SPECIAL DAYS: Holy Humor Sunday

LESSON: Psalm 34:1-8, NRSV

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1. I often use humor in a sermon.
2. This being Holy Humor Sunday I used a lot more for the specific reason that will become clear as you read along.

Mother Teresa Goes to Heaven ⁽¹⁾

Mother Teresa died and went to heaven.

God greets her at the Pearly Gates. "Are you hungry, Mother Teresa?" says God.

"I could eat," Mother Teresa replies.

So God opens a can of tuna and reaches for a chunk of rye bread and they share it.

While eating this humble meal, Mother Teresa looks down into Hell and sees the inhabitants devouring huge steaks, lobsters, pheasants, pastries and wines. Curious, but deeply trusting, she remains quiet.

The next day God again invites her to join Him for a meal.

Again, it is tuna and rye bread.

Once again, Mother Teresa can see the denizens of Hell enjoying caviar, champagne, lamb, truffles and chocolates.

Still she says nothing.

The following day, mealtime arrives and another can of tuna is opened.

She can't contain herself any longer. Meekly, she says: "God, I am grateful to be in heaven with You as a reward for the pious, obedient life I led. But here in heaven all I get to eat is tuna and a piece of rye bread, and in the Other Place they eat like emperors and kings! I just don't understand."

God sighs. "Let's be honest," He says. "For just two people, does it pay to cook?"

###

A minister decided to do something a little different, so one Sunday morning. He said "Today, in church, I am going to say a single word and you are going to help me preach. Whatever single word I say, I want you to sing whatever hymn that comes to your mind." ⁽²⁾

The pastor shouted out, "Cross". Immediately the congregation started singing in unison, "The Old Rugged Cross."

The pastor hollered out "Grace". The congregation began to sing "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound".

The pastor said "Power". The congregation sang "There is Power in the Blood"

The Pastor said "Sex". The congregation fell in total silence. Everyone was in shock. They all nervously began to look around at each other afraid to say anything.

Then all of a sudden way from in the back of the church a little old 87 year old grandmother stood up and began to sing "Memories."

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###

Three Eggs and $100 ⁽³⁾

An elderly pastor was searching his closet for his collar before church one Sunday morning. In the back of the closet, he found a small box containing three eggs and 100 $1 bills.

He called his wife into the closet to ask her about the box and its contents. Embarrassed, she admitted having hidden the box there for their entire 30 years of marriage. Disappointed and hurt, the pastor asked her, "Why?"

The wife replied that she hadn't wanted to hurt his feelings. He asked her how the box could have hurt his feelings. She said that every time during their marriage that he had delivered a poor sermon, she had placed an egg in the box.

The pastor felt that three poor sermons in 30 years was certainly nothing to feel bad about, so he asked her what the $100 was for.

She replied, "Each time I got a dozen eggs, I sold them to the neighbors for $1."

###

A Doctor was addressing a large audience in Tampa.

"The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here years ago.

Red meat is awful. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. High fat diets can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water.

But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have, or will, eat it.

Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?"

After several seconds of quiet, a 75-year-old man in the front row raised his hand and said, "Wedding Cake."

###

The Priest and the Politician

A parish priest was being honored at a dinner on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his arrival in that parish. A leading local politician, who was a member of the congregation, was chosen to make the presentation and give a little speech at the dinner, but he was delayed in traffic, so the priest decided to say his own few words while they waited.

"You will understand," he said, "the seal of the confessional, can never be broken. However, I got my first impressions of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I can only hint vaguely about this, but when I came here twenty-five years ago I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first chap who entered my confessional told me how he had stolen a television set, and when stopped by the police, had almost murdered the officer. Further, he told me he had embezzled money from his place of business and had an affair with his boss's wife. I was appalled. But as the days went on I knew that my people were not all like that, and I had, indeed come to, a fine parish full of understanding and loving people."

Just as the priest finished his talk, the politician arrived full of apologies at being late. He immediately began to make the presentation and give his talk. "I'll never forget the first day our parish priest arrived in this parish," said the politician. "In fact, I had the honor of being the first one to go to him in confession."

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3. I often begin a sermon with humor and include humor in the sermon.
1. I do this for a very good reason, or at least, I hope it is a good reason.
2. It is good for me to stay focused, but also to stay loose.
3. It is good for you because it creates a mood that ought to allow us together to explore the seriousness of the word with the joy of the word.

MAIN BODY

1. In many churches this Sunday is Holy Humor Sunday.
1. Let me approach it with you in this way.
2. What the word of God teaches us is most important for our spiritual health and well-being.
2. Easter releases us from gloom and dreariness.
1. We are to take time to celebrate and rejoice.
2. Quotations from the ancients:
1. "Risus paschalis - the Easter laugh," the early theologians called it. And the theme has echoed down through the centuries.
2. St. Francis of Assisi advised:

"Leave sadness to the devil. The devil has reason to be sad."

