June 9, 2010
The Hansen Report: Comedy in the Pulpit
What will endure when the jokes go stale?
I love to laugh. And when I laugh, you’ll hear me if you’re in the same zip code. I have a few all-time favorite comedy TV shows that I can watch over and over again. And I enjoy funny movies, so long as they forego the explicit sexual content.
So why do I often cringe when pastors crack jokes during their sermons on Sunday morning? Maybe the joke’s on me, because comedy has become many pastors’ best friend. Apparently, seminaries may want to consider adding a course in stand-up comedy to prepare their preachers. One church I know recently hosted “Church Joke Sunday.” In lieu of hearing a sermon, a dwindling number of people who actually understand denominational humor laughed about the differences between Methodists and Presbyterians. And during the recent Festival of Homiletics in Nashville, Susan Sparks coached pastors in clerical comedy.
“Close to 200 ministers crowded a classroom at First Baptist, with more hanging out in the hallway for her workshop on bringing humor into the pulpit,” Bob Smietana wrote for The Tennessean on May 20. “She says that humor can help preachers connect with their parishioners, defuse church conflict and deal with an often-stressful calling. To help get her message across, Sparks gave preachers a Ten Commandments of stand-up comedy.”
I don’t suppose there is any way to criticize this approach and come across as anything but dour. So be it. I can’t help but wonder about the health of American churches when comedy is considered a cure. Are we just bored with the gospel? Do we have nothing to offer the broader world except jokes that few outside the church would consider funny? Is anyone aware that the watching world laughs at us, not with us?
Let me be clear that I find no biblical prohibition against humor in the pulpit. I don’t even think we should make a rule against telling jokes. When I visited a pastor who has publicly argued against using humor in sermons, he joked around with his respectful, adoring congregation to great effect during an anxious time of transition. Other pastors whose sermons top the mp3 download charts wield humor as the medicine that makes their challenging preaching go down more smoothly. When listening to them, it sounds like someone is playing a laugh track. But you can’t fault these pastors for shying away from the Bible’s difficult doctrines. And for what it’s worth, I enjoy the inside jokes pastors share through the award-winning cartoons in Leadership.
I’m here, though, to defend the preachers who would flop as stand-up comedians if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:1-34). We are to be pitied. All we have is the good news that Jesus came to save sinners, of whom we are foremost (1 Tim. 1:15). As ambassadors for Christ, we study all week and preach our hearts out on Sunday morning, imploring everyone to be reconciled with God (2 Cor. 5:20). We might not be the best preachers, but we have the best message. We want to grow as effective communicators. But we’re tempted to despair when congregations exhort us to include more funny stories and lighten the mood.
John McClure, the Charles G. Finney Professor of Homiletics at Vanderbilt Divinity School, told The Tennessean that pastors have been debating the merits of humor for centuries. Does it aid communication or steal attention from God? Both, I think we can say, depending on the situation. On balance, though, comedian preachers run the serious risk of flaunting their funny at the expense of glorifying the God of the gospel. “Getting people to laugh feels good, and preachers can get caught up in showing worshipers that they are funny and likable,” Smietana writes.
I’m also concerned, then, for the occasionally funny pastors who will someday realize they can’t make it on the stand-up circuit, either. We can understand why they take this quick path to a congregation’s good graces. Pastoring is hard work. Ministers looking for love and support need to discharge every available arrow in their quivers. But sooner or later, those arrows will run out. If you win the congregation with humor, you need to keep the congregation with humor. The vast majority of pastors, who lack an extraordinary gift for comedy, eventually exhaust their repository of funny things kids say. Rather than an aid, comedy becomes the pastor’s cruel taskmaster.
For the unfunny and kinda funny alike, the good news is that the gospel is enough. You can win your congregation with its beauty, which will never lose its luster. There is power in this preaching when it’s faithful to God’s Word and backed up by a life of integrity. Such preaching, in fact, will leave a lasting legacy that endures long after the jokes go stale.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga on June 9, 2010
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Comments
My pastor uses limited humor (often jokes my husband sends him) where it is appropriate and generally in the opening comments of his message. If you want to be on the preaching circuit of Christian universities and youth conventions I think you have to be an entertainer first and a Bible teacher as a distant second. As Francis Chan reminded us a few posts back, the conviction of sin as well as spiritual growth are the work of the Holy Spirit and happen graciously around the pastors' limitations if his heart is in the right place. Great post Colin.
