Tuesday, March 19, 2024

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READ: Proverbs 17

A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 (CSB)

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I once got in trouble for telling a story while I preaching because it was too silly. (It was silly. That was the point.*) Someone in the congregation – a businessperson – had invited a non-Christian colleague and was embarrassed.

So he went and tattled to someone in leadership – who then talked to someone on the board. My silly story went all the way to the top! A couple of grumps even suggested I lose my job over it!

What a shame.

In now a very old sketch, Christian comedian, Mark Lowry described people like this as looking like they had sucked gas through a led pipe. (Or something to that effect.) All puckered and mad at life. Church is no place for silliness. God is a serious being in the serious business of saving souls.

Tell that to Jesus as He played who’s-got-your-nose with the littles that the disciples had tried to shoo away.

I have always believed in the power of laughter. Not laughter at the expense of others – at least within reason – but pure laughter. Joy! I watch all sorts of comedy specials on Netflix all the time. I marvel at the fact that one person can have a full stadium in stitches but that same stadium filled with Christians would only consider it a successful event if people were weeping in worship and humble contrition.

Of course, I’m not talking about the counterfeit nonsense of some ultra-charismatic churches where the service goes from joy-filled to bizarre – I don’t think that’s what Jesus had in mind – but rather a joie de vivre.

We like to speak about our churches being hospitals for the spiritually unwell, but then we get mad at the greatest medicine for a broken heart! We say worship is a weapon and forget that joy is anathema to the devil. I’ll say it again, what a shame. We miss out on a great gift from God when we leave all things light and joyful (dare I say, silly) at the door.

*PS. If you want to check out the silly stories I preached in adult church on “Middle School Weekends” I put them into a book called Storytime with Pastor Thom. You can buy them on Amazon – here.