This year, for Holy Hilarity Sunday, I collected the following theological quotes and jokes and delivered them for my sermon. That's me in the HA dress below. Click here to see more pictures and video from that celebration.
"Christianity is a strangely cheery religion."
FLANNERY O'CONNOR
"God weeps with us (on Good Friday) so that we may some day laugh with Him (after Easter)."
JURGEN MOLTMANN
"In Nigeria, the name of God is 'Father of Laughter.'"
JOSPEH R. VENEROSO
"You have as much laughter
as you have faith."
MARTIN LUTHER
"Humor is, in fact, the prelude to faith & laughter is the beginning of prayer."
REINHOLD NIEBUHR
"The world will never be converted to God until Christians cry less and laugh and sing more."
CHARLES SPURGEON
“Keep company with the more cheerful sort of the Godly; there is no mirth like the mirth of believers.”
RICHARD BAXTER
"From somber, serious sullen saints, save us, O Lord."
TERESA OF AVILA
"Walk cheerfully over the world."
GEORGE FOX
“The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot.”
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
"A good joke is the closest thing we have to divine revelation."
G.K. CHESTERTON
Q & A JOKES
Q: Why shouldn’t you tell an Easter egg a joke?
A: Because it might crack up!
Q:Why was the Easter Bunny so upset?
A:He was having a bad hare day!
Q: Did you hear the one about the fifty pound jelly bean?
A: It’s pretty hard to swallow.
Q: What did the pink rabbit say to the blue rabbit?
A: Cheer up!
Q: Why are people always tired in April?
A: Because they just finished a 31 day March
Q: Why did the apples in Noah's ark have any worms in them?
A: Because they all came in pears.
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NARRATIVE JOKES
A mother went shopping for an Easter pet for her little girl. She looked at a baby chick and a baby duck. They were both very cute, but she decided to buy the baby chick. Do you know why? The baby chick was a little cheeper!
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Joseph of Aramathea had a neighbor who just couldn’t understand why he had given his beautiful, hand-hewn tomb to the followers of Jesus to bury him there. “Why! Why would you do that?’ Dramatically asked the neighbor.
Joseph replied: “It's okay, he only needed it for the weekend.”
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A man and his nagging wife went on vacation to Jerusalem. While they were there, the wife died. The undertaker told the husband "I could ship your wife's body back home to be buried, but it will cost you $10,000. Instead, I could just bury her right here in the Holy Land and it will only cost you $100."
The husband thought about it for awhile, and then told him to just ship her back home. The undertaker was perplexed. "But it will cost you $10,000 to ship her back, why not just do it here?"
The husband replied: "I heard that a man died here once, was buried, and after three days, he rose from the dead. I just can't take that chance."
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God is talking to one of his angels. He says, "Boy, I just created a 24-hour period of alternating light and darkness on Earth." The angel says, "What are you going to do now?" God says, "Call it a day!”
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A Baptist and an Lutheran were discussing religion. The Baptist started off, "Do you mean to tell me you really believe in infant baptism?" The Lutheran replied, "Believe in it? I've seen it!"
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Ole is the Pastor of the local Norwegian
Lutheran Church and Pastor Sven is the minister of the Swedish Covenant Church across the road. One day they are seen pounding a sign into the ground, which said:
DA END ISS NEAR!
TURN YERSELF AROUNT NOW
BAFOR IT ISS TOO LATE!
As a car speeds past them, the driver leans out his window and yells, "Leave people alone, you Skandihoovian religious nuts!"
From the curve they heard screeching
tires and a big splash.
Shakin' his head, Rev. Ole says "Dat's da terd one dis mornin'."
"Yaa,"
Pastor Sven agrees, then asks, "Do ya tink maybe da sign should yust say, “Bridge ISS Out?'"
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A trucker goes to church every Sunday, no matter where he is. He is in Illinois when he spots a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with a sign which read "$10,000 a minute." Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone. The pastor answered that this golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if he pays the price he can talk directly to God. The man thanked the pastor and continued on his way. As he continued to visit churches in Missouri, Minnesota, California, New York, and all around the United States, he found more phones, with the same sign reading “$10,000 a minute” and got the same answer from each pastor.
Finally, he arrives in Lansing, Iowa Upon entering a church, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read "Calls: 25 cents."
Fascinated, he asks to talk to the pastor. "Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church, I have found this golden telephone and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but, in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 25 cents a call. Why?"
The pastor, smiling, replied,"Your in Lansing now. This is God's country... it's a local call."
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KNOCK KNOCK JOKES
Knock Knock
who's there?
Cash
Cash who?
no thank you. I prefer walnuts!
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Amish
Amish who?
Well you certainly don't look like a shoe.
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
There's a chicken...
There's a chicken Who?
There's a chick in the egg. Come on, it’s Easter.
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Interrupting cow.
Interrupting...MOOOOO!
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"A church is in a bad way
when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary."
HELMUT THIELICKE
"When you laugh, aside from the endorphin rush, there’s also a spiritual opening. You’re not so tight inside yourself. That opening I’ve found to be a real gift, in people being able to absorb spirituality."
RABBI SYDNEY MINTZ
"A good laugh heals a lot of hurts."
MADELEINE L'ENGLE
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only son so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have EVER-LAUGHING life.”
—A five year old’s version of John 3:16
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May we live an ever-laughing life, my friends, and be an Alleluia from head to foot!
