I recently heard Ben Huh the CEO of the popular Internet meme site icanhas.cheeseburger.com say, "The greatest tool for engaging the 35 year old and under crowd is humor." You have to look no further than the Christian comedy group The Playmakers to see this truth in action. Brothers Kevin and Jason Fredericks along with friend Anthony Davis give us a reason to laugh at the Black Christian culture. Their comedic hijinks and commentary on black church life have made them an Internet sensation with skits such as Stuff Black Church Girls Say and 10 Types of Black Preachers (see below). They have smashed many sacred cows in their attempt to bring humor to the masses but some may think they have gone too far.Historically, the church hasn't been a bastion of joviality and humor. Many believe that the church is about being gloomy and somber. That the church seems to take itself too seriously is probably one of the reasons it often gets made fun of. With such a weighty topic as the salvation of millions from hell, our sacred establishments can often be seen as killjoys to all the fun that life has to offer. After all, most of the time the church is seen as criticizing sinners for going to parties, instead of hosting parties itself. Pictures of long-faced Puritans and old grumpy ladies fill our minds when it comes to our image of church. This makes church and humor appear as far apart as the east is from the west. But what if this is actually not in alignment with the character and content of the Bible?
Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is full of humor. The subtlety and intellectual wit of the Bible is often not seen because of the lens with which we come to it with, but it is there nonetheless. Elton Trueblood, the author of The Humor of Christ, states "Any alleged Christianity which fails to express itself in gaiety, at some point, is clearly spurious." To put it simply, from the pages of Genesis all the way to Revelation God's "got jokes." The story of Jacob waking up married to the wrong sister sounds like a plot from a silly Hollywood rom-com flick (Genesis 29:16-30). The pictures in Proverbs of a sluggard turning on his bed like a door on hinges (Proverbs 26:14) or of a man sitting on the rooftop to get away from his nagging wife (Proverbs 21:9) had to jar the first readers in a way that Internet memes now jar us. The one-liners of Elijah making fun of the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:27) or of Paul making fun of the Judaizers (Galatians 5:12) are as sharp as anything from the hottest comedians on the comedy channel. And what does all this humor show us? God has a sense of humor, and He must have one to make such silly and foolish creatures as human beings.
Source: Urban Faith | Ramon Mayo currently resides in Chicago where he works as a Specialist-Adult Media Development for Urban Ministries Inc. He is also the author of "His Story, Our Story" a 31-day Black History Devotional. Visit his blog ramonmayo.com and follow him on twitter @mayotron
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