The Healing Balm

I love to laugh. Surely this comes as no surprise to most anyone who knows me. When my son, Joel, was in High School his friends in the Drama Department always loved when I showed up for a performance. I was a one man audience. One young man, Ray Cooper, called me the "Happy Laughing Man". My laugh is loud, it is an outburst, and it is ongoing. I love to laugh. After church today we went to lunch with the pastor of the church we attended (Tom Bates and his wife Carole). We have been friends for years. It is a friendship I have always enjoyed and cherished. Over lunch we told stories and laughed. And then we laughed some more.

On the other hand, I spent some time on the phone with some of the members of the Church Pastoral Team back in Fresno. We talked of our lives and they shared some of the issues of concern that always take place in a church setting. It is the first time I've called the staff and asked about church concerns since I left Fresno nearly 7 weeks ago. (Aren't you proud of me?) I noticed that there was a lack of laughter as we talked about issues. Things became more serious. I understood why it was so, but it was in such contrast to the laughter at lunch. And so, I began to wonder if we laugh enough. And my answer is, no.

We see the serious side of life all too easily. The drama of living is always there. There are so many things about life that aren't funny and there is nothing to laugh at or about. However, as I have been reading the Bible this summer (and yes, I have been reading and praying) I cannot help but notice the emphasis on parties that are all over the Word. In the O.T. there are festivals, feasts, and special celebrations. In the Gospels Jesus spends so much time with the non-Pharisaical class eating and celebrating that they begin to question his sobriety and spiritual discipline. I don't know how you imagine Jesus but I am pretty sure he had a hearty laugh.

Working with people will either make you sour or cause you to laugh. I don't think Jesus was a sour man so, therefore, he must have had a great sense of humor. I think some of the campfires that he shared with the disciples were full of laughter. I am convinced that if we are to be like Jesus we have to learn how to laugh a little more. I know, the Cross wasn't funny and neither were the floggings. But Palm Sunday sure seems to be a blast and I think some of the times in Mary, Martha and Lazarus' house must have been a real hoot. We have to learn to laugh more. The saddest people I know are the ones who have allowed the pain of life to crowd in so far that they can't see the laughter for the tears.

Folks, laugh more. Not at people but with people. Experience more joy (You may have to turn off the news and cancel the paper but that might not be all bad). In the past 7 weeks I have experienced a real healing balm. I have laughed more than I have cried; chuckled more than I have been frustrated; guffawed more than I have been sad. If you are hurting, laugh some more. It truly is God's healing balm.