Posted by: Melody at June 8, 2010
... mmm ... if I want stand-up comedy, I'll go to a club ... or watch TV at 11:30 pm.
No one loves to laugh more than I do. But that's not what I want from my pastor. When the speaker is truly called and gifted to preach, I'm pretty confident that the Holy Spirit will reach my heart.
And He is powerfully able to do so without lame jokes, endless anecdotes, or (yawn) pitiful attempts to be relevant.
Sadly, many illustrations end up being an annoying distraction, calling attention to the speaker, instead of putting the spotlight on Jesus, where it belongs.
Posted by: Linda Stoll at June 8, 2010
What we need from pastors is a demonstration of the gospel being lived out--and that includes communicating the sad and the maddening and the outrageous and (yes!) the funny aspects of life.
Humor is part of life. If you don't share it, you (and your congregation) are missing something.
Posted by: Jarrod at June 9, 2010
I love humor from the pulpit. One of my pastors excels at that. I hate silliness. A wise pastor knows the difference.
Posted by: muse at June 9, 2010
I ordered Susan Sparks' book Laugh Your Way to Grace because I saw her on CNN and really liked what she had to say. The book is awesome and it takes stories from her life, like when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she talks about how laughter helped her through the tough times. I recommend the book for everyone, it is great!
Posted by: Anne Simpson at June 9, 2010
Yes, you do indeed come across as dour. And your statement, "Is anyone aware that the watching world laughs at us, not with us? " is utter nonsense.
Posted by: Vermonster at June 9, 2010
Just out of curiosity, is there anywhere in the bible where it shows G-d with a sense of humor?
OT?
NT?
I know it seems strange, but as I think about it wouldn't it be comforting to know G-d had/has a sense of humor?
I just can't think of any passage that would show that...or even suggest that...and to be honest, not sure I want to crawl through the scriptures looking for evidence of it, either.
Posted by: sheerahkahn at June 9, 2010
Our God certainly has a sense of humor. He created us in his own image, and he gave us the ability to laugh and to tell jokes, even to be silly.
That said, I don't want my pastor to entertain me on Sunday morning. 1 Corinthians 13 doesn't say "love is patient, love is funny." Scripture doesn't preach winning people over with our clever anecdotes. It preaches the glorious and incomparable love of a risen Savior. I'm much more comforted knowing that my God is Sovereign, Gracious, Infinite, Merciful, than I am knowing he's amusing. I've heard pastors who use humor to shy away from the deeper truth of Scripture or to prove how relevant Scripture is. Our God doesn't need proof! He is always relevant! I'd much rather the Holy Spirit use my pastor's words to convict me and lead me back to grace than to keep me smiling. If our sermons never offend, we probably aren't telling people the whole truth.
Posted by: MegFarrow at June 9, 2010
Our God certainly has a sense of humor. He created us in his own image, and he gave us the ability to laugh and to tell jokes, even to be silly.
That said, I don't want my pastor to entertain me on Sunday morning. 1 Corinthians 13 doesn't say "love is patient, love is funny." Scripture doesn't preach winning people over with our clever anecdotes. It preaches the glorious and incomparable love of a risen Savior. I'm much more comforted knowing that my God is Sovereign, Gracious, Infinite, Merciful, than I am knowing he's amusing. I've heard pastors who use humor to shy away from the deeper truth of Scripture or to prove how relevant Scripture is. Our God doesn't need proof! He is always relevant! I'd much rather the Holy Spirit use my pastor's words to convict me and lead me back to grace than to keep me smiling. If our sermons never offend, we probably aren't telling people the whole truth.
Posted by: Megen Farrow at June 9, 2010
There's a big difference between effectively using humor as a rhetorical device versus just being funny to get laughs.
