Mustaches on Babies and Resurrection: That's Funny!

 Alexander Crispin

It has been said that humans have five senses: touching, tasting, hearing, seeing, and smelling. I would submit that humans universally have a sixth sense: the sense of humor. Just as we all have a different sense of what is “spicy”, so too we all have a different sense of what is humorous and what is not. We all know something is funny when we see it, but we all don’t laugh at the same things or with the same intensity. Whatever we find funny, humor is built on the same principle: incongruence. For instance, if you drew a mustache on a baby that would be an example of incongruence. Now a baby with a mustache may not be that funny to you. The more you see the same incongruity, the less funny it becomes. However, children who see babies with mustaches laugh the most because it is the first time they are seeing this incongruence.

In order to recognize incongruence, you must first have a sense of what is congruent. In order to know what is extraordinary, you must know what is ordinary. Even the lightest chuckle means that you recognize something is “out of sorts” (incongruence). The ability to see what is “out of sorts” is not only being funny, it is also being prophetic. The prophets would point out the things that were out of the ordinary - like when Amos called out those who had so much food they were throwing it away while the people they ruled were starving (Amos 4). Or when Jesus told a parable about workers getting paid the same wage regardless of the amount of time they worked in the field (Matthew 20). We should laugh at these because they are not “normal.” When we experience resurrection, we should laugh because we have been told that it is normal for death to be the end and to have the last word. Resurrection is the great laugh of God in the face of what we think is normal.

It is true that in trying to explain a joke, the joke becomes less funny. Humor is funny like that: it thrives with understanding but diminishes with explanation. Humor is best experienced rather than dissected. Humor is relational rather than clinical. In this way, humor is much like the Christian life: it is to be understood rather than explained. If we struggle with the irony and complexity of understanding humor, then we can safely assume that we may also struggle with understanding resurrection!

And so, may we enter God’s world with a sense of awe and wonder at all the ways it is congruent so that we can have a fuller understanding of the incongruent nature of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. May we see with prophetic eyes the things in this world that are out of sorts or not normal so that we can work to usher in justice and peace. May we be the people of God who laugh, even in the dark times, knowing that the Light cannot be extinguished.

Will Rogers: Time Traveler

Will Rogers is one of those people that was seen to represent the common man. Growing up in Oklahoma, not known for being the most flashy of states, Rogers became a voice that rang true in his time as well as ours. Here are just a few of these timeless pearls of wisdom from "Oklahoma's Favorite Son":

Lord, the money we do spend on Government and it's not one bit better than the government we got for one-third the money twenty years ago.

The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover was an engineer. He knew that water trickled down. Put it uphill and let it go and it will reach the dryest little spot. But he dident know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands. They saved the big banks but the little ones went up the flue.

When the Judgment Day comes civilization will have an alibi, "I never took a human life, I only sold the fellow the gun to take it with.

Heroing is one of the shortest-lived professions there is.

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.

The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them.

Never miss a good chance to shut up.

Church and the person who tries too hard at the improv show

Recently I attended an improv comedy show here in Fort Worth, 4 Day Weekend with some of the church members of Saginaw UMC. It was a great time. The thing I have learned about going to an improv show or a stand-up comedy club is that if you are picked - don't try to be funny. Let the comedians do the funny stuff, just be yourself and let them play off your responses. 

It is really painful to watch a person try to be funnier than the people who make a living making people laugh. You can see they are trying too hard to be cool or be quick or witty. They are uncomfortable in their own skin that they feel they have to over compensate and be someone they are not. It sometimes seems like people are convinced they are not interesting just as they are and they feel they have to make stuff up to look interesting. And the irony is the more you try to look interesting the less interesting you are - see the Kardashian family.

In all honesty, it is not just in the clubs and improv shows that people try too hard to be interesting in order to draw attention. It happens all the time in our churches. And not just in the church sign fails that float around that force many of us to slap our heads in disbelief. 

The Church is really doing a disservice to the entire cloud of witness when we try too hard to be cool or funny. 

People want authenticity. People want real. People want honesty. People can see when we are trying too hard and it makes everyone uncomfortable and want to slap our heads in disbelief.

The story of God is interesting enough. We don't have to try to be something we are not just to get attention or try to keep up with all the other messages out there. Just be yourself.

You are interesting enough.  

Is what we laugh at part of our problem?

While out with some people one person in my party said the difference in American humor and British humor is that American's like to laugh at others, Brits like to laugh at themselves. 

We shared in a laugh a bit and we both knew that generalized statements like this are rarely accurate, and this is probably not an acceptation. But it did make me think: 

Am I more apt to laugh at you or laugh at myself?