“The Resurrection of Humor”
After Jesus’ resurrection, most of his disciples were quite skeptical about the whole thing. They thought exactly what most of us would think: Somebody had robbed the grave—of course! Dead men tell no tales; they also don’t get undead.
So, two of Jesus’ disciples were leaving Jerusalem and going to the village of Emmaus (wherever that is), and they were talking about the strange things that happened over the past several days, including the disappearance of Jesus’ body.
As they were discussing these matters, the risen Jesus came up and joined them. But they didn’t recognize him. Maybe he looked different. But then again, it was getting toward dark, and maybe that explains their lack of recognition. My own suspicion is that they didn’t know who he was because they weren’t expecting to see him. I have a tendency to see only what I’m looking for. I suspect that I am not alone in this tendency.
When Jesus walked up and joined the conversation, his first words basically “Watcha talkin’ about, guys?”
“Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what’s been goin’ on these past few days?” one of them replied.
And then, Jesus said one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard or read. “What things are those?” Talk about “playing dumb!” Apparently, one of the things that was raised from the dead was Jesus’ sense of humor.
And, of course, if you can make a joke after you’ve been arrested, tortured, tried, condemned to death, and slowly killed, well . . . then anything is a subject for humor.
Eventually, Jesus revealed to these two unsuspecting straight men who he was. Initially, after the big reveal, they were simply astonished. Hopefully, they eventually got the joke. In any case, Luke recorded the joke in his Gospel (chapter 24). One of the things that came out of the tomb with Jesus was humor.
Especially right now, when this killer virus and a failing economy are frightening us all, we need to laugh. Those who are taking the virus seriously need to laugh. Those who are convinced that this is all a hoax need to laugh. Those who are affected by the economic recession (and who of us is not?) need to laugh.
Like Jesus’ death, the things we are going through right now are ferociously serious. That is precisely why we need to remember that humor came out of the grave along with Jesus. It is only as we laugh—especially at our own selves—that we are able to solve problems, grieve when necessary, and eventually move on.
“Winning the Moment”
“Success is taking positive action, nothing more.” (From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey)
A friend of mine trains student athletes. He talks to them about “winning the moment.” His point is that you don’t have to wait until the end of the game to win. You can win three hundred times during the game by winning the moment.
What would winning the moment look like for me today?
- Avoiding time wasters such as computer games, looking back on the past with either longing or regret, looking to the future with either fear or false hope.
- Attending to my own recovery from my addiction.
- Helping others with their recovery.
- Writing.
- Learning to write better.
- Working on book reviews.
- Taking good care of the house and our little corner of Eden.
- Taking good care of our little dog.
- Loving my wife.
- Not talking too much.
- Eating wisely.
- Exercising.
- Learning a bit more Spanish.
Well, there! My day lies before me. God, let’s win the moments! Let’s also help others to win their moments.
“The Priority of Being”
“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Jesus, according to Luke 6:45, English Standard Version)
A twelve-step reading this morning pointed out that being is prior to doing. What we do, if it is to have any real and lasting impact for good, must come from our being.
Joyce Meyer says, “We are human beings, not human doings.” I agree.
And yet, the doings are so much easier to do, than the being is to be. Besides, doings are expected by others. Many of them don’t care about our being. They can’t access that.
On the other hand, to expect good actions from a human being who is corrupt in his/her very core is like expecting to use a microwave to mow your lawn.
So, how do I pay attention to being the best version of myself today, and thus preparing to be an even better human being tomorrow? I wish I knew, but I don’t. But I do have some suspicions.
Suspicion # 1: I can generally improve at most things whenever I pay attention. A good question to ask throughout the day is, “What am I really being right now?” It is a difficult question to ask, and even harder to answer. Most of the good questions are difficult to ask or to answer. That is one way to know that they are good questions.
Suspicion # 2: My being is closely related to whether I realize that I have the right and the responsibility to be on this planet. I will act in accordance with what I believe at this point. If I don’t have the right to be here—something I’ve struggled with since I was knee-high to a grasshopper—I will regard all my doings as irrelevant. A good affirmation for me or for you is this: Today I am believing that I have the right to be here.
Suspicion # 3: The best way for me to monitor my being (and to become a better human being) is to ask what is my motivation in this situation? Whence does this thought, word, feeling, action, attitude come? Again, I’ve learned from Andy Stanley to use the word “really.” What is my motivation, really?
Suspicion # 4: While being is more important than doing, and while being precedes doing, the two are mutually reinforcing. My being affects my doing, but the converse is also true. If I am doing good things, that can positively reinforce my being-ness. And, of course, if I am doing bad things, that is going to harm my very being. Like any married couple, you must distinguish between being and doing, but they do in fact have an effect on one another, for good or ill.
