God – Page 24 – Lisa Colón DeLay | Spiritual Formation and the Way of the Desert Elders

Upcoming SERIES: The Science & Spirituality of HUMOR

No, I’m not kidding.

This is happening.

So, what makes something funny?

There’s a whole science behind finding this out. It’s not merely about personal taste.

The science behind might be the butt of the joke, in some ways, but my new series will provoke thought and attempt to answer some questions:

How and why do we find things funny?

What difference can it make to our development and well-being?

How you can get 16-31% funnier.

Why humor helps heal, learn, and grow.

Why and when does humor fail to be funny? and does it matter?

How to develop your sense of humor so unfunny people won’t drive you crazy.

Does a sense of humor reflect something of God in us?

Why do legions of cat video exist?

and plenty of other things.

So far, in researching the science of humor I’ve learned that even babies find things funny.
Okay. That was not a surprise.

I already knew this. For instance, when I would rip junk mail in front of my 6 month old daughter, she’d go into hysteric fits of hilarious laughter. I kept ripping and she kept laughing. Later, when she could talk she mentioned that it wasn’t because of the paper at all. She was thinking of something else that was funny from earlier in the day.

Something filthy.

There’s a biological reason for babies laughing at paper shredding…

The unformulated concept object permanence?

Maybe, or maybe they are just thinking of something filthy.

So, yes, I am starting with baby steps, as it were.

FACT: Humor is universal and germane to humans even at infancy.

(Picture Stone Philips saying that.)

So, yes. In the end, so to speak, babies think peek-a-boo is funny because they are super immature. (like this baby)

Funny Friday: Wine Miracles

I got a kick out of this photo. Look carefully.

This would have happened if Jesus had went to the store on a wine run for his mom, instead of fixing things behind-the-scenes at the Wedding of Cana.

jesuswINE

It all started when Mary started wining. . . er ..maybe ….whining….

Sometimes moms have to make the miracles happen.

She got Jesus to kick it up a notch so the party could keep on rolling all week long.

I serve a God who makes water into wine. Who makes a celebration from the ordinary. Who blesses abundantly more than we deserve or expect.

Self- Righteous: What other people are

It’s a good thing you aren’t self-righteous, or this would be a tough article to read. law

…so, I had a fascinating discussion with a friend about “modern-day Pharisees” in the church and what can be done about it.

(This issue extends far beyond the church and people of faith. In short, we may and do all suffer from self-righteousness somehow because we all fall prey to self-deception.)

There’s no way to recapture the conversation I had, but I hope that my noting the highlights is interesting to you.

Summary: Self-Righteous, Pharisee-types seem to be what other people are…this little twist makes getting rid of the problem very hard.

• In short, a pharisaical person is self-righteous.
– The assume they are in the right, doing right, alright. Am I right? Right!

• Most people think they are right most of the time.
– Few people think, “I’m usually wrong and you and others are usually right.”

• People feel they believe the truth, not lies. (Sounds obvious, sure, but consider the greater implications.)
– Obviously, we can’t all be right, but this doesn’t really entering our minds as applying to us.

• Most people believe that OTHER people are self-righteous / pharisaical, not them.
(or if they are pharisaical, it’s only sometimes. The situation doesn’t really trouble them.)

• Self-Righteousness is a delusional episode of the sin pride. It pivots on one losing track of one’s own ongoing and un-remedied sinfulness, as well as one’s blindness to the guilt and weight of that sin.

(Thus, we become self-satisfied with our level of goodness and immune to the devastating implications of sin in any unmitigated form. I’m just great and I’m happy about it. I’m not like you!)

• Unhealthy pride is a universal human malady.

– Whoops, that means it applies to ME and YOU. eesh.

• Recognition of one’s sin that move one toward humility to repent (to God and others) is one of the only sure-fire cures, albeit a temporary one.

—

If you care to weigh in on the topic, go right ahead.

What is the best remedy for pride, in your opinion?

-L

The Religion of Liberation

(Dura Europos - Fresco from 2nd C Synagogue Jews cross the Red Sea pursued by Pharaoh.) — (Dura Europos – Fresco from 2nd C Synagogue Jews cross the Red Sea pursued by Pharaoh.)

The Jewish people have a big event, a central story, that encapsulates what the Jewish (and Judeo-Christian) faith is about:

Crossing a sea: Crossing from slavery to LIBERATION

“Let my people go!”

This is the cry of (the Jewish) God, the Living God, through Moses; and it’s really the cry of freedom in every human heart.

So what do we want to be liberated from?

Oppression.

Yes, of course.

…and oppression takes many forms.

But, we tend to also want liberation from authority…and that’s not what God has in mind. That misses the mark and produces precarious results.

In fact, the best liberation we can have is one that happens internally.

Our heart is liberated from sin and death and then we receive peace and life.

This is no marginal quality of our faith tradition. Liberation is found not in fleeing something (or someone) but in returning.

A homecoming. A reception by the Father for the children he loves.
Liberation must always be about fleeing to someone (the One).

…and that someone isn’t just another warden in a different prison, but One who wants our peace to be fully realized.

It’s about community identity and belonging.
Each brings freedom and saves us from ourselves.

Sometimes we suppose liberation means freedom to act autonomously and unilaterally for our own interests.
True liberation is the antithesis of that.

When I consider, in this very moment, what I hope to be liberated from in my own life, it seems to concern being free from believing lies. Lies about myself, others, and any sorts of ignoble things that imprison my future in a jailhouse of smallness.

A confined place that is missing the grandeur of what it means to be a sentient being enjoying the majesty of creation that a benevolent incomprehendable Being has fashioned.

When your water turns to wine

A pilgrim is wandering around the dilapidated buildings and streets, of a wasteland.

Perched and dry.

No one in sight.

Nothing but scraps, and sweat, and then, finally…

A well.

A small well and a bucket to bring up something cool from the ground.

Oh, for that refreshment!

That splash of drink. That life-giving liquid.

And then, behold!

It’s not water at all.

It’s a celebration.

It’s wine.

Psalms 104:10-18

He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.

They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
they sing among the branches.

He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:

wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts.

The trees of the Lord are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

There the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the junipers.

The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.