Last weekend, Saturday Night Live turned 50 years young. And although I haven’t watched a full episode for quite some time, there were plenty of instances during my growing-up years to partake “Weekend Update” with Norm Macdonald at the helm or “Celebrity Jeopardy” with Will Ferrel leading the way and numerous skits with Chris Farley. Some of that content may not exactly be appropriate for church communications, let’s say, but it does remind the church that most children of God appreciate a good laugh or two to de-stress, help keep things in perspective, to not take one’s self too seriously, among other things, but also remembering that part of God’s character can very much include enjoyment and laughter.
Perhaps as about as long as it’s been since I wasn’t watching NBC at 11:35pm on Saturdays, I started hearing about these churches that celebrate what they call, “Holy Humor Sunday.” Evidently, the tradition goes back to the early church. From the United Methodist Church Discipleship Ministries website:
Many American churches are resurrecting an old Easter custom begun by the early Greek Christians --- “Bright Sunday” or “Holy Humor Sunday” celebrations on the Sunday after Easter. For centuries, in all Christian faith traditions, the week following Easter Sunday was observed by the faithful as “days of joy and laughter” with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.
Granted, the church has a fair amount of rather serious ministry responsibilities on its collective plate, as well it should. In a sense, we are called to be the living embodiment of Christ on earth, continuing his service to those in need, as well as proclaiming that love and grace and mercy and life itself will always manage to find a way to triumph over hate and prejudice and evil and death. Many situations and meetings and conversations require the utmost serious tone for the impact we can make to improve the livelihood of congregation members and surrounding communities and the whole world that God still adores. However…it is okay to have a good time along the way. We do need a sense of humor about this life and our very selves, well aware that we do need to be sensitive to the context to avoid demeaning human beings, but that still leaves some room for “brightness,” to say the least.
After all, one of the go-to Scripture choices for the not-as-uplifting funeral services is from Ecclesiastes. The popularity tends to stick with the opening verses of the third chapter: a time for birth and death and mourning and dancing and weeping and laughing, too(!). But then there are those 12th and 13th verses: “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil” (NRSV).
In looking back to those growing-up years, when the biggest stresses were attempting to ace tests and maybe have some level of coolness in the high school and college years, I still appreciated a good laugh from David Spade, Dana Carvey, Tim Meadows, Kevin Nealon, Chris Rock, Tina Fey, among others (although I’m well aware that I missed the boat of the supposedly better “good ‘ole days” with Chevy Chase and Jim Belushi). Those kind of laugh-out-loud moments made the next week more manageable to take on. I suppose that’s part of what we hope for out of worship on the weekends, too.
But as the church continues to take on a fair amount of rather serious ministry responsibilities, I hope we give ourselves permission to laugh not just on Saturday or any day of the week late evenings, when not as many people may be around. I hope we allow ourselves the chance to, at least, chuckle on Sunday mornings or early Saturday evenings, even inside sanctuary walls. Evidently, the early Christians thought that amidst the laughter, there could even be a celebration of the Resurrection itself. The very Resurrection that, yes, empowers us to take on the serious matters of ministry, but also sets us free to even laugh in the face of death itself. Thanks be to God, indeed!
In Christ,
Pastor Brad