It's a critical difference.
I've rarely seen a preacher who is that callous or shallow.
It seems to me that, in typical evangelical fashion, we might be making a mountain out of molehill or claiming there is some large scale problem because of a few notable examples.
anecdotal evidence a trend does not make.
this post has more in common with the west coast tantrums of certain people claiming there is a epidemic of "coarse speech" in the pulpit because of a few notorious folk that even this blog and its parent publication helped make notable and "credible".
you can't have it both ways...
Posted by: nathan at June 9, 2010
Megen,
Sometimes...humor can illuminate a particular message in a way that a sober lecture, dryly enunciating an already known biblical imperative, could never do.
I'm just wondering if G-d ever employed humor anywhere in the bible...and so far...I don't see any.
And makes me wonder if G-d is urbane, and talked to Moses and all the Prophets with a flat, Kissenger-like drone.
Posted by: sheerahkahn at June 10, 2010
I like a limited amount of humor from the pulpit if used correctly. Humor can make a point heard that the direct route will only offend. again, if it is used appropriately, and the follow-up challenges as the point was designed to do, I'm not offended. I don't want a sermon that tells where I'm wrong that simply condemns me, and I think that humor helps to avoid that problem as well. Yes, it can be overdone as my pastor proved one morning, but, then I later realized that he was giddy with fatigue, and his wife got him straight! He hasn't done that since! Sermons have to reflect life, and humor is a part of life.
Posted by: Claire at June 10, 2010
I laugh at.. and with.. many of the jokes I hear on Sundays. But too many make me suspicious of the real agenda. Maybe leads to another question. If we use humor in daily life, why not on Sunday? I like the idea that we must read two books: Scripture and creation. Is there humor in creation? have you ever considered sex? Or animals like the elephant? I am sure that God laughs.. at us and with us.
Posted by: len at June 10, 2010
As I understand it, preaching occurs at the intersection of the gospel revealed in Scripture, the preacher, and the congregation.
As a preacher, I may or may not be funny. If I and others who share my particular brand of humor think I'm funny, some in the congregation inevitably won't. Our people's perception of great comedy might range from dancing NumaNuma guy to Judd Apatow, from America's Funniest Videos to Wes Anderson, from Two and a Half Men to 30 Rock. If the people who don't connect with my particular brand of humor find themselves constantly distracted and annoyed by my attempts, I'm probably trying too hard to be funny (or at least doing it ineffectively), and in that sense, standing in the way of the gospel.
Great sermons can be funny, but they don't have to be. Bad sermons can be funny, but they don't have to be. So we strive to preach great sermons, which requires that we know ourselves, our congregations, and our Scriptures.
Posted by: Andrew at June 10, 2010
Well, ask G-d, and he delivers in spades...thought everyone might be interested in this lil paper.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/bibhumor.htm
Not what I would call it stellar "improv" but still, it's humor, and more importantly...answers my question about humor in the bible.
Posted by: sheerahkahn at June 11, 2010
I use humor in the pulpit when it is appropriate. I'm a preacher not a standup comedian but there are subjects that you deal with that humor makes a point and can ease the tension surrounding the text at hand.
Claire - What in the world are you talking about? Your comment makes no sense to me at all!
Posted by: Mark at June 15, 2010
You carefully strain the gnat from your drink but still leave the camel in the glass? (Paraphrased)
Posted by: Jonathan at June 24, 2010
I am so glad I found this posting. I just think of what Christ did for me; brutalized and nailed to a cross. The lamb of God. When I go to Church I "need" to hear the truth without humor. I love wholesome humor but... when I present myself to my King on Sunday in corporate worship - I think some reverence is in order. Remember; this is what the holy spirit has done for me so this is the way I see it.
Posted by: Robert at July 16, 2010
I agree with Megen's comment. There is a difference between using humor as a tool to make a point and using humor just for the sake of getting laughs. I think there just needs a balance that the message of the Gospel remains intact and still come across. Humor should enhance the message and not cause a distraction. And I do think God has a sense of humor, why else would he have put it in us.
Posted by: Tim at August 14, 2010