“LAUGHTER”

Reflections by the Minister,
Rev Andrew Sails
at the Mint Methodist Church, Exeter,
at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday 30^th March
(Fourth Sunday of Lent) -
being part of an All Age Worship
service for “Refreshment Sunday”.

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Introduction to the Service:

Today is the 4^th Sunday of Lent.

This is frequently observed as Mothering Sunday,

(and we shall be including families in our prayers later).
But today is also celebrated as Refreshment Sunday –

occasionally called “Holy Humour Sunday”.

The idea is really that in the midst of the solemnity

of Lenten discipline &reflection,

we allow ourselves one day off to lighten up & laugh…

[The brief talk which follows formed part of a whole service on laughter, including celebration of joy; confession of mockery; and commitment to laugh with others. The service included dance to “Tears of a Clown”, a song and dance presentation of “All for the Best” from Godspell, slapstick comedy routines leading into the solemn placing of the crown of thorns on the Lent Cross, a dramatic presentation of the story of the laughter of Abraham and Isaac (based on “The Garden of God” by Trevor Dennis), and the sharing of smiley badges amongst the whole congregation.]

Some of us find it harder than others to laugh.

And watching the TV news this week, there may seem precious little to laugh about.

But God offers us the gift of laughter even in our darkest moments -
and if you’ve ever seen people laughing at a wake
you’ll know how potent and liberating that gift can sometimes be.

To laugh is not to deny pain suffering and sin -
it is to start to put it into perspective.

I slip on a banana skin.

If I can learn gently to laugh at myself,
it means I stop taking myself too seriously.

I know I’m a bit stupid – and I laugh -
and I start to learn humility.

You slip on a banana skin -

If I can learn gently to laugh not at you, but with you,
I discover we’re both a bit stupid -

And I start to sympathise, to understand, to forgive.

And before you know it, there we are together on the floor -
banana skins all around,
and our laughter the means of healing love.

It isn’t always easy –
We laugh because we are loved and accepted,
but it doesn’t mean there won’t still be tears of penitence and pain.

And sometimes in a long day
we may only manage quite a small smile–
but in that moment we declare something about how life ultimately is & shall be.

Thomas Carlyle talks about mirth resting on sadness
“like the rainbow on a black tempest” –

Laughter for us can be

like the rainbow for Noah –

Like the birth of Isaac for Sarah,

a sign of God’s promise –

that love will be victorious over hate,

hope over despair,
life over death.

And so we pause in Lent on the road to Calvary and laugh –

And that laugh says that in the end

(in the words of the Godspell song we’ve just heard sung)
“You’ve guessed it- it’s all for the best”.

And why?

Because the sneering laughter of the mocking soldiers is not the end of the story.

Because Calvary is not the end of the road –

Because it’s Easter we are headed to.

And God will have the last laugh –
So lets accept his invitation to laugh with him.

Hymn:

When we are tempted in our pride
to dizzy heights of sin,
beneath our feet, O Lord, provide
a ripe banana skin,
and when we yearn at someone’s head
to let a brickbat fly,
give us the grace to use instead
a well-aimed custard pie….

When cherished institutions stand
before your throne of grace,
with good intentions in each hand
and egg on every face,
teach us to query grand designs
with laughter born of tears,
for deep in earth’s jam-butty mines
your rainbow still appears…

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