A Merry Heart Doeth Good

For many people, spring is the favorite of the four seasons. Warm weather returns; plants turn green and begin budding. Critters come out of hibernation to start families. The memory of the harshness of winter fades. Silliness and whimsy are the rule.

A lot of what we do in Congregational Care can be very serious. Sometimes I find myself focusing so much on crises, I forget to look up, take a deep breath and laugh. Laughter is good for us physically and theologically. Reinhold Niebuhr said, “Humor is a prelude to faith, and laughter is the beginning of prayer.” So here are a few things that have helped me laugh lately.

Angels can fly because they take things lightly. (Anonymous)

Abraham wanted to upgrade his PC to Windows Vista. Isaac was incredulous. “Pop,” he said, “you can’t run Vista on your old, slow computer. Everyone knows that you need at least a 64-bit processor with a minimum of 512 MB of memory in order to multi-task effectively with Windows Vista.” But Abraham, the man of faith, gazed calmly at his son and replied, “God will provide the RAM, my son.” (Anonymous)

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” The disciples replied, “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we found the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationship.” And Jesus said, “What?” (Samra and Samra, Holy Humor, 1996)

A priest was walking along the corridor of the parochial school near the preschool wing when a group of little ones was trotting by on the way to the cafeteria. Little Johnny stopped and pointed to the priest’s plastic collar tab and asked, “Do you have an owie?” The priest was perplexed until he realized that to Johnny the collar tab looked like a band-aid. So the priest took it out and handed it to the boy, to show him. On the back of the tab were raised letters giving the name of the manufacturer. Little Johnny felt the letters, and the priest asked, “Do you know what those words say?” “Yes I do,” said Little Johnny, who was not old enough to read. Peering intently at the letters he said, “Kills ticks and fleas up to six months!” (Anonymous)

Check out the Care Note “Discovering the Healing Power of Laughter,” available in the racks across from the church office, or search online to find out more. Blessings,

-Cynthia Heller

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