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T H E C H U R C H A T L A U G H T E R
Holy Humor Sunday! April 15 (!), 2007
SITTIN' DOWN MUSIC
WELCOME . . .SERIOUSLY!
It's our Second Annual Holy Humor Sunday! Today's Holy Humor Sunday has it's roots in history. For centuries, in Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant countries, Easter Monday and "Bright Sunday (the Sunday after Easter) were observed by the faithful as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. "Risus paschalis ¯ the Easter laugh," the early theologians called it.
Let the joy begin!
LET THE LIGHT OF CHRIST SHINE!
*AN INVITATION TO JOYFUL WORSHIP Robin Cardell, of the Oshkosh Rhythm Institute leads the congregation in drums, rhythm instruments and pipes in "Jammin' Our Joy"
*EASTER PRAISE SONG #234 Crown Him With Many Crowns
*LET'S PRAY! From children who pray the Lord's Prayer: 3-year-old Reese: "Our Father, Who does art in heaven, Harold is His name.
One particular four-year-old prayed, "And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets."
Let us pray together, concluding with the Lord's prayer, but not necessarily the one you're used to!
Hear us, God of joy, in our laughter and in our tears too, as we offer our prayer, Our Father in Heaven, let your holy name be known, let your kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today the bread that we need, and forgive us our wrongs, and OK, we'll forgive those who have done wrong to us too. Do not lead us into trial, but save us from evil. For we want for you alone rule in our hearts; you have power to transform, and in the light of your smile is your glory. Amen.
*SINGIN' SOMORE #286 Use rhythm instruments, drums and echo side to side, etc This is the day (this is the day) that the Lord has made! We will rejoice (we will rejoice) and be glad in it! This is the day that the Lord has made! We will rejoice and be glad in it! This is the day (this is the day) that the Lord has made!
COME ON UP, KIDS! Knock, Knock Jokes and singing Ho-Ho-Ho-Hosanna!
AND NOW FOR A FEW WORDS FROM OUR SPONSOR Selections from the story of Sarah laughing (Genesis)
LOL TIME LOL - How many of you know what that means? In text messaging it is short for "Laughing out Loud" And laughing out loud is what we no doubt do too little of, especially in church. Holy Humor Sunday is an attempt to get caught up a little bit
You have heard of laugh therapy or that laughter is the best therapy. It's true, when we laugh, we release the Body's natural healing enzymes called endorphins. Singers get that kind of release when they sing. Runners and bikers get that running high endorphins. You get endorphins from hugs, from listening to music, from chocolate! Humor is one of God's great gifts. It is one of the ways that God grants us healing.
William Willimon in his book, The Laugh Shall Be First, says that "among all of God's creatures, human beings are the only animals who both laugh and weep-for we are the only animals who are struck with the difference between the way things are and the way things ought to be. In those priceless moments when we are struck with the incongruity of this world, humor results. A stern, smug gentleman slips on a banana peel and ends us sprawled on the sidewalk - we laugh; W.C. Fields throws a pie in the face of a haughty woman in an evening gown - we laugh." Humor is a wonderful way of holding up a mirror to see ourselves, including our many frailties, so that we can laugh at ourselves.
You may have heard of the man who had been shipwrecked on a remote island in the Pacific, and was alone for 20 years. When a ship finally arrived, his rescuers were impressed with the three buildings he had built and asked him about them. "Well," the man replied, "this is my house, and that building over there is my church. It's a wonderful church and I hate to leave it." "And what's the third building yonder?" a rescuer asked. "Oh, that's the church I used to go to," the man replied. We laugh . . . and we also cry a little. Reinhold Niebuhr, the great theologian, says . . . that "the very essence of sin is taking ourselves too seriously." If that's true, the very essence of grace is to receive the gift of laughter, especially when the joke is on us, particularly when the most laughable incongruities consist of the gap between who we are and who God would have us be." [p. 10]
So to let us laugh out loud today, to see ourselves, to find grace, and just to have fun. And let's start with a few of those Kids in church emails going around . . .
A little boy was overheard praying: "Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time like I am." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the christening of his baby brother in church, Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, "That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you guys." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they were on the way to church service, "And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?" One bright little girl replied, "Because people are sleeping." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin 5, and Ryan 3 The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.' Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A woman invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," the woman answered. The daughter bowed her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"
c-introduce
Dentist's Hymn...................Crown Him with Many Crowns
AND for those who speed on the highway - a few hymns:
The IRS Agent's Hymn................I Surrender All
Speaking of Taxes (and who isn't this time of year!) Here's a taxes, politians, children and religion joke all rolled into one: A little boy wanted $100.00 very badly and prayed for weeks, but he did not get the money. Then he decided to write God a letter asking for the $100.00. When the US Postal Service received a letter addressed: "God, USA" they decided to send it to the president. The president was so amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill, thinking this gift would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy. The little boy was delighted with the $5.00 bill and sat down to write a thank-you note to God, which read: "Dear God:
And we have to have a bit more political humor:
A foreign visitor was being given a tour of Washington, D.C. one day by an American friend of hers. She was amazed at the size of the Monuments, the Congressional Buildings, and so forth. Finally she gazed upon the White House itself. "My, that's an incredibly large building!" she remarked. "Yes, it's pretty big, alright." said her friend. "Big? It's huge!! About how many people work in there?" she asked. "Oh... about half."
