12/05/2014

Good morning. George Orwell said that “Every joke is a tiny revolution.” At the very least, a joke disrupts the settled order of our everyday lives. The joke starts, and for a moment we’re carried into a world of possibilities, before being dropped from a height into familiarity. Laughter brings down the towers of pomp and power - sometimes our own. That’s why no-one likes being the butt of a joke. Where Christians are persecuted it is because they declare that Jesus, not Caesar is Lord. And Caesar can’t bear being laughed at.

The educationalist, Edward Lewis called laughter “the sensual pleasure of democracy” because of its levelling effect. When a cartoonist draws a picture of a politician with their trousers down they are using the power of the pen to redress the imbalance between us and our leaders. At best, that’s the role of satire – though it can easily become self-serving.

Psalm 37 says that “The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, he knows their day is coming.” And the righteous can join in the joke.

Of course, pricking the bubbles of the pompous may be satisfying, but if that’s the end of the story nothing much has been achieved. Comedians may bring down the over-mighty, but they’re not always great at building up again. That’s the role of the rest of us. In the space created by laughter we see the possibility of a renewed, just world.

Lord I offer you this day,
With all its opportunities and all my limitations
All your possibilities and all my anxieties.
Stay close to me today
And in a dark and sometimes scary world
Help me to shine, For Jesus sake, Amen.