalry, because they become focused on the good of all. As Jesus commanded us to hold love of neighbor as our highest priority, and defined our neighbor as anyone in need, so now the power of the resurrected Christ enables a Christian community to say, "There was not a needy person among them." This was evidence of their faithfulness, because they knew that God had promised in Deuteronomy 15:4-5 that if they would obey the commandments of God, God would bless the land in which they lived. By the power of the resurrection, these believers knew that lack of things could not ultimately harm them and that life was discovered in meeting the needs of others. It begins with trusting God, who has proved his love for us.
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ILLUSTRATIONS
A good source of jokes, most of them suitable for the pulpit, may be found in the "Pretty Good Jokes" section of the website of A Prairie Home Companion:
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In one of the well-loved American folk tales of Uncle Remus, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear have got Br'er Rabbit in a serious predicament. They've got him tied up and are preparing to roast him for their supper. Just as they place Br'er Rabbit over the fire, he begins to laugh.
This just doesn't seem right and proper to Br'er Fox. He takes it upon himself to impress upon the rabbit the seriousness of his situation.
But Br'er Rabbit continues to laugh. He can't help it, he explains. He's thinking about his laughing place.
Br'er Bear's curiosity begins to get the best of him. He blurts out that he's got to see this "laughing place." He's so insistent that he convinces even Br'er Fox to go along with it. The two of them cut Br'er Rabbit loose, and order him to lead them to his "laughing place."
Br'er Rabbit leads them on a winding path through the forest. He really doesn't have a "laughing place," of course, but he's got to figure out some way of escaping. Finally, he spots a hornet's nest in some dense brush. He points to the brush, saying: "There it is. There's my laughing place!"
The impetuous Br'er Bear rushes in. In no time at all, he's got the hornet's nest caught on his head. The angry insects rush out, attacking both him and Br'er Fox. As Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear are busy evading the hornets, Br'er Rabbit runs free.
Later on, Br'er Bear catches Br'er Rabbit again. He says, "If this is the laughing place, I ain't laughin'!"
Br'er Rabbit replies, "I didn't say it was your laughing place. I said it was my laughing place!"
At this point, the cloud of angry hornets catches up once again to Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox, who have no choice but to to let Br'er Rabbit go as the hornets chase them off into the sunset.
Everyone needs a laughing place, a place that gives joy. For Christians, the laughing place is the empty tomb of Jesus. It took Mary Magdalene and the other disciples a little while before their fear and confusion turned to laughter -- but once it did, that laughter spread, infectiously, around the world.
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Pride is the downward drag of all things into an easy solemnity. One "settles down" into a sort of selfish seriousness; but one has to rise to a gay self-forgetfulness. A man "falls" into a brown study; he reaches up at a blue sky. Seriousness is not a virtue. It would be a heresy, but a much more sensible heresy, to say that seriousness is a vice. It is really a natural trend or lapse into taking one's self gravely, because it is the easiest thing to do. It is much easier to write a good Times leading article than a good joke in Punch. For solemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light. Satan fell by the force of gravity.
-- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
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In his play Lazarus Laughed, Eugene O'Neill not only retells the biblical story of Jesus' raising his friend to life, but also imagines what Lazarus' subsequent life was like. O'Neill depicts Lazarus coming out of his grave laughing. It's not the cynical, world-weary laughter of today's stand-up comics, but is rather a tender, wondrous, astounded joy that seems to well up from deep within. This Lazarus looks younger, somehow, than before he died. He radiates peace and serenity.
Once Lazarus' sisters Martha and Mary get some time alone with him, they ask him what life is like beyond the grave.
Once again, Lazarus begins to laugh. He replies: "There is only life. There is only laughter... the laughter of God soaring into the heights and the depths. There is no death really. Death is not the end, it's not an abyss or the entrance into nothingness or chaos or punishment. Death is a portal, a passageway into deeper and brighter life. Eternal change, everlasting growth... that is what lies ahead. There is only life, sisters, nothing but life. The grave is not what you think it is. It is literally empty... a doorway, not destruction."