I am tempted at this point to quote (entirely out of context), the words from Jesus, “What God has joined together, may humans not cut in two!”
I wonder if it would hurt my being if I yielded to the temptation? I’m going to go for it!
“What God has joined together, may humans not cut in two!”
“Whenism”
“This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,
I’ve discovered that I have a terrible disease. Now that I have become aware of it, I realize that I’ve probably had it for years. In fact, when I delve deeply into my memory bank, I realize that I’ve had this chronic condition since I was little. Perhaps it was a birth defect. I need to read up on it in that repository of all wisdom—the Internet.
The disease goes by many names, but I prefer the name “whenism.” The condition is characterized by restlessness, unhappiness, and finding fault with everything and everyone.
The symptoms are many, but they can be subsumed under the beginning word “when.” Here are some manifestations of the disease:
- When I grow up, they won’t pick on me anymore.
- When I can drive a car, I’ll be independent.
- When I graduate from high school, I won’t have to read any more of these confounded books!
- When I get a job, I’ll be happy.
- When I get a different job, I’ll be happy.
- When I get a girlfriend, I won’t be lonely.
- When I get rid of this girlfriend, I’ll be so much happier.
- When I get married, I won’t struggle with sexual temptation anymore.
- When we have children, I’ll become less selfish, because I’ll have the little ones to think of.
- When the kids are potty trained, then life can get back to normal.
- When the kids are all in school, then life can get back to normal.
- When the kids graduate from high school, my wife and I can reconnect.
- When I get divorced, I’ll be happy.
- When I get remarried, I’ll be happy.
- When my second wife stops acting like my first wife, I’ll be happy.
- When I retire I’ll be happy.
- When I . . .
Well, I think you get the picture. Not all these things are true for me personally. (For example, I’ve only been married once.) However, there are many other symptoms of whenism that I have not listed that do apply to me. But I am not going to post them on the internet, thank you very much!
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are times when sadness, sorrow, and grief are the order of the day, or the order for many days. The loss of a loved one, a serious illness, and many other things are warrants for all sorts feelings. I am not advocating being sunshine every day. The pain needs to be taken seriously.
However, genuine sorrow and grief can easily deepen into whenism, and whenism is a serious disease. Postponed happiness is just another name for misery. For the most part, if I don’t choose to be happy today, right now, I will never be happy.
I conclude with the words from an old Ed Ames song:
“And so, in this moment, with sunlight above,
My cup runneth over with love.”
“Moving You’re Motivation Muscle”
This morning, my virtual 12-step group had as one of its topics, “How to stay motivated in recovery, especially when you’re not.” It is a wonderful topic about a struggle that I have almost all the time.
Of course, it is not just in the arena of addiction-recovery that I struggle with motivation. This is a battle in every area of my life. Let me list a few areas where I am frequently about as motivated as dirty dishwater:
- Exercise.
- Eating wisely.
- Praying.
- Really good reading.
- Taking the dog for a walk.
- Being nice to my wife.
- Writing posts for this website.
- Biblical scholarship.
- Learning Spanish.
- Sitting straight.
- Making gratitude lists.
- Cutting back on my flow of words.
Now, I hate to say it, but this is only a partial list. This is not an isolated thunderstorm in my life. It is a massive hurricane.
However, I have discovered some things that work when I choose to do them. Here is a much shorter list of good practices:
- I remind myself that motivation isn’t the same thing as feeling motivated.
- I act on the 12-step slogan “Move a muscle; change a thought.” If I move, doing something that I don’t want to do, the “want-to” often comes along for the ride. My thinking changes when I’m doing what I need to be doing, rather than the other way around. I refuse to be held hostage by my own lack of motivation.
- I remind myself that every task, ever relationship is always fresh and new. Years ago, I read a quote from an ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus: “You never step into the same river twice.” He went on the explain that the water has flowed on, and therefore, it is not the same river. Most of us are motivated when things and relationships are new and fresh. What if we realized that things and relationships are always new and fresh?
- Doing life/recovery/running/eating wisely (along with anything else) with others is a wonderful way to stay motivated. That’s one of the many reasons why 12-step groups are so powerful. I may not be motivated, but chances are excellent that someone else in the group is motivated. Motivation is contagious.
- I try to remember (with varying degrees of success) that every little good thing I do brings a smile to God. Apparently, according to Malachi 3:16, even mentioning the LORD or speaking the LORD’s name to others gets recorded in his books, and makes us precious in the sight of God. “Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another.” Jesus said that even a cup of cold water given in his name is rewarded (Matthew 10:42).
I’m sure that there are more things that help with motivation, and I hope to hear from some of you about what works for you. However, I need to warn you: The good practices I’ve listed above only work when I actually do them. And I don’t always do them. Far too often, I marinate in my own lack of motivation.
