lame joke in the title? absolutely.
offensive to god? doubtful.
offensive to humour? yes.
last night we gathered to see whether or not god has a sense of humour.
we looked at some [actual] products found on line. the picture is of He'Brews Jewish Beer. don't believe it is real? check out their website
we also looked at a frying pan which burns the face of jesus into your pancakes or grilled cheese sandwich, pet baptism kits, hot air balloon jesus and a lanyard for your iPod shuffle that is in the shape of a cross. we discussed whether or not these items were funny or offensive. all of them fell into the funny category.
however, the websites that dealt with the rapture [actually, the site was about investing in stocks during the 7 years when the anti-christ is on earth to make the most money...there is waaaaaay too much there to explain right now but we all agreed a study about the end of the world would make an interesting future immersion service] or sending messages to dead relatives through people in paliative care or the other more intolerant sites were put into the offensive/blasphemous category. these sites were seen as destructive and communicative of an unhealthy and violent ideology. the basic consensus was that there is nothing funny about taking advantage of people who are grieving the loss of a loved one or manipulating a certain idea about the end times to make financial gain.
but it was the video that inspired the most passionate discussion [see video bar for the video]. this youtube vid was full of images and we watched and then wrote which ones we reacted the strongest towards.
please watch the video and do the same.
many people were deeply offended about the woman in the stain-glassed window, or the cross with the word 'ikea' written on it, or the ones mocking pope john paul II's declining health in his final days, or the pictures depicting jesus as a drug user.
we asked why these things were offensive and the main idea was that there is no longer anything sacred anymore. there seems to be a noticable disrespect for religion and a desire to profane what used to be considered holy. conversation turned to stores and bars being open on sundays and how the church is a target for hateful remarks.
but we also talked about this type of thing being a vehicle for honest dialogue. if we can get past the feelings of repulsion or anger we may be able to find someone who is lashing out because of an incident in their past when they were let down, or hurt, by the church. and that is the kind of person we want to show understanding and compassion towards. people expect a negative reaction from 'church types' when they post such images. what a wonderful opportunity to pleasantly surprise them!
what about those who post images and mock the church just because, and are just being malicious for, no good reason or because it is the popular thing to do? well, it is probably best just to avoid the situation and hope that they mature enough down the road and will become willing to engage in an intelligent discussion on the subject. or, at the very least, realize that mocking another person's beliefs-no matter how silly they may seem-is never a good course of action.
but the point that must be concluded on is this: god does have a sense of humour. it is important to see that god delights in people. it is important to see the distinction between failing at an honest attempt to please god and just mocking god. as thomas merton says: "i believe even the desire to please god pleases god."
god is a god who laughs as well as cries. god is not vengeful and waiting to smite us because we tell jokes about the faith. it is important for christians-and people of faith-to look at themselves and laugh at what is funny...we do a lot of ridiculous things in this pursurit of the Divine and it can only help to be able to honestly laugh at ourselves! plus, it probably will help us rid ourselves of the whole vengeful and grumpy god image that can haunt us and our spiritual walk.
after all, if god doesn't have a sense of humour we are all pretty much up the mighty brown creek sans paddle!
and seriously, if god doesn't have a sens of humour who can explain the platypus and teenagers?
ps: for a great website that has some hilarious church culture items check out www.shipoffools.com
No comments:
Post a Comment