Thinking about humor today, as part of who God and we are:

God is also funny! People underrate His humor. In college, i studied humor (which in itself was funny! There are many very serious books written on what humor is, and how to be funny!)-the simultaneous placing of things normally in different rooms into the same-the sudden paradoxes which make us laugh, or the exaggeration of something we already know, but hadn’t considered in an inflated form-hyperbole creates laughter, as does odd juxtaposition.

Even pun, a lower form of linguistic humor, is making us aware of multiple uses of the same word simultaneously! Something about that sudden aha in a fresh pun, that could also mean that- makes us laugh. God liked to pun with Jeremiah, you will remember! And many others who enjoyed that type of exchange.

Aristotle in his “Poetics” has a great chapter on the nature of comedy. In it, he speaks of the necessary laugher to earn a tragic moment. Indeed, the two do go hand and hand–laughter and sorrow. They appear to be tethered to same post in Reality! Laughing and crying simultaneously is part of the human condition. Don’t miss either, as they say!

Freud thought humor was an act of power over something inferior. We laugh at, to feel more powerful than others. Interesting, but cynical at best, his theory. I tend to think more it is an act of hope for all our wholeness. The Father even chuckles at us trying to figure out how our humor works. I could almost hear Him today laughing as i wrote about it.

In my spiritual journey, i’ve come to value God’s humor more and more, as I get older. There is deep chuckle in Father’s throat as He deals with us all. One we need to echo daily for one another. This too shall pass, yes, but also, we are genuinely odd and funny, even in our rebellious states. Life is always deadly serious and hilarious simultaneously. God has to laugh to get by, as one monk put it! We certainly need more laughter in our days as well!

Laughter creates trust and is the atmosphere of friendship and prayer. A friend is clearly someone you can let down your hair and laugh with. And God is into friendship-His favorites He always calls friends.

Even prayer can be playful. If He wasn’t funny why would He make us, and want to be in some sort of relationship with bumbling stumbling forward fools, who are clearly a series of hilarious contradictions.

Life is deadly serious, and hilarious-don’t miss either part of God. Sometimes we get too austere to be useful.

Let’s not take ourselves too seriously, and, instead, enter into the Father’s endless chuckle with us as we become ourselves. Joy is not just a idealistic fruit of the Spirit, it’s part of who Father is. “There is a deep chuckle throughout the universe, which includes us.” (as one monk put it!)

I’ve never heard a great sermon, which lacked some humor, and the great ones, usually start with it. Humor sets the stage for Wisdom to enter! Humor places us in between, so we can receive truth. Entertainment means to enter in between. To take someone to an in between space is a responsibility. What you do then, once you have everyone laughing, is up to you.

The Hopi Indians used to always send in the clowns before the chiefs and wise men. A great preacher tells several great jokes before launching into whatever Wisdom he or she has been given!

Of course, entertainment can be escapist, but doesn’t need to be. To laugh is preparation for reception of a new truth, as one funny zen monk put it. If I cannot laugh at myself, I am in trouble in terms of encountering the Almighty, as a hasidic jokester put it in the medieval days. If we can’t laugh, when we look in the mirror, we probably aren’t seeing ourselves clearly! Humor is simply part of being human. A needed and precious part of being part of His Image and Reflection. Let’s laugh on friends!

“Never mind whether God exist, try finding a plumber on Sundays!” as one comedian put it. “Parallel lines have so much in common, it’s a shame they never meet!” as said another. Or, “The Lord said to St John, come forth and I will give you eternal life. John same fifth, and won a toaster.” Life is still funny people! And so are we.