I am reminded of the old joke about the tourist who was visiting New York city for the first time. He stopped a stranger, and asked, “How do you get to get Carnegie Hall?”
The New Yorker replied, “Practice! Practice! Practice!”
Motivation is a muscle. You have to regularly exercise it if you want it to grow. Neglect it, and it will atrophy more quickly than you can say, “Nah, I don’t feel like doing that.”
“What Jesus Gave Up for Us”
There are those of us who believe that Jesus was more than a prophet or a great teacher, though we agree that he was certainly those things too. We believe that he was God in the flesh, dying for the sins of the whole world. We frequently think and speak of Jesus as giving up his life for us.
However, we may miss some of the lesser, but still significant, things that Jesus gave up for us. I was reminded of this by a comment made by a gentleman who was part of a virtual Bible study in which my wife and I are participating.
The Bible study is about learning to walk in the same way that Jesus walked. In our first lesson, we were talking about ways in which the New Testament portrays Jesus living out his empowerment by the Holy Spirit, and how we could live in the same manner.
Jeremy, one of the leaders of the group, wondered if Jesus ever missed having a home, being married, having a “regular” life. Was he ever tempted by the lack of these things? I had never thought of the matter in this way, and I immediately thought of this little vignette from the Gospels:
“Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’” (Matthew 8:18–20 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
https://accordance.bible/link/read/ESVS#Matt._8:18, accessed 04-27-2020)
I had always thought of Jesus as saying the bit about not having a place to lay his head in a very matter-of-fact way. He was simply warning the scribe what following him would involve.
But do I really know Jesus’ tone of voice? I do not! What if Jesus said this in a wistful voice? What if Jesus really would like to have had a regular home? What if Jesus really wanted to be married and have children? We do not make Jesus more divine by eliminating his humanity. We just make Jesus more inaccessible if we do that.
And I said to myself, “I get so excited about the cross, that I forget all the not-so-little crosses that Jesus bore all the time.”
Probably, Jesus wanted to live “a normal life” as much as anyone. But he didn’t. So, if life isn’t normal for you right now, you’re on in exceedingly good company.
“The Nearness of Evil and the Nearness of God”
“They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
they are far from your law. But you are near, O LORD,
and all your commandments are true.”
(Psalm 119:150–151 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
“Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean that people really aren’t out to get you.” (Source unknown, but I suspect it is not me.)
Many biblical psalms speak of the psalmist’s enemies. It is not always clear who the psalmists’ enemies are, or why the psalmists had these enemies. It is the same for us.
I suspect that we all have such people, no matter how “nice” we try to be, or how much we try to avoid conflict. Enemies are a fact of life. And we also often do not know why we have such enemies. Was it something we did? Is the problem in them?
But, in Psalm 119, notice that the nearness of enemies is counterbalanced with the nearness of God. No, not counterbalanced! God’s nearness more than counterbalances the nearness of enemies. God’s presence has a way of overcoming our sense of the proximity of anyone or anything that would harm us. This includes covid-19. Yes, it is all around us. Yes, it is even inside of us already. But then, there is the nearness of God.
Yet, Derek Kidner, with his usual terse insightfulness, writes, “Note the realism of the double statement, ‘They draw near … but thou art near.’ The threat is not glossed over; it is put in perspective by a bigger fact.”
We should never gloss over the nearness of our enemies. But the nearness of God is a “bigger fact.” We also should never forget God and God’s commandments, which are true.
What commandment do you and I particularly need to follow today? I do not know. But here is a good one, and one which frequently occurs in the Bible:
Fear not!
“Living Microscopically”
When I was about eleven or twelve years old, I got a microscope for Christmas. It was amazing to look at a hair or a drop of water under a slide. I had no idea how varied a single hair was! And a drop of water? Don’t even get me started on that! I think that my mom was both intrigued and horrified. We used rainwater to wash clothes and dishes (after it was boiled, I hasten to add).
I was talking on the phone with a friend this morning. He is mourning the loss of a couple of trips that he led for young people. They aren’t going to happen, due to covid-19 fears. After I had allowing him to express his feelings, which are quite appropriate and understandable, I suggested that he might try something that I am doing these days: Perhaps he might try living microscopically. I felt the need to explain.
“These days, when I can’t do external, bigger things, I have been seeking to understand my wife a better. I am challenging her to tell or retell me a story or something else about her.”
“I am also exploring my yard, trying to learn the names of flowers and such.”
When I was young, I used to go exploring. I am old now, but I’m still determined to explore wherever and whatever I can that is good and wholesome. Why should I allow my eleven-year-old self have all the fun?
“Learning to Heel”
“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love” (2 John 6).
I am having a terribly difficult time learning to heel! I should explain.
