Saturday, October 22, 2016

Today’s Hymn            
All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell.
Come ye before him and rejoice.

Know that the Lord is God indeed;
without our aid he did us make;
we are his folk; he doth us feed,
and for his sheep he doth us take.

William Kethe’s “All People That on Earth Do Dwell” (tune: Old Hundredth)
from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal

Reflection
For many years I had the privilege of teaching in a private school where I could regularly take my students to chapel—for worship, reflection, or a lesson from the art and architecture. Inevitably something would happen that led the kids to laugh. And they would look at me (especially early in the school year when we were just getting to know each other) with faces that said, “So how much trouble are we in now?” One of the lessons I most loved teaching them was that not only is it OK to laugh in church, but that unless the laughter is disrespectful or mean, it is right to laugh in sacred spaces!

Where does this come from, this widely held feeling that we can be only solemn and serious the minute we step into a place with stained-glass windows or pews? Certainly the vast majority of us were “shhh-ed” in church as children because we were fooling around, and that was one of the ways we learned about reverence and appropriateness. But why does that lesson stick so hard and universally when other childhood disciplines fall away?

This hymn counters that feeling. We sing about mirth, a word that rings with rich connotations of laughter and joy and fun. And we are counseled that mirth should accompany our service of God. Of course it should as part of who we are as whole human beings. Full-throated laughter praises God. Surely that belongs in church—and wherever else we find ourselves during the day.

Prayer
O God, you whose servant Sarah laughed in response to the message of an angel, help us to lighten up. Tickle us into remembering that holy laughter refreshes, strengthens, and shapes us—and praises you. We ask this in the name of Jesus our brother. Amen.

Written by Susan Quaintance, Program Coordinator, Center for Life and Learning

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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