A Laughing Matter?

Grace Episcopal Church

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes

14 August 2013

[Grace Notes publishes a day early this week.]  God is transcendent and God is immanent.  These two realities are not separated.  God is both transcendent (above us) and immanent (one with us).  If we think of ourselves as being in a swimming pool, God stands above us on the diving board, but He also dives in.  “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us ...” (Jn. 1.14).  The almighty Creator of all also comes to us.

As humans we want to make God more like us, because this makes Him more comfortable.  And yet God remains the transcendent God.  God’s “human” qualities, in fact, include the “image and likeness” in which we are created (Gen. 1.26), and perhaps we can see this best in something that we think of as uniquely human:  laughter.

God laughs, and we laugh.  The Bible describes God as laughing at Ps. 2.4 and Ps. 37.14.  We are described as laughing both at Ecclesiastes 3.4 and at Psalm 126.2.  We can conclude that Jesus—fully God and fully human—especially laughs.  But what does God laugh at?  In the psalms He is described as laughing at human folly (the folly of wickedness).  We certainly laugh (for example) when a self-important snob slips on a banana peel.  In other words, when that-which-is-not-godly (e.g., pride) is exposed it is seen to be absurd, and whatever draws us away from God is exposed as a sort of cosmic bad joke—the type of joke that may produce laughter but is far from funny, producing a laughter of discomfort.

The psychology of laughter (gelotology) and the philosophy of laughter (notably in Schopenauer and Bergson) both focus on contrast, on the contrast between that which is inflexible and that which is flexible (e.g., between the self-importance of the snob and the happenstance which produces his fall).  These insights allow us to glimpse a little of the contrast between that which is godly and that which is not.  Godliness and holiness are flexible in that they involve growth, cosmic movement, creation.  God is alive.  Evil is negation only; it is a rigid “no” to all that God calls us to be, and it is in this contrast that we see the laughter of God “at the wicked, because he sees that their day will come” (Ps. 37.14).  God sees what will be—what will grow and flourish by His will—and knows the smallness, the negation, the rigid “no” of evil to be absurd and worthy of contempt.

God is alive, and faith must be.  God sees what will come for the wicked because He is outside of time—past, present and future are all the same for Him.  He sees the growth He wills and knows that what the wicked will results in a grand total of nothing.  Hence, the laughter.  But the laughter is coupled with love.  God is not laughing at us when we fail.  He laughs, and we laugh, in the joy of new life and growth, of triumph over evil.

Grace Abounds:  Please thank Dale and Mary Massey for the coffee hour this past Sunday.

Faith Alive:  Children                                 Friday – Sunday (Sept. 20-22)   

Children are included in Faith Alive. Jesus does tell us to bring the little children to him.  We have two visitors committed to this Children’s Ministry coming to work with Pat Ford-Smith.  It’s a wonderful gift that God gives some, the ability to minister to children when their minds are unencumbered & open.  It's a precious time not to waste.  Sometimes God even uses these children to reach their parents.  May God bless these efforts.

Being the Body:  On Saturday, 17 August, we reconvene from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  We are in the middle of our discipleship program, now focused on how we act to be the Body of our Lord.  We will welcome The Rev. Dr. Marie T. Gray, Priest-in-Charge of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Plymouth.  She will be leading a session on how a rule of life, and on how we may follow the pattern of study in prayer, immersing ourselves in Scripture and in the Benedictine understandings of silence, study, meditation, prayer, and contemplation to live into our vocation as members of Christ’ Body.

Episcopal Youth Community: 

Music this week: 

Prelude                        Chorale Preludes on O God, thou faithful God           Max Reger and

                                                                                                                        Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Entrance Hymn  544   “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun”                            Duke Street

Offertory Hymn 366   “Holy God, we praise thy Name”                               Grosser Gott

Comm. Hymn 419      “Lord of all being, throned afar”                                Mendon

Closing Hymn 655      “O Jesus, I have promised”                                         Nyland

Postlude                      Fantasia in E Flat                                                        Johann Pachelbel

Parish Notices

Free upright piano.  A piano in playable condition is available.  If you are interested contact Gene Wilhelm.

St. Mary the Virgin: Thursday is the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin also known as the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. We will celebrate with a Solemn Mass at 6:00 pm. We will continue the celebration with an All Parish Potluck Dinner. Please join in the fun. If you can stay and help clean up that would be wonderful.

Faith Alive is coming to Grace! On September 20-22 Grace will be hosting a Faith Alive event.  Faith Alive is a church retreat for the entire family.  Activities from nursery and children services, teens, and adults will provide a unique opportunity to grow closer to God through active sharing of faith stories in circumstances that are designed to not be intimidating but inviting.  If you are not comfortable sharing, no one will pressure you and you will gain significant benefits from witnessing or participating.  We feel very honored to offer this event to our church family and hope everyone can participate in the entire weekend.  Please contact any of the committee members for more information.

Sunday School Begins: We are getting excited about Sunday School! The teachers have met and plans are being made for another wonderful year of learning about the love of Jesus Christ! Sunday School will begin on September 8^th at 9:00am. Please watch for more information.

 Commemoration of Blessed Charles Chapman Grafton is observed as a Feast Day of the Diocese of Fond du Lac at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Fond du Lac. It is included in "Holy Men, Holy Women" by the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church. The Feast Day is August 30th, although the Commemoration liturgy may be translated to another day. The 2013 Commemoration will take place Saturday, August 24th beginning at 2:00pm. at the Cathedral of St. Paul the Apostle, Fond du Lac. For more information and to register go to diofdl.org/grafton.

Education for Ministry: How do I learn to make the Bible stories become my stories?  How do I learn how God wants to bless me with more than I can imagine?  Join an EfM (Education for Ministry) group that is starting on Tuesday, September 9th.  The 9:00-11:45 am group will meet at St. Paul’s in Plymouth.   A 6:00-8:45 pm group is also forming with starting date and place to be determined.  Scholarships are available, so don’t let the cost of $350 for this college credited class, stop you from joining.  This year starts the use of all new materials and textbooks, so anyone who has taken any of the classes before can repeat them.  Registrations are due by August 10^th so materials can be received before the first class.  Contact Barb Drewry-Zimmerman at bzimmy@excel.net or 920-893-5189 for registration materials.

If you have a desire to help: The Salvation Army Red Shield Free Clinic needs you!!  Of urgent need are on site medical professionals- Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, Nurses.  If that's not you, but you have great people skills, we are also looking for volunteers to help patients with paperwork and in the evangelism area.  Clinics are open every Thursday evening, two Monday evenings and two Thursday mornings each month. Volunteer commitment is typically three hours each at each session. Please consider this opportunity to help your community.  Contact Pam Sandee, Clinic Coordinator at 694-1262 if this is for you!

Bishop Search: For all information concerning the search for the eighth Bishop of Fond du Lac please go to bishopsearch.info.