Now for a few quick puns: Her boyfriend had a wooden leg, until she broke it off. He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out how the Mercedes Benz. He wears glasses during math because it improves division. Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now. It was an emotional wedding. Even the cake was in tiers. When the waiter spilled a drink on his shirt, he said, "this one is on me." I went to the butcher's the other day and I bet him 50 bucks that he couldn't reach the meat off the top shelf. He said, "No, the steaks are too high." I went to the Cashew factory last night. It was nuts
Another set of puns takes place in a bar:
A ham sandwich walks into a bar and begins to order. A bear walks into a bar. A termite walks into a bar and says, "Is the bar tender here?" A Neutron walks into a bar and asks the bartender, "How much for a beer?" Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar.
-A nun, a rabbi, and a priest walked into a tavern. The bartender said, "Is this some kind of a joke?"
St Peter at the Pearly Gates are always popular: A guy arrives at the pearly gates, waiting to be admitted. St. Peter is reading through the Big Book to see if the guy's name is written in it. After several minutes, St. Peter closes the book, furrows his brow, and says, "I'm sorry, I don't see your name written in the Book." "How current is your copy?" he asks. "I get a download every ten minutes," St. Peter replies, "why do you ask?" "I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I was always the stubborn type. It was not until my death was immanent that I cried out to God, so my name probably hasn't arrived to your copy yet." "I'm glad to hear that," Pete says, "but while we're waiting for the update to come through, can tell me about a really good deed that you did in your life?" The guys thinks for a moment and says, "Humm, well there was this one time when I was drivin' down a road and I saw a giant group of biker gang members harassing this poor girl. I slowed down, and sure enough, there they were, about 20 of 'em torturing this poor woman. Infuriated, I got out my car, grabbed a tire iron out of my trunk, and walked up to the leader of the gang. He was a huge guy; 6-foot-4, 260 pounds, with a studded leather jacket and a chain running from his nose to his ears. As I walked up to the leader, the bikers formed a circle around me and told me to get lost or I'd be next. "So I ripped the leader's chain out of his face and smashed him over the head with the tire iron. Then I turned around and yelled to the rest of them, "Leave this poor innocent girl alone! You're all a bunch of SICK, deranged animals! Go home before I really teach you a lesson in PAIN!" St. Peter, duly impressed, says "Wow! When did this happen?" "About three minutes ago
And a heaven Joke: One day God was looking down to earth and saw all the evil going on. He decided to send an angel down to earth to check it out. So, he called on a female angel and sent her to earth for a time. When she returned she told God yes, it is bad on earth, 95% is bad and 5% is good. Well, He thought for a moment and said maybe I had better send down a male angel, to get both points of view. So, God called a male angel and sent him to earth for a time. When the male angel returned, he went to God and told him yes, the earth was in decline, 95% was bad and 5% was good. God said this was not good. He would send a letter to the 5% that was good and encourage them, something to help them keep going. Do you know what that letter said? Oh, you didn't get one either?
Computers have opened up not only new ways of sharing jokes, but added places for humor to show up . . . Here are a few actually out of office replies Warning some of these a quite cynical!
Anguished English - actual notes from parents excusing their kids from school: Page 14
And finally, a Top Ten list. Top ten things you'll never hear at church: 10. Nothing inspires me and strengthens my commitment like our annual stewardship campaign! 9. Pastor, we'd like to send you to this Bible seminar in the Bahamas. 8. Since we're all here, let's start the worship service early! 7. I love it when we sing hymns I've never heard before! 6. Let's stop those potlucks so we can all lose a little weight this year. 5. I volunteer to be the permanent teacher for the Junior High Sunday School class. 4. I've decided to give our church the $100.00 used to pay for cable. 3. Personally, I find evangelizing much more enjoyable than golf. 2. I was so enthralled, I never noticed your sermon went over time 25 minutes. And the number 1 thing you'll never hear at church: 1. Hey! It's MY turn to sit on the front pew!
TALKING TO GOD We've been talking a lot about our laughter, But here's a question for you: Do you know how to make God laugh? Our days are ultimately not in our hands, but in God's. And so in our prayers we seek not our will but God's, and to learn how we can better love one another no matter what each day brings. Let us have a time of silence, and then I will lead us in prayer.
WE NEED MONEY TIME Father O'Malley answers the phone. Message on the outside sign of Faith Temple Church, Sioux Falls, SD: "We welcome all denominations ? $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100."
"The Lord loves a cheerful giver," or a better translation might be, "The Lord loves a hilarious giver!" Let us give freely and gladly, out of a heart of joy and laughter.
*BEETHOVEN ROCKS! #2 Somebody has well said that there are only two kinds of people in the world there are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good morning, Lord," and there are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good Lord, it's morning." May we be that first kind of person, at least most days, because we have heard the Good News of the love of God, a God who inspires true joy in living each day. Let us stand, sing, and play our instruments for the closing hymn, Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.
*WE WISH YOU WELL!
*GITTIN' UP AND GOIN' MUSIC |
