Today is a day to mock death. Today is a day to taunt all the powers of death. Today is a day to laugh in the face of death. Today we rejoice in the joyful faith that in his resurrection, Jesus has dethroned death.

Many modern churches are resurrecting an old Easter custom begun by the Greeks in the early centuries of Christianity. Early Orthodox churches gathered on the Monday after Easter to tell stories, jokes and anecdotes. To this day in Slavic regions Christians gather the day after Easter for folk dancing and feasting in the churchyard. "Bright Sunday" (the Sunday after Easter), was observed by the faithful as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. Churchgoers and pastors played practical jokes on each other, drenched each other with water, told jokes, sang, and danced.

Early church theologians (like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom) taught that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. "Risus paschalis - the Easter laugh," the early theologians called it.

In 1988 the Fellowship of Merry Christians began encouraging churches and prayer groups to resurrect Bright Sunday celebrations and call it "Holy Humor Sunday," with the theme: "Jesus is the LIFE of the party."

Whenever "Laughter Sunday" it is celebrated, and by whatever name, it is characterized by laughter, joking, singing, dancing, and merry-making. And it reminds us that God is a God of laughter as well as of sorrow - much as God is Lord of the valleys as well as the mountain tops.

Here is a video that I enjoyed recently, the story of a church in Mississippi that desperately needed a bit of revival, and got it one day, in an unexpected way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16fG1sDagU

Life is too important to be taken seriously! God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. - 1 Corinthians 1:27

Well, I'm told that one of my colleagues in a different church got so annoyed at the new sanitary hot air hand dryers in the rest rooms at his church that he insisted they be removed. Turns out that one day he went into the restroom and there, hung by the hand dryer was a sign that read, "For a sample of this week's sermon, push the button." Another of my colleagues was equally unimpressive one Sunday. During a pause in the middle of what was proving to be a long-winded sermon, the voice of a small child could be clearly heard throughout the sanctuary: "Mommy, are you sure this is the only way we can get into heaven?"

Well, hopefully my sermon this morning is a little more than just hot air, and a little less than purgatory. On this holy humour Sunday, I hope to convince you, not with solemn argument, but with a demonstration of the power of laughter, that life is just too important to take too seriously, and that we in the church should be the last to take ourselves too seriously. We do, after all, worship a God who doesn't take us too seriously and who delights in puncturing our pretensions, pricking our pomposity and perforating our pride. We worship, after all, a God who chose to save us by being defeated, to conquer death by submitting to it, to overcome sin by letting it do its worst. Easter is a celebration that the things that scare us and trouble us the most shouldn't be taken too seriously, because they have been overcome in Christ's resurrection. Death is too important to be taken seriously. So, we are asking today, "If Jesus rose from the grave, how come his followers so often look like they're stuck in a funeral?" Church, too, is too important to be taken seriously. During the children's story one Sunday, the minister asked the kids, "Why is it so important that we be quiet in church?" A little one answered, "Because people are sleeping." Well, there are a few people in this church who listen with their eyes closed, but Jesus warned us pretty solemnly about sleeping through life. Wake up, he told us! Which reminds me of the best political joke I have heard in a while.

You've probably heard about how the New Democrats are surging in this election, haven't you? But do you know how that surge started? Apparently it started in Quebec when a Bloc Quebecois candidate was out knocking on doors and came across a little girl named Suzette who was sitting in front of her house with a basket filled with furry little animals, and a sign that said (in French) "free kittens." The candidate stooped down and asked the little girl how old her kittens were. "Just a few days," Suzette replied. "Their eyes aren't even open yet." The candidate asked what kind of kittens they were. "Well, they're Quebecois kittens," replied Suzette. Well, at that the candidate's eyes got big, he whipped out his cell phone and started talking to the campaign managers. The next day, a long convoy pulled up in front of Suzy's house, and out piled TV cameramen and reporters, who all set up their cameras. Then Gilles Duceppe got out of his campaign bus, accompanied by a very happy looking Bloc Quebecois candidate. Mr. Duceppe knelt down beside Suzy and said "I understand you have some very intelligent kittens there." "Yes sir," said Suzy. "They're New Democratic kittens!" Well at that, the Mr. Duceppe shot a hard cold glance at the local candidate, who stammered, "But, but, but… yesterday you said they were Quebecois kittens." "Yes sir," replied Suzy, "but today their eyes have opened!"

The great thing about that joke is that you can switch the parties to match your own preferences. I inherited the joke as one about kittens that started out Liberal and switched to Conservative, and I've told it about kittens that started Conservative and switched to Greens. But the great thing about political jokes is that they help us not to take our politics too seriously either. Whatever party you support, or don't support, whatever party wins tomorrow, or doesn't win, none of them will usher in the kingdom of God, and, provided that we remain engaged and vigilant, and keep writing letters and voicing our concerns, none of them will likely do too much damage either. Politics as well is too important to be taken seriously. There is a story that the great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, who wrote bookshelves of the most influential works in the history of the Christian church, towards the end of his life, had a mystical experience, and realized that his life work was, in his words, "nothing but straw." Some people might hear that story and think that he had realized that theology was unimportant, but I think what it is really saying was that Aquinas had realized that theology too is too important to be taken seriously.

Which brings us to our final joke.

So apparently, when the former Pope, John Paul II died and got to heaven, he ran into some grief at the pearly gates. St. Peter had a bone to pick with him. "Frankly, John Paul," said St. Peter. "You're lucky to be here." "Why?" says John Paul. "What did I do wrong?"

"God was very angry with your refusal to allow women to become priests," replied St. Peter. "God is mad about that?" says John Paul in astonishment.

Peter looks him right in the eye. "Yes! She's furious!"