My frustration with our little dog Laylah has caused me to examine myself. When we go for walks, as we often do these days, Laylah has a tendency to get out in front of me, even when I keep her on a short leash. This would not be a problem, except for the fact that Ms. Laylah has inherited a terrible weakness from her male adopted pet parent: She has attention deficit disorder. This malady is also known as, “Squirrel! Syndrome.” If my furry little girl sees a squirrel or a bird, or another dog, or blowing leaf or piece of paper, she is off to the races. And she is very fast.
If she cuts to the right side, she threatens to break her own neck, or at least give herself a sore neck. If she cuts to the left side, across my direction of locomotion, she threatens to break my neck, by causing me to have a bad fall. So, teaching her to heel is kind of important, for both her sake and mine.
So, this morning I asked myself why it is so difficult for her to learn to heel. She’s a smart little thing, like my wife, her adopted mamma. The problem is that Laylah is only smart when she decides to be. “Why can’t you learn this?” I said to Laylah, rather reproachfully this morning. She looked at me with fearful humility, and, for two or three seconds, she stayed back. However, before I could say, “Thanks for letting me lead,” she wasn’t—letting me lead, that is.
So, I tried to think like a canine. I don’t know if I succeeded, or that God spoke though me to Laylah. But I do know that God spoke through Laylah to me.
For one thing, Laylah just gets distracted. I’m not so sure that ADD is the proper name for the disorder. Perhaps it should be called Attention Distraction Disorder. ADD people and dogs don’t have a deficit of attention. We just find ourselves distracted from where we need to direct our attention. And let’s face it. Focusing on obedience isn’t the easiest thing to do, no matter what species we are.
Maybe Laylah’s priorities get messed up. The immediate gratification of chasing a squirrel or a blowing leaf seems so much more important than whatever this hulking giant on the end of her leash wants her to do. Of course, dogs do not have a corner on the immediate gratification market.
But the basic problem is that Laylah wants to be the alpha dog. She may only weigh 7 ½ pounds, but that doesn’t keep her from wanting to be the big dog.
Now, I don’t think that I need to spend a lot of time unpacking these lessons for you and me. We speak of following God or Jesus. That is certainly an appropriate way of speaking. However, sometimes we get distracted, and forget who is on the other end of the leash.
And then there’s the problem of immediate gratification. In fact, I think it is so common that we should turn this expression into a blend word—“immediafication”!
However, the most serious problem is our desire to be the ALPHA DOG. The all caps are not an accident. This is a problem because, no matter what fine people we may be, we all make lousy gods. When we don’t follow God/Jesus, when we try to run ahead, we get ourselves into a mess in a hurry. Unfortunately (or is it so unfortunate, really?), God moves very slowly, and we are very quick. In fact, we are entirely too quick.
Learning to heel is not easy, but it is tremendously important. Perhaps I owe Laylah an apology. I’m sure that I need to ask God to forgive me. And no doubt I need to set a better example for my dog and for my two-legged friends as well.
“What is Normal, and Should We Go Back to It?”
I hear a lot of people saying, “When can we get back to normal?” I have often wondered about that myself. This morning, however, another, very unwelcome question barged into my mind before I could lock the door. Actually, the question had a traveling companion, which also invaded this morning.
The first question was, “What is normal, anyway?’ And the second was, “Should we really go back there?”
What is normal? It sounds like a simple question, with an even simpler answer. But is it? Who defines normal? Were we living normal lives three months ago? And, of course, not everybody was deliriously happy three months ago, I assume. I am reminded of the saying, often attributed to Will Rogers, that “the good old days ain’t so good anymore. And they probably never were.”
Perhaps the “normal times” (in America) since World War 2 were not so normal after all. Perhaps the normal times were an aberration. Many people thought that the good times would just keep getting better—or at least that the good times were normal and would stay with us. On what did we base such an assumption? And then there is the problem that “normal” is not the same for me as it is for my African American friend.
The second question is just as disturbing as the question about what normal is. It is the question, “Should we go back to normal, even if we can?” I may just be in an extra-curmudgeonly mood today, but were we really all that normal three months ago? Perhaps this virus is an opportunity, both for us as individuals and us as a nation, to reflect on whether we were living as we ought. While I agree that we need to stop (or at least slow down) this deadly disease and (when it is safe) speed up our economy, I question whether “restart” is the best word to use. Maybe we need to do a major overhaul in our individual and collective lives.
The Bible, particularly the Old Testament prophets and Jesus Christ, did not seem to want the nation or individuals to go back to normal. Rather, they said that the nation and individuals needed to repent and return to God. Not to Trump, not to the Republicans, not to the Democrats, not to business as usual. TO GOD!
Until we return to God, returning to normal won’t solve our deepest problems. I am reminded of a Christian friend who said many years ago, ‘The status quo is just Latin for “the mess we’re in.’”
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