Laughter is said to be the best medicine. I guess about now we want to take advantage of all the free medicine we can. I know that laughter is thought to reduce stress and increase immune response. But, of course, it also just feels good. I don’t laugh much during the course of a regular day; I spend most of my time at a computer with my brain metaphorically buried in manuscripts or statistics (but then, I love being a scholar, and I know that loving my work also affects low-stress and better immune response). I have a kind of dry wit sense of humor, which tends to lead more to the occasional chuckle than a good old-fashioned belly laugh. This is one reason I took up watching I Love Lucy a couple of years ago as a kind of discipline; every weeknight I watch at least one episode. It never fails to make me laugh out loud, and I admit it feels really good. I hope it has the desired effect.
The story of Sarah’s pregnancy, if you will, in Genesis (18:1-15, 21:1-7) seems to pivot around Sarah’s laughter. I think, like many people, Sarah starts laughing as a response to a shocking surprise. At first, hearing she was to become pregnant in old age, she laughed to herself. In the end, after the birth of her son, she understood better that “God has brought laughter for me” and “everyone who hears will laugh with me.” Laughter, after all, is contagious.
Of course, the surprise Sarah experienced, the surprise that made her laugh, was a visit by God. At first encounter “three men” appear at the entrance of Abraham’s tent. After he feeds them “one” of them speaks to Abraham, he even asks about Sarah’s laughter. At the end of the tale Sarah knows God has visited to bring her laughter, which is love.
God, as we know, is love. And God, as we also know, doesn’t really need to visit because God is always with us. Rather, it is we who need to learn to see that God is acting in our lives. This is why the visitor to Abraham and Sarah says “I will surely return to you in due season” meaning, “sooner or later you will let down your guard and know me again.” And it is the very laughter that is the opening of the gate, if you will, in Sarah’s consciousness that let’s her see and know that God is with her. “Is anything too wonderful for God?”
Well, laughter brings joy, and joy stirs up love, and love makes miracles happen. God’s “due season” is any time our laughter builds up enough joy to stir up enough love to realize not just the presence of God all around and within us but also the miracles of everyday life. Little things are God’s miracles—a recipe works, a rose blooms, a tree limb falls and doesn’t knock down the fence (just to name a few of my own)—a child is born as a sign of hope in a time of trial. God’s presence is made palpable by joy, by the sharing of love, by realizing in our hearts, with laughter or tears, the very miracle of the pure experience of love.
In the letter to the Romans (5:1-8) Paul writes that it is through the intermixture of the experience of life as faith that we see how God’s Holy Spirit has been given, is given eternally, to us. The Holy Spirit is always with us. Like the visitors to Abraham’s tent, we experience the “visit” of the Holy Spirit when we are able to experience the love that makes God’s presence palpable. We are justified by faith, by the love that does indeed make God’s presence known to us. This is the grace in which we stand, of which we boast, from which comes our hope, which enables us to endure. Hope is the joy given by the realization of the presence of God when we share God’s love.
In Matthew’s Gospel (9:35-10:8) we enter into the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as he begins to travel from village to village, summons his disciples, gives them authority, and then sends them out as well. Jesus’ instructions are all active verbs—go, proclaim, cure. “As you go, proclaim the good news.” The good news is this, that God’s love already is all around us. We stir it up by its proclamation. We stir up God’s love by the act of loving whether that means a good belly laugh or a soft chuckle or just a hug—remember hugs? Loving is action, not just feelings but the outpouring of feelings that makes God’s presence palpable. Going, doing, curing, proclaiming … these are the ways Jesus calls all disciples to stir up the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, which we endure in hope, which we realize in laughter, even the laughter of God’s surprising everyday miracles.
One more thing, Jesus sends his disciples to “go … to the lost sheep.” Who are the lost sheep? Why, we are of course. We are lost until we can pass through the gate of love into the dimension of God’s presence where we experience the very palpable companionship of God.
Proper 6 Year A 2020 RCL: Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7); Psalm 116:1, 10-17 Dilexi, quoniam; Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)
©2020 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 