Laughing With Church Lady
by Pastor Steve Schantz
Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Gen 21:6-7 NIV)
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. (Luke 6:21 NIV)
Laughing with Church Lady
Sometime in the late 80’s I discovered Cal and Rose Samra’s volumes I & II of Holy Humor, (still available for about $2 a copy at on-line sites and sponsored by the Interdenominational Fellowship of Merry Christians.) I came across these well-worn gems at a used book store in Cape Coral, Fl, one shelf down from the ragged edged Harlequin Romances, (which I passed by). Before the computer revolution and on-line resourcing they took up new residence in my Pastoral library.
The illustrations, jokes, and anecdotes shared by the Samra’s began showing up in my preaching – an anecdote during an offertory message here, some church announcement bloopers there, and a healthy dose of cajoling for our Christian insensibilities sprinkled generously everywhere. Pastors are assumed to have discriminating literary taste buds. So, like many, collecting pulpit jokes had not been a high priority item on my assigned reading list. But humor and laughter are not a supposed to kind of experience. And in similar manner but at another level, neither is truth – or God, for that matter. As Michael Jinkins observes the creator smiling at us through His freedom, “Creation is grounded in the delight of God, not in divine compulsion.” (Invitation to Theology, p. 88)
Continue reading “Laughing With Church Lady”