God's Sense of Humor

Over the years, I have come to the point of acknowledging God's sense of humor; however, it was long and hard in coming. As I recall my days as a child attending church with my family and how it was the norm to wipe the smile and joy you just shared with others outside the church door from your face once you entered the sanctuary. Laughter in the presence of God was disturbing because God was serious and he needed us to be serious in order for us to know that he loved us. I imagine the feeling was that for us to be grateful for God's love we needed to distort our faces (like the Pharisees when they fasted). Being somewhat of a jokester, it was interesting for me to read that Hyers And God Created Laughter and recognize that the fact that "laughter is fundamentally an act of celebrating existence. Laughter is an expression both of enjoyment and thanksgiving" (p14). Since I have decided to celebrate God's creative process in my life and since I want to continue saying "yes to life", I am grateful for this text that reminds me that to be comedic in the presence of God is to "see myself from the outside" without all the stresses and tensions that my life includes. For me to enjoy the "good life" that God promised, it is important for me to remember not to kill and bury the child I once was but to use the innocence of children to garner the courage to ask those "whys" of God that I would not ask when my adult mind is engaged. This text reminded me to use my childlike mind in ways that helps bring playfulness and laughter into my relationships and encounters with the people I encounter so that the image and face of God is never far away from me or them.

How to read ethically

To read ethically, one must decide not to allow presuppositions, culture, experience and other characteristics and stereotypes to dictate what is taken away from what is being studied or read. Additionally, in order for the reader to reader ethically, it would be important to recognize that the characters being read about are (were) real and so not gloss over the material as though their contributors to the story did not have real lives. Based on the material read in Reading as if, eithical reading suggests caution against being overly critical about what one reads because such an approach can lead to maligning and denegrading a culture and its people. In my opinion, reading ethically is a way to allow for fresh perspectives to be brought on a piece of material. Many clergypersons believe that the interpretation of a particular scripture in the nineteen century continues to be applicable in the twenty-first century. Here is where I believe that reading the text ethically allows for interpretation that will bring the hearer/reader to a place where the text speaks to their current situation. For example, in the story of the woman at the well, the explanation has always been that the woman "slept around"; however, reading this story ethically may allow for an interpretation that suggests that all "her husbands" had walked away from her and that because she was poor she kept getting into these relationships as a way to survive.

God's Joy Brings Us laughter

I believe the author tells us that the humor of God is found in all those things he has done for us to bring us joy, and from joy comes laughter. This joy is a result of hope and knowing God will deliver for us, and because God will seemingly do the impossible for us. Abraham and Sarah felt the joy of God delivery, Hannah also felt the joy when the seemingly impossible occurred for them through the intervention of God. Christians are called to be fools for Christ like the court jester who brings joy into people lives, Christians through the Message of Christ bring joy to those who hear the message. Like the comedian who appears to be foolish, but exposes the self righteous, the pretentious and pompous. I know someone who called God a Jokester, who keeps pulling the rug out from under them, because of things that kept occurring in their life. As I look back at the issue, as this person got close to something they wanted, the rug was pulled from under them. This is similar to the statement made by the author"the self righteous are turned away from the gate"(p3) . This is like the person who does not get the punch line of the joke, like the person who does not receive the message of God; the rug will be pulled out from under them. If you receive the message there will be joy in your life and laughter comes with joy.