Laughter

The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” Genesis 21:1-7

Isaac means laughter, what a great name.  The one who before he was born awoken laughter from both his father, Abraham, and his mother, Sarah.  The one who you can imagine when he was born caused laughter to erupt as tears flowed down his mother's face.  Sarah is the saint of laughter.

Then, somewhere along the way, church became a very serious and somber business.  After all there are buildings to maintain and budgets to fund.  There are services to plan, sermons to preach.  Committee...O yes...the committees.  Always another meeting.  And rarely do we associate these moments with laughter.  But I think we should all go buy a portrait of Saint Sarah, place the photo in our board rooms, back rooms, and even bath rooms to remind us that laughter is the best prayer to God.

When did you laugh this week?  Honestly, this was not a week filled with laughter for me.  But, sometimes the lack of laughter has more to do with me than anyone else.  A pastor friend of mine was fond of quoting Lincoln, "Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be".  We often think that our happiness is dependent on forces outside our control.  While it is true that there is much brokenness in our world, there are forces that seem bent on spreading dis-ease in our world (cable news networks or radio hosts come to mind here).  It is easy to nit-pick your way through life, where nothing is quite good enough.  The sauce on your food, just a tad too spicy.  The day was too sunny or cloudy or too party cloudy.  Life is not about perfection, but finding peacefulness.  And no one can give us peacefulness.  You cannot purchase it along with a People Magazine and breath mints at your local store.  

My wife and I enjoy watching HGTV; and almost every show has the premise surrounding buying or renovating a home...perhaps the most stressful time in your life.  So, why NOT invite some cameras in for filming that moment in your life for national consumption?  So many shows also are bent on one person in the couple being overly grumpy about the house.  Then, in the end, we all want a happy ending, so both in the couples are suddenly so excited about the best decision ever.  On the one hand, that is just television.  On the other, people are trying to make up their minds to be happy.

We all know and admire people who seem to have an endless supply of happiness.  It seems to radiate from every pore of their being.  Of course, others help.  Watch a comedian; read funny stories or blogs; hang out with friends with a good sense of humor.  But at some point it needs to come from within too.  Touching the part of our soul connected to our funny bone that enjoys laughing so hard our bellies hurt.  

I pray you will continue to ponder prayerfully laughter and joy and happiness in your life.  Where is happiness coming from outside and inside?  And how are we thanking God for the saint of laughter, Sarah!  May the traces of God's grace tickle your life with laughter this week.

Blessings ~

Look Who is Coming for Dinner

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

Of all the stories in Scripture, this one is certainly in my top twenty.  I love the image of God coming to us in the form of a guest.  Think about that this 4th of July at the family reunion.  I love the image of Abraham racing all around like Martha Stewart over-caffeinated, getting everyone into a tizzy for this dinner.  I love that Sarah laughs.  What an honest and heartfelt prayer.  I love the icon above as one of the ways that brings this passage to life.  Three figures, draped in robes, feasting on a holy meal as an image of communion.  

What I don't particularly care for is Sarah feeling she has to deny her honest response.  And I don't like that Abraham gets to laugh (see the previous post on chapter 17) and does not get called on it by God.  I really wish Sarah would have said, "Um yeah, God, I did laugh.  It's been, like, ten years since we left our home.  We've been all over this You-forsaken desert always lured by a promise of a son.  Now...now you are asking me why I am laugh?  Because I have given up hope." 

Hope is one of those oft-used, rarely-understood words.  We get hopes confused with wishes all the time.  I wish I could go buy a new car...I hope for a world where none exclude.  I wish my children would listen so I would not have to yell...I hope for a world where our leaders listen.  I wish the media would quit interviewing Christians who preach hate/discrimination all in the name of the One who died on a cross...I hope my actions/blog/life can in some way suggest Christianity is about something else.  Wishes are wrapped up in the trinity of me, myself, and I; hope calls me out of myself.  Hope calls me to stop navel-gazing and start God's-realm-gazing.

Even with the above examples...I am not sure that really helps differentiate between hope and wishes.  But I think hope has to do with more than just my desires...hope has to do with God's desires.  God's deepest desires for a world where God's realm is not just a glimpse or a trace, but fully realized and shared by all God's people.  Hope has to do with me putting my wishes on hold for God's hopes; which is why we, as Americans, struggle with hope.  We get our wishes/desires confused with God's desires all the time.  It is easy to do...to conflate our desires and God's desires...let ours hold the trump card.  We need to wake up in the mornings, most of the mornings, and say what am I going to do today that makes no sense and makes me vulnerable for the sake of God's love/prayer/desire for this world?  That questions will take my morning prayer time to new places every time.

Which is why studying Scripture is so important and why it is important to be honest about the absurdity of faith.  I know why it is easier to go to Starbucks on Sunday or a soccer game, then I don't have to deal with God's faithful/loving demands for my life.  Scripture reminds me that God will show up at the most inconvenient times.  Not only when I least expect it, but also when I least want God hanging around.  Scripture shows us the surprising serendipity of God sense of humor.  And perhaps, God's final words to Sarah are not said laced with anger or judgment, but maybe a chuckle.  "Oh Sarah, knock it off, laughter is a prayer.  Own it and live it and pray it."

What in the world and in your life causes you to laugh?  So often faith becomes this somber and serious ritual where laughter rarely happens.  But I believe God laughs.  I believe God shows up for dinner unannounced, when we are least expecting it.  I pray this week you will sense traces of grace in moments of laughter and in meals where bread is broken.

May it be so for you and for me.

Blessings ~