Filled With Laughter
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV, Cycle B
Filled With Laughter
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy. (vv. 1-2a)
Actress Doris Roberts played Mildred Krebs, the crime-solving secretary in the television show Remington Steele. Currently, she plays Marie Barone, the busybody mother of series star Ray Romano, on Everybody Loves Raymond. On November 5, 2001, her 71st birthday, Doris won an Emmy award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on Raymond. She won the Supporting Actress award again in 2002 and 2003.
However, like many actors, her career started well before she reached fame. She had bit parts in several television shows before her biggest break. In the late 1970s Roberts was cast in the role of Theresa Falco in the short-lived sitcom Angie. Similar to her role on Everybody Loves Raymond, she played the mother of the show's title character, played by Donna Pescow, who was cashing in on her fame from Saturday Night Fever.
The show didn't last, but Doris enjoyed working in the genre of comedy. She fondly remembered an episode in which her Theresa Falco character went to Atlantic City. She felt the episode was particularly funny.
Years later after the show was canceled, a fan who watched the show in reruns wrote Doris a letter. It read in part:
"I hope this reaches you so you know how you changed my life. I had decided that I didn't want to live. You see, I had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and had been sitting alone in a dark room, unwilling to even eat with my family or take any part in life. Then one day I saw you on Angie -- the time you were going to Atlantic City -- and I heard myself laugh out loud. It was the most amazing thing. I suddenly realized that if I can laugh, maybe there is some life left in me after all."
The letter went on to say that the woman had ended her period of isolation and had gone back to college. A later letter brought a picture of a smiling woman in a graduation gown. She had graduated cum laude.
Something as simple as laughter turned this woman's life around. Most of us don't find ourselves in such dire straights, but we do find trials in life that laughter can help us overcome. God fills our mouths with laughter so that we know our fortunes have been restored.
(Mark Victor Hansen and Barbara Nichols, Out of the Blue: Delight Comes into Our Lives [New York: Harper Collins, 1996], pp. 69-70.)
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy. (vv. 1-2a)
Actress Doris Roberts played Mildred Krebs, the crime-solving secretary in the television show Remington Steele. Currently, she plays Marie Barone, the busybody mother of series star Ray Romano, on Everybody Loves Raymond. On November 5, 2001, her 71st birthday, Doris won an Emmy award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on Raymond. She won the Supporting Actress award again in 2002 and 2003.
However, like many actors, her career started well before she reached fame. She had bit parts in several television shows before her biggest break. In the late 1970s Roberts was cast in the role of Theresa Falco in the short-lived sitcom Angie. Similar to her role on Everybody Loves Raymond, she played the mother of the show's title character, played by Donna Pescow, who was cashing in on her fame from Saturday Night Fever.
The show didn't last, but Doris enjoyed working in the genre of comedy. She fondly remembered an episode in which her Theresa Falco character went to Atlantic City. She felt the episode was particularly funny.
Years later after the show was canceled, a fan who watched the show in reruns wrote Doris a letter. It read in part:
"I hope this reaches you so you know how you changed my life. I had decided that I didn't want to live. You see, I had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and had been sitting alone in a dark room, unwilling to even eat with my family or take any part in life. Then one day I saw you on Angie -- the time you were going to Atlantic City -- and I heard myself laugh out loud. It was the most amazing thing. I suddenly realized that if I can laugh, maybe there is some life left in me after all."
The letter went on to say that the woman had ended her period of isolation and had gone back to college. A later letter brought a picture of a smiling woman in a graduation gown. She had graduated cum laude.
Something as simple as laughter turned this woman's life around. Most of us don't find ourselves in such dire straights, but we do find trials in life that laughter can help us overcome. God fills our mouths with laughter so that we know our fortunes have been restored.
(Mark Victor Hansen and Barbara Nichols, Out of the Blue: Delight Comes into Our Lives [New York: Harper Collins, 1996], pp. 69-70.)
