Holy Humor!
(Posted April 8, 2021)
“Ever wonder what people got Jesus for Christmas? It's like, "Oh great, socks. You know I'm dying for your sins right? Yeah, but thanks for the socks! They'll go great with my sandals. What am I, German?" - Jim Gaffigan, stand-up comedian
First of all, let me assure you that, by declaring this coming Sunday Holy Humor Sunday, we truly haven’t lost our marbles. What we ARE doing is reviving a Christian tradition that is over a thousand years old.
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Talk About Old Jokes!
For early Christians, the entire week after Easter was a time of merriment and laughter, even a time of practical jokes. According to The Joyful Newsletter, “For centuries in Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant countries, the week following Easter Sunday, including "Bright Sunday" (the Sunday after Easter), was observed by the faithful as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. Churchgoers and pastors played practical jokes on each other, drenched each other with water, told jokes, sang, and danced. The custom was rooted in the musings of early church theologians (like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom) that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. ‘Risus paschalis - the Easter laugh,’ the early theologians called it.”
Enter Laughing and Other Such Silliness
So in this coming Sunday’s service, we’re all about looking at the ways that dealing with us very imperfect, frustrating human beings required God to develop a sense of humor over the eons – you know, much better than at first when God was losing it in the Garden of Eden, or super soaking the world in a flood of anger. Instead, we figure that God’s Son also learned to smile (and eyeroll) when the bumbling, confused apostles totally missed the point of Jesus’ teachings, and began to argue which among them was the greatest.
This Holy Humor Sunday, feel free to wear the ugliest Easter hat you may have decided not to use last week, or your goofiest suit jacket or tie. Most of all, bring your sense of humor!