Truckin' and Eucharistin'

Before I blog anything too serious, I must begin with this link to a fictious advertisement for a Sunday worship service. It was created by a parishioner at St. Andrew's Episcopal in Birmingham, an Anglo-Catholic community not far from Trinity. It reminds me that, yes, there is room for humor in the Good News.



I was reminded of the humor of Scripture last semester in seminary when I wrote an exegesis paper on Acts 12. In this passage, Luke (the author of Acts and the Gospel bearing his name) tells of a young maidservant Rhoda who hears the voice of Peter at the gate to the house she serves. Peter has been imprisoned, sent away to die at the hand of one of the Herodian kings, but has escaped. Rhoda is so excited to hear Peter's voice that she runs in and tells her mistress Mary, mother of John Mark (supposed author of the Gospel According to Mark), the good news. Only she, and the others in the house don't believe her and Rhoda looks foolish. But it's only when they see Peter at the gate in flesh-and-blood, do they finally understand what God has done. The story eerily echoes that of Doubting Thomas in John's Gospel (John 20:24-39).


OK, so it's not going to be featured on Saturday Night Live anytime soon, but it is a scene which was assuredly funny to ancient readers, as it followed the tropes of the familiar (to ancient readers) Greek New Comedy genre. Not only is it funny, but it is imbedded in a very downcast portion of the narrative of Acts in which apostles and Christians are suffering persecution for their faith.

It's often said that God has a sense of humor. I think there's warrant for that. So next time you're in church, don't be afraid to tell a good joke. Just make sure it's not one you learned a monster truck rally...