3. Meister Eckhart, a 13th-century Christian mystic, wrote:

"God laughed and begat the Son. Together they laughed and begat the Holy Spirit. And from the laughter of the Three, the universe was born."

4. Martin Luther wrote:

"God is not a God of sadness, but the devil is. Christ is a God of joy. It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart."

5. John Wesley said:

"Sour godliness is the devil's religion."

6. The custom of Easter Monday and Bright Sunday celebrations may be 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.
3. Illustrations from current writings on health and humor.
1. Episcopal Bishop William C. Frey of Ambridge, PA, writes:

"What, after all, is a joke? Isn't it something that turns the tables on the expected, something that hinges on the unpredictable or unreasonable? There's nothing more unreasonable than the resurrection of Jesus. And to believe in it is to be part of that huge practical joke that God plays on those who trust blindly in the sufficiency of human reason to unravel all problems and to answer every question."

2. He continues

"Easter is the morning when the Lord laughs out loud, laughs at all the things that snuff out joy, all the things that pretend to be all-powerful, like cruelty and madness and despair and evil, and most especially, that great pretender, death. Jesus sweeps them away with His wonderful resurrection laughter."

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3. But research by such pioneers as William F. Fry Jr., M.D., emeritus professor of clinical psychiatry at Stanford University, and Lee Berk and Stanley Tan of Loma Linda University, Calif., already suggests that "mirthful laughter' does much more than we think.
1. It can:
1. "provide exercise by increasing the heart rate, stimulating blood circulation and breathing, and improving muscle tone. Fry found that he could double his heart rate while convulsed by Laurel and Hardy and calculated that 100 laughs equals, 10 minutes on a rowing machine. Cousins called it 'inner jogging.'"
2. reduce pain, probably by firing the release of endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. Several studies show that laughing lessens the need for medication and shortens recuperation time.
3. reduce stress by lowering levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that can weaken the immune System.
4. stimulate the immune system, probably in complex ways. Berk and Tan found "significant increases' of interferon-gamma, a hormone that fights viruses and regulates cell growth, in a group of healthy men while they watched a 60-minute humorous video-and that levels remained higher than normal 12 hours later.
5. stimulate mental functions, such as alertness and memory, perhaps by raising levels of adrenalin and other chemicals that prepare the body for action. One study recorded a wave of electricity sweeping through the entire brain half a second after the punch line of a joke.
4. The writer of Psalm 34 declares that his spiritual health and well-being are evidenced by two aspects of his religious life.
1. He "will bless the Lord at all times!"
2. He also writes: "His praise shall continually be in my mouth!"
1. The question is "How are you going to do that?"
2. What processes do you need to apply?
3. I will bless the Lord at all times! His praise shall continually be in my mouth!
1. In all the circumstances of life
2. In all the conditions of life.
3. In all trials of life.
4. In the midst of the persecution.
5. In the midst of misunderstandings.

There is an old European story about a traveler who came upon a barn where the devil had stored seeds which he planned to sow in the hearts of people.

There were bags of seeds variously marked "Hatred," "Fear," "Doubt," Despair," "Unforgiveness," "Pride," "Greed," etc.

The devil appeared and struck up a conversation with the traveler. He gleefully told the traveler how easily the seeds he sowed sprouted in the hearts of men and women.

"Are there any hearts in which these seeds will not sprout?" the traveler asked.

A melancholy look appeared on the devil's face. "These seeds will not sprout in the heart of a thankful and joyful person," he confessed.

5. There are three important elements in this Psalm that ought to be emphasized.
1. The first is faith.
   1. I sought the Lord
   2. Look to him
   3. This poor soul cried
   4. O taste and see that the Lord is good.
2. The second is courage.
   1. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
   2. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
   3. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
3. The third is humor.
   1. I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
   2. O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.

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CONCLUSION

1. So, this morning how is your spiritual health?
1. How is your faith?
2. How is your courage?
3. How is you sense of humor?

One more!

Three churches - Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian worked together to sponsor a community-wide revival.

After the revival had concluded, the three pastors were discussing the results with one another.

The Methodist minister said, "The revival worked out great for us! We gained 4 new families."

The Baptist preacher said, "We did better than that! We gained 6 new families."

The Presbyterian pastor said, "Well, we did even better than that! We got rid of our 10 biggest trouble makers!"

1. Beliefnet Religious Jokes [BeliefnetReligiousJokes@partner.beliefnet.com]

2. From Lora Cawkins (bccawkins@juno.com)

3. Source: Beliefnet Religious Jokes [BeliefnetReligiousJokes@partner.beliefnet.com]

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