"Laughter is the best medicine" : that's the theme for today's celebration.

Like many of our sayings, I think this one started off in the Bible. Proverbs 17:22 says something similar: "A cheerful or merry heart is good medicine" (whichever version you happen to be reading)

So, when I started to prepare for today, I thought I'd look for 'laughter' in the Bible. Well, that did give me a job! I couldn't find much about laughter or mirth in the Bible at all….  The indexes and concordances only seem to mention laughter when it's talked about as something hurtful or cruel - and therefore not good. I did find lots about joy and being cheerful.

In the course of my searching, I found an interesting comment that compared a part of the Bible with 'Sesame Street' on TV.
So, I thought we might try it out. Let's take a quick look at Sesame Street

(Play video clip of Sesame Street)

Now, let's have a 'look' at Proverbs 15: 13 - 24. ( 3 readers - 1 verse at a time, turn about)

What's similar?

Sesame Street teaches in short, sharp bursts. So does Proverbs. That's the way we learn and remember things best. (And the creators of Sesame Street thought they'd invented something!)

Here's some proverbs that are familiar to us:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"

"Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it."

We remember these because they are short and sharp.

That comment about the book of Proverbs also stated that there is more humour in Proverbs than in any other part of the Bible.

Well, I read through Proverbs - and I couldn't find much that was funny or made me laugh. So I thought, "Well, maybe that's not what humour really is."

So I looked up the dictionary and found that a definition of 'humour' is 'wit'

I looked at Proverbs again. And, yes, I found some wit. There were some proverbs that painted some slightly ridiculous pictures or that caught my attention and made me stop and think.

Listen to these ones and see the pictures in your mind:

Better to live on the corner of the roof
than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. (or husband, or child, or parent - as the case may be!) Can you see the poor little hen-pecked husband crouching on the corner of his roof?

If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it;
if a man rolls a stone, it will roll back on him.
(Be careful how you act or you may suffer the consequences!)
Can you see the picture of the man industriously digging for hours until he has a nice big hole - and then toppling in - and not being able to get out? That's a bit like slapstick humour, isn't it?

The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside"
or, "I will be murdered in the streets"
(we are so good at thinking up excuses for what we don't want to do, aren't we?)

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels
(no comment on that one!)

Jesus used wit too, to teach. There's the story about when he said it would be as hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Well, his listeners at the time would have understood that. There was a small gate , commonly called 'the eye of the needle', at one entrance to the city of Jerusalem that camels had to kneel down and creep through. From what I've seen on TV about camels, I can imagine what a circus act that would be - even to get the camel to kneel down and crawl! Or, even if he wasn't referring to that gate, the idea of getting a camel, which was the biggest animal around in that culture, through one of the smallest openings we can think of, would have caused a few giggles.

Matthew 7 has quite a few examples of Jesus' wit:
There was his comment about sitting in judgement of other people: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

"If your son asks for bread, will you give him a stone?"

"Do not throw your pearls to pigs"

"Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?

So, much of the wit in the Bible isn't necessarily the kind of humour that has us rolling in the aisles., but it makes us think.

What about laughter being 'good medicine'?

When I was little I didn't like taking my medicine because it didn't taste good. My mother 'conned' me by saying that the worse it tasted, the more good it would do me! (or at least, she tried to con me with that story!) Medicine isn't always fun, but it is given to get rid of the things that make us sick -to help us be more healthy. Maybe that's what the wit of the Bible does for us - but we need to take it and take it in regular doses!

Many years ago - and maybe still today - people had a picture of Jesus in their minds as being someone who didn't laugh and have much fun . But I think that these bits of wit we have recorded in the Bible would have been said with a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face, because he really knew how to get along with people and knew how to communicate well. I also note that he attracted people and especially that he attracted children. And I don't believe he could have done that so successfully if he never relaxed and had some fun with them.

So, tonight, we hope you will relax and have some fun with us and take some of the 'laughter medicine' our Fellowship is offering. And we hope you'll go home feeling better for it.

Prayer.
Praise to God for his goodness and mercy and for the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Thanks to God for good times, laughter and fun
Confession that too often we focus on the negatives and forget the positives.
Prayer for those who are here who are feeling 'down' and need some 'medicine' and for those who are not here tonight to benefit from the fellowship
Prayer for the sick, the needy, those in trouble and stress.
Thanks for the good evening we are about to have together.

13 A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.

14 The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

15 All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

16 Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.

17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.

18 A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.

19 The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

20 A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.

21 Folly delights a man who lacks judgment, but a man of understanding keeps a straight course.

22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

23 A man finds joy in giving an apt reply-- and how good is a timely word!

24 The path of life leads upward for the wise to keep him from going down to the grave.