We live in an age of deep anxiety with waves of despair that rob the community of both a sense of hope for the future and satisfaction in daily life. The church is tasked with the purpose of conveying hope and building community within our society. Yet the internal struggles within churches and among churches often reflects the fractious nature of our society rather than the healing joy of good news.
It is not easy being a pastor in this anxious ridden time. Because pastors take their job seriously, they can be infected by the atmosphere of anxiety around them. Pastors can easily be drained and beaten down by such conditions. When you are feeling weary or drained, laughter can be like a tonic for the spirit.
Like a court jester in the Middle Ages, a comic look at the profession of ministry offers the opportunity to liberate pastors from taking themselves so seriously that they are defeated by the conditions of our society. Recent research has verified the healing properties of laughter. As I have mentioned previously, there is even a form of Yoga that is focused on laughter.
Laughter at themselves and the complexity of their calling can refresh pastors and heal them of the wounds that they experience in responding to their calls. In the midst of the seriousness of our professions, we need moments when “our mouth (is) filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy.” (Psalm 126:2) Laughter is a promise that has a future. As Job says, “See, God will not reject a blameless person, . . . He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy.”(8:21) Or as Luke’s version of the Beatitudes says, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” (6:21b)
Ecclesiastes 3:4 says there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh.” Perhaps now is the time to open ourselves to some more laughter.
