Category Archives: Relationships

Humor Among the Monks…

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In the movie, The Name of the Rose, Sean Connery’s character, William, is investigating suspicious activities in a medieval abbey. While he is investigating in a room filled with monks, a mouse scares those present and they laugh at one another for squealing like little girls.

Upon hearing the laughter, an elderly blind monk, Jorge, enters the room to protest the frivolity. As a lifelong advocate of humor among the brethren, I found their dialogue strangely familiar.

Jorge: (In a foreign language) A monk should not laugh for only the fools lifts up his voice in laughter. (In English) I trust my words did not offend you, Brother William. But I heard persons laughing at laughable things. You Franciscans, however, belong to an order where merriment is viewed with indulgence.

William: Yes, it’s true. St. Francis was much disposed to laughter.

Jorge: Laughter is a devilish wind which deforms, uh, the veinements of the face and makes the man look like monkeys.

William: Monkeys do not laugh. Laughter is particular to man.

Jorge: As a sin! Christ never laughed.

William: Can we be so sure?

Jorge: There is nothing in the Scriptures to say that he did!

William: And there is nothing in the Scriptures to say that he did not. Why even the saints have been known and employed comedy — to ridicule the enemies of the faith. For example, when the pagans  plunged Saint Maurus into the boiling water, he complained that his bath was too cold. The Sultan put his hand in — scolded himself.

Jorge: A saint immersed in boiling water does not play childish tricks; he restrains his cries and suffers for the truth.

William: And yet Aristotle devoted his second book of Poetics to comedy as an instrument of truth.

Jorge: You have read this work?

William: No, of course not. It’s been lost for many centuries.

Jorge: No, it has not! It was never written! Because Providence doesn’t want futile things glorified.

William: Oh this I must contest…

Jorge: Enough! This abbey’s overshadowed by grief, yet you would intrude on our sorrow with idle banter!

William: Forgive me venerable Jorge. My remarks were truly out of place.

No commentary here. Just a realization of the eternal struggle many have reconciling humor with their faith. For a thorough treatment of this, you might want to read, The Humor of Christ by Elton Trueblood. Trueblood saved me from losing my sense of humor to the Jorges of this world.

PS: Be aware that the movie is rated R. It’s not family friendly. A scene or two took me by surprise; then I remembered that rating systems are generally accurate. Duh.

Words of Encouragement…

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Today, while preparing for a counseling session, I was reading The Hidden Value of a Man, where Smalley and Trent identify a “Gold Sword” of compassion and encouragement men need to use. The “Silver Sword” is the one men use to battle through life. The “Gold Sword” is the one they use to nurture, protect, and encourage others.

The authors wrote:

Men tend to remember for decades specific words of encouragement their fathers spoke to them. When a man makes an effort to pick up the gold sword and use it under God’s control, the world takes note. Women and children certainly take note. And the more we pick it up, the more we will shape those who love us and look to us to help define their lives. ~Smalley and Trent in The Hidden Value of a Man, p.93.

That’s truth.

I can tell you it’s truth because a memory I tend to savor is one where my father said after church one Sunday morning, “Steve, your a good preacher.”

Now, the question becomes, “How can I wield the Gold Sword in a similar way to help those around me become the men and women God wants them to be?”

Grace — It’s Positive Energy…

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I read today about the essentiality — yeah, that’s a word — of optimism in leadership. Corporations headed by pessimists, whether they be churches or tech giants, seldom overcome obstacles necessary to grow.  I need to be optimistic. What’s frustrating is how easy it is to be negative. It’s easier to say, “Nazareth?! Can anything good come from there,” than it is to say, “We have found the Christ,” (John 1). And it’s easy to be swayed by negative energy. It has a power to stifle both productivity and creativity.

Today I was feeling anything but positive about what God was doing in my life… until the UPS man came to my door. No, he didn’t drop off that 65 inch television I’ve been dreaming about. Instead, he dropped off the cross that we ordered to replace the one Anna bought in memory of her husband. You may recall the original cross had been stolen. Immediately, Laurel and I hopped into the car and headed up to see Anna. As we drove, I shared my negative feelings with Laurel and my struggle to be optimistic.

Then we arrived at Anna’s home. She showed us in and we talked about her health, the church, her home, and her family. I showed her the new cross and told her the story of how God had provided a larger cross for the same price as the smaller one with which we’d all been dissatisfied. We rejoiced together. We then prayed together, taking time to pray that the person who had stolen the original cross would turn to Jesus and find forgiveness. That was a great visit, but probably not for the reasons you would expect. It wasn’t because of the prayer. It wasn’t because of the new cross. It was because Anna epitomizes grace. Grace toward the thief. Grace toward her brothers and sisters in Christ. And grace toward people who crank out negative energy. She was so gracious and positive I left feeling like a completely different person. I said to Laurel, “Every now and then, God surprises you with a person who brings incredible joy.” Such people are people of grace.

As you go to God in prayer, may I suggest praying three ways:

  1. Pray that you can be a person of grace, for people of grace are anything but negative.
  2. Pray that God would use you to be a gracious influence on people around you so that when they leave they feel like life is a good thing.
  3. Pray for those who struggle with negativity — that God will so bless them they can’t help but see him in the world around them.

Oh — and pray for me, that I might have the optimism essential to ministry and life.

Let your conversation be always full of grace… (Colossians 4)