Christmas time can be strange.
The pressure of donning Christmas spirit can produce mistakes.
Keep your sense of humor
When was the last time you wanted to wear this shirt?
Tag: irony
[Did you know] Mark Driscoll is Gay?
Rachel Evans is calling for a response to Marck Driscoll’s recent bullying of effeminate men, here: But I have to mention….doesn’t this sound a lot like an episode of GLEE?
Mark Driscoll is gay? Don’t kill the messenger…I didn’t come up with this.
You can find a pretty solid case HERE, compiled from his friend Don Miller, who–years ago–coined him, “the cussing pastor” in his best-selling book Blue Like Jazz. (When I say “case”…I mean Donald seems to refer to Driscoll, with some detail, right along with [other] male leaders associated with…well, gay scandals. Maybe it’s a connect-the-dots thing.)
Another person to recently point out Mark’s hyper (and perhaps suspicious) masculinity, is Brett McCracken, within the pages of his new book Hipster Christianity, (pages 103-105.)
- “There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.” –Mark Driscoll [4]
- (There’s a common theme of guy-on-guy fights/violence with Driscoll. You may remember he showed, the hot and sweaty brawl movie “Fight Club” as an official church event. Hum.)
Mark, if you’re reading this, you can stop over-doing it to throw us off track. Don and I both realize you’ve painted yourself into a corner, Mark. The gig is up, dude.
Nevertheless. IF Driscoll was gay, we would love him anyway. Right, everyone? Right?
There’s a punchline in here somewhere. Can you spot it?
Is Mark Driscoll too overtly macho, and (like recent pastors caught in self-created sexual hypocrisy -Eddie Long and Ted Haggard), too anti-gay to be straight? (This is where you start to realize how silly the whole topic is.)
Disclaimer:
Am I joking about Driscoll? Sure. Of course. I’m a humorist. (I’m upfront about that here at the blog.) And despite loads of circumstantial evidence, and the writing stylings of Don Miller, Mark’s certain proclivity could remain a mystery, much like Theodicy, or atonement theories. This is all probably just a loooong series of coincidences. No biggie. If Mark is gay, or tempted with homosexual thoughts or feelings, I’m sure we could trust that he’d just open up and tell us–straight out. Or, maybe, like his marriage book, he’ll hold out on telling us that he’s had some trouble until he writes a book on the topic. I”m honestly NOT worried about it. The point is, neither should any of us be!
Cue the “It’s Raining Men” ditty.
:)
Do spirituality/theology and Humor go well together?
Spirituality/theology AND humor ≠ peanut butter and jelly?
Peas and carrots?
or More like jelly and mayo?
Or hair and cheesesteak?
Are people who study God (theologians) humorous as much as they are serious?
In my case, yes.
But does that gel? I’m talking like jell-o giggler, gel? Really nicely, with fun and good flavor, and joint protection.
Okay, I’m not paid to teach theology, not yet anyway, so I’m not a pro. Several hundred hours of study should count for something though.
But, I’ve noticed something: If someone tends to take their studies seriously, and their profession seriously, sometimes they lose their sense of humor. It’s not that they can’t be witty on occasion. But I’ve noticed the “humor” can be more sarcastic than uproarious. Theology can be rather dry… but not as in dry humor.
It’s beginning to bother me some, because of the sense that one “has to” pick one way or the other.
• Either you get your respect and admiration seriously honing your forte and thoughts of God, or you pick some sort of madcap way and get sort of dismissed as a lightweight.
Well, rubbish to that.
It shouldn’t be so.
It is a genius blend to be genuinely comical and also thoroughly studied on the important matters of living in this world with a firm consideration of the Divine as the center of it.
It might look like I’m putting it in my mouth, but I have to put my foot in both camps.
So, I’m putting my readers on notice. (Don’t think: Wittenberg Door “notice”. Think: dry erase board.) As anyone knows, straddling can lead to a good hard thwack in the center. I realize this is RISKY. Those of you that know me personally realize this co-mingled vantage point is from where I operate. Some of you may just…not “get it”.
Stay with me here.
I’m not sure where we got the idea that spirituality must be flaky or humorless. Sobriety is one thing, but cheerless? Parish the thought.
If you are new here, welcome. I invite you to what is an engaging game of Twister®, if you will. Here I will not kowtow to stern conventions of how we must study and know God, and our selves, as spiritual creatures. And no, I’m not a witch. Don’t be so stocked, or “freaked” in any way. (Plus, I weigh more than a duck…)
Isn’t God young? It is us who have gotten old and crotchety. Severe or joyless. Being truly alive doesn’t look much like that.
What do you think…?
Have you lost your sense of humor?
Do you find it doesn’t mesh with diligently following God or knowing him well?
Are worship/awe and fun mutually exclusive within spirituality?
Any thing you’d like to say on the matter?
Let’s hear it –
:-P
Humor as Spiritual
For my very silly side, I have another blog. It mainly serves as a stress reliever to help me through the tension of taking 3 graduate classes at a time, and it includes the extra silly nonsense of Trevor the traveling gnome, and his adventures. (Just google him, if you care to see it).
It’s gotten me to wonder about God and humor, and what spirituality it all contains.
I have grown to understand nothing is UNspiritual. That is, all is spiritual. As C.S. Lewis said, “We don’t have a soul, We ARE a Soul. We have a body.” God is Spirit. He breathed the breath of Life into us–Spirit. So, I don’t image life could not be spiritual, unless we are simply trying to convince ourselves otherwise.
In studying what humor actually is, how we perceive it. (That is, the Science, and even the math, of humor.) It boils down to irony, which is essentially carried out in surprