Rev. Tara Barber
The Community Church of Sebastopol
June 16, 2002
Genesis 18: 1-15
Maybe it’s a sign that I’ve been to see too many movies lately. When I read and hear the words of this morning’s scripture, I can’t help but picture it on the big screen. I’ll admit the oak of Mamre resembles the Twelve Oaks plantation from Gone with the Wind, only instead of the mansion with columns, there is a large tent with its flaps flapping in the wind (OK – I tried to come up with another way to say that, but what’s another word for tent flaps – and what do they do besides, well, flap?) Anyway, back to the scene. Three strangers approach Abraham and Sarah’s tent, and Abraham welcomes them graciously, offering the strangers the best meal, and at least according to one source, some wine, since they were in Hebron – another wine country. Sarah prepares the meal and listens from inside the tent, probably waiting for a break in conversation so that she can bring out the food, and hears the stranger tell Abraham that she will bear a son. Can you picture her, tray in one hand, the other hand covering her mouth to stifle her giggles? It’s a preposterous thought, with them nearly a century old. Who could believe it? Abraham and the stranger overhear her, and she is reprimanded for laughing. Her denial of the laughter, an attempt to cover up her fear that something beyond her greatest dreams might actually come true. Who is she to deserve such a gift?
But laughter was Abraham’s first response as well. Earlier in Genesis, when Abraham was having a private conversation with God about God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendents, God tells Abraham that Sarah will conceive and bear a child, and what does Abraham do? He “falls on his face and laughs”. What will God think of next!
This giving of gifts and our response to those gifts has been a theme of mine this week. On Tuesday, I saw the movie, the Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. The Ya Ya’s, four women who have been friends since their girlhood, attempt to bring reconciliation to their Ya Ya sister Vivi and her grown daughter. Vivi has had many struggles, and her oldest daughter Siddalee, has borne the weight of her mother’s alcoholism, depression, and lack of coping skills. We enter the scene after Siddalee has written a play about her childhood, and the reviews have left her mother furious, and hurt. So the remaining Ya Ya’s bring Sidda a gift. It’s the scrapbook that details the lives and adventures of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and more importantly, the pain and struggle of Sidda’s mother’s life. Sidda cannot help but cry – and yell and stomp around. Even though Sidda realizes that, “of all the secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, the most divine was humor”, it will take more than simply laughter to bring about reconciliation with her mother.
Well, so much for using that story to talk about gifts and laughter, I thought.
At Copperfield’s on Wednesday, though, I believed I had found an answer to my prayers, and yours as well, since you are listening to me today. I found a book entitled, The Rich Part of Life, and was intrigued by the description. It’s a story of a recent widower with two sons who wins the lottery, and their lives are changed. This has got to be God talking to me, I thought. A story of fathers and sons is much more appropriate for Father’s day. They even have three visitors, uncle Frank the lawyer turned movie producer, Sylvanius, the former star of Frank’s vampire movies, and great aunt Bess, who moves in to cook and help the family cope. With a cast of characters like this, surely, these people must laugh. They must at least chuckle at the amazing, unexpected gift of $190 million. But they don’t. The money causes tension, bullying, and pressure. No one is laughing at this household.
That’s when it hit me how unusual the story of Abraham and Sarah is. This story of God’s gift and the response of laughter is unbelievable, not simply because of the child-bearing at advanced ages thing, but because instead of responding with tears and confusion at the news of God’s great gift, Sarah and Abraham laugh. They laugh because they believe in a God who does incredible, unbelievably, good things. They believe in a God who has the power to give great gifts. And when Sarah has had a chance to ponder this amazing God a bit, and conceive and bear her son, Issac, she realizes that laughter and delight are more than simply an appropriate response, God has given her laughter, so that all that hear will laugh as well.
Lian Dolan, together with her sisters, is in the laughing business. I first heard of Lian and her sisters, called the Satellite Sisters, in Oprah magazine. These sisters have a syndicated radio show that dispenses advice with large doses of humor. In their book, called the Satellite Sisters’ Uncommon Senses, Lian writes, “In many ways, humor is not a sense at all but a filter through which to view the world. Life is full of moments of wonder, confusion, panic, joy, humility, and self-doubt. You can choose to observe these things through a magnifying glass of introspection or through the flip shades of humor. If you choose to see things through the flip shades of humor, you can adjust the view and make it better.” Lian Dolan explains that not every situation is appropriate to turn into a joke or funny story, but concludes that, “ultimately, I find that even the most difficult situations can be made more tolerable with a little editing, and a good punch line.”
When was the last time you had a really good laugh? I mean a real belly shaking, eyes watering, legs crossing, good laugh. The kind where you try and retell the situation or story to others, so that they, too, might get it and laugh with you. The kind of laugh where for a moment, all else fades away, and you’re simply left with that squishy, light hearted feeling. Those are the kinds of laughs that stick with you. The laughs that change you. The laughs for which Issac, this miracle child of Abraham and Sarah, was named. For his presence, and God’s gift of new life, changed everything.
Listen for a moment to the gift of laughter. Listen in your memory to the sounds of your friends and loved ones’ laugh. The giggles, the tee-hee-hees, guffaws, and snorts, of times when laughter spoke loud.
I had forgotten about the amazing gift of laughter until Mr. Potato Head hit me. He didn’t punch me or anything, I was moving puzzles and games from one shelf to another, and this brown plastic potato rolled off the back shelf. “What is that?” my friend asked. “Oh, it’s Mr. Potato Head,” I replied, nonchalantly. Hasn’t everyone heard of Mr. Potato Head? He’s a brown potato, made out of plastic, covered with holes where bright plastic facial features, and arms and shoes are inserted. Then, standing there in the hallway, the memory hit me. It’s sparked from a picture I have. I must have been about 6 or seven years old. We are sitting around the dining room table, me, my brother, and younger sister still in a high chair. My dad is sitting there at the table, wearing Mr. Potato Head’s bright red plastic lips. This was before the current day when they made separate Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head toys. These were movie star lips, and my dad was talking with them stuck in his mouth. I don’t remember what he said, I only remember the sounds of laughter. Laughter is one of the best gifts my dad has given me. And when I hear the sound of his laugh, I know that everything is going to be all right.
Everything is going to be all right. That’s the feeling I have when I am with my friend, Cecelia. She is a seminary friend, and a good part of how I got to be standing here with you. My friend Cecelia also knows something about laughing. She has a picture by artist Brian Andreas that I covet, with the following words on it.
“I used to wait for sign,” she said, “before I did anything.” But then I had a dream one night and an angel in black tights appeared and said, “you can start any time.” “Is this a sign?” I asked, and she started laughing. Now I know that the world is full of signs, but if there is no laughter, I know they’re not for me.”
You can start anytime. You don’t have to wait for the Ya Yas or the lottery or the force to be with you. Start now. Welcome strangers, watch for signs, be open to gifts, listen for the laughter, and know that God has gifted you this day with new life, with rich possibilities, and with a boundless love. Laughter is visiting. Open the door wide.