The Pastor's Notes

There is a great tradition in the Christian church that I want to tell you about! It began hundreds of years ago. A monk, whose name has been lost in history, was pondering the meaning of the events of holy week, with its solemn observances of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the astonishing, earth-shaking events of Easter. "What a surprise ending," he thought. Then suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, he had a new insight. His hearty laugh startled his fellow monks, breaking the silence of their contemplation.

"Don't you see," he cried, "It was a joke! A great joke! The best joke in all history! On Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, the devil thought he had won. But God had the last laugh on Easter when he raised Jesus from the dead."

The monks called it "the Easter laugh." The idea spread rapidly, and the day after Easter became known as a "Day of Joy and Laughter" in Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant countries. In homes and churches, it became common to celebrate God's great joke on the devil with joke-telling sessions. It became the custom even in monasteries. Especially in monasteries.
So I share a few jokes with you and invite you to bring others with you to worship on Sunday, March 30th or April 6th.

A woman invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to her six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?"
"I wouldn't know what to say," the little girl replied.
"Just say what you hear Mommy say," the mother said.
The little girl bowed her head and said: "Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

A pastor was speaking to a group of second-graders about the resurrection of Jesus when one student asked, "What did Jesus say right after He came out of the grave?"
The pastor explained that the Gospels do not tell us what He said.
The hand of one little girl shot up. "I know what He said: He said, 'Tah-dah!'"

When a young minister was still single, he preached a sermon he entitled, "Rules for Raising Children." After he got married and had children of his own, he changed the title of the sermon to "Suggestions for Raising Children." When his children got to be teenagers, he stopped preaching on that subject altogether.

Full of Joy –
Pastor Barbara