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While I was the associate minister in a downtown church, one Sunday during worship I suddenly came down with a major stomach virus. I fought the nausea as long as I could, and got up to leave as soon as the senior pastor had finished preaching the sermon. Before the congregation could even stand for the final hymn, I raced through a side sanctuary door and vomited effusely and audibly before I could get from the foyer to the restroom. Without missing a beat, the senior minister said: "That's the fastest sermon critique I've ever received!"
-- Carter Shelley
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The following quotations are all from The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations (Penguin Books, 2001):
"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."
--G.K. Chesterton
"Go to church this Sunday -- avoid the Christmas rush."
-- Graffito, London 1979
"Morality consists in suspecting other people of not being legally married."
-- George Bernard Shaw in Pygmalion
"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo."
-- H.G. Wells
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Here are two illustrations from other concepts of land ownership, one ancient and one modern, along with a biblical reference of how we might view the issue:
Native American concept of land
The Indians practiced communal land ownership. That is, the entire community owned the land upon which it lived. "The Indians had no concept of 'private property,' as applied to the land. Only among the Delawares was it customary for families, during certain times of the year, to be assigned specific hunting territories. Apparently this was an unusual practice, not found among other Indians. Certainly, the idea of an individual having exclusive use of a particular piece of land was completely strange to Native Americans.
-- John Alexander Williams, West Virginia: A History for Beginners (Appalachian Editions, 1993), p. 64
Modern Swedish land ownership
Although land ownership exists in Sweden today, it is in a very different atmosphere than here in the United States. In Sweden the land ultimately belongs to the Swedish people, and folks are free to hike across land that is public and land that is private. One may fish in any stream or lake without receiving permission of the landowner, and one may even camp on private land, although it is expected that one will do so at a discreet distance from the homeowner's house. If you are going to hunt on someone's private land, then you are to notify them.
The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)
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THE WORD
It might be tempting for lectionary preachers to see Holy Humor Sunday as an attempt to impose a topic onto scripture readings that do not justify such interpretations. Maybe, and maybe not.
After all, what kid (if not adult) might not smile when Psalm 133 is read aloud? A preacher with oil messing up her carefully coiffed hair; oil trickling through his mustache and beard; oil staining the robe, the stole, the velvet bars that cost so much in years of study! What person (including a preacher) doesn't begin to smile at such an outlandish image?
Could there be any better demonstration to the world of the joy we believers say we feel about the resurrection than our sharing from the abundance God has given to us? Or are we still so fearful of the future, still so unsure of what really happened on that first day, still so certain that our salvation is dependent on us that we dare not let go of what is so tightly clutched in our hands, dare not let grace change our grumpiness, dare not let a smile be seen on our face when we are singing God's praises?
In the contemporary musical Cotton Patch Gospel, when Jesus has been raised from the dead, he appears to the disciples at a local barbecue place. The narrator/Jesus describes it as "when Jesus came through the door, and I mean THROUGH the door," and the audience immediately bursts into laughter. In John's Gospel, one can imagine the startled looks on the faces of the fearful followers, gradually being replaced by broader and broader smiles, with genuine laughter breaking out as they realize that instead of a ghost, Joy has walked into their lives.
Of course, non-lectionary preachers can turn in concordances and find all sorts of passages and verses focusing on joy, laughter, amazement, and grace to share with their people.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The first year we celebrated Holy Humor Sunday, a sermon was given, talking about the joy, the laughter, and the humor that is found in scripture. It was a good way to introduce folks to the idea of this sort of celebration. Since then, we've gotten a little more "adventurous." Folks now dress in outlandish hats, "loud" Hawaiian shirts, clown noses, and other such apparel. Songs and hymns are intentionally chosen to reflect the themes of joy and happiness (one year, the choir sang George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun"). Young people and kids look forward to the service each year. And I get to be a stand-up comic for a day.
While the "sermon" time does focus on the joy of Easter and the marvelous ways in which God can make us laugh (just take a look at the platypus -- or in the closest mirror!), it is also a time to make people laugh with good, topical, enjoyable humor. I rely on Garrison Keillor's annual joke show for inspiration, and over the year, people in the church send me jokes they like, hoping that I will use them on Holy Humor Sunday. Kids especially like it when you tell their jokes! This year we will do a "reverse offering," giving folks prescription bottles labeled "God has blessed me with laughter and all who get the news will laugh with me!" (Genesis 21:6, The Message). And if I can find enough, I plan to give everyone (or at least the kids) clown noses to wear during the service.
Holy Humor Sunday is not for everyone. But for those willing to take the risk and step out in faith, it is a way to help people discover that the joy, the celebration, the enthusiasm of Easter is not a once-a-year event.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call To Laughter
One: This is the time to rejoice!
All: What better time than now!
One: This is the day to laugh:
What did the cabbage pastor say to the people?
Pastor: Lettuce pray!
One: How many choir directors does it take to change a light bulb?
Choir: No one knows, because no one ever watches the director!
One: How many [Presbyterians]* does it take to change a light bulb?
All: Change? [Presbyterians]* don't believe in change!
One: What's the greatest joke ever?
All: The one God played on death on Easter morning!
*[Note: insert your particular denomination here as appropriate]
Prayer Of The Day (and our Lord's Prayer)
You smiled, and the sun burst through the shadows of chaos;
you chuckled, and the platypus splashed in creation's fountain;
you laughed, and all that is good and beautiful was given shape by you,
Imaginative God.
Snickering at the feeble attempts of the evil one,
you showed us how to resist temptation;
giggling at sin's desperate desire to hold on to us,
you released us by your love;
howling with laughter at death's foolish belief that the tomb could hold you,
you burst forth into the kingdom as the stars pealed with joy,
Laughing Jesus.
As you fill us with new life,
may we delight in sharing it with others;
as you tell us the good news which can never be taken from us,
may we rejoice in offering it to the broken, the sad, the lonely;
as you tickle us with grace,
may we give it away with laughter on our lips and joy in our hearts,
Spirit of Easter.
God in Community, Holy in One,
our hearts overflow with wonder as we lift the prayer Jesus has taught us,
Our Father . . .
Call To Reconciliation
None of us likes to look foolish, but which is sillier? Chasing after the world and all its gaudy trinkets that flatter our souls, or being a "fool for Christ," imitating him in service to others, offering ourselves in love and joy to the world? Let us admit to God the foolish choices we make each and every day, as we pray, saying . . .
(Unison) Prayer Of Confession
You know better than we do, Amused God,
what important people we believe we are.
Believing we have to be serious all the time,
we miss out on the joy of your creation.
Choosing to feast on the pain of the world,
we skip the picnic offered in paradise.
Clinging to the despair which is our best friend,
we ignore Jesus who can bring us home to your heart.
Forgive us, Heart of Joy,
and make us open to the startling, and upside-down, ways in which you work.
Fill us with Easter's laughter;
fill us with your healing joy;
fill us with the love poured into us through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance Of Pardon
One: The gospels tell us over and over again of the joy
which comes to us through Christ.
When Jesus was around, lives were changed,
the sick were healed,
the sorrowful began to laugh with joy.
The good news is that this joy is now given to us.
All: Through the Holy Spirit, we are gifted with joy.
We are sent forth to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bring healing to the broken,
to anoint everyone with the oil of gladness.
Thanks be to God, we are forgiven. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Children of God
Object: bring an older member of the congregation to the front
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought (name the person) with me this morning. (address your guest with the next two questions) Tell us how old you are. How long have you attended our church?
(now ask the children and let them answer) How many of you believe that (name the older member) is a child? The truth is that (name the older member) is a child. This morning's lesson tells us that she/he is a child of God. I want you children to meet some more children, who you never thought were children. I would like everyone in the congregation who is seventy or older (choose a number to fit your congregation's situation) to please stand. Everyone standing is also a child -- a child of God. Thank you, you may sit down. In fact, everyone here today is a child of God.
Our lesson this morning tells us that we are all God's creatures. But not everyone is a child of God. To be a child of God we must believe that Jesus is our Lord. Children of God love their Father and their brothers and sisters in Christ. Proof of this love of God is in our following of God's commandments. That means that we must do what God tells us. To be God's children we must, as Jesus taught us, be spiritually born again. This second birth comes when we believe Jesus is our Lord. After church today I want you to remember all of the persons here who are older than you. Even though some of them are very much older than you they are still children -- just like you. They are children of God because they have faith in God. They follow what God tells them to do. When you follow what God tells you -- when you love one another -- you are a child of God also.
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The Immediate Word, April 23, 2006, issue.
Copyright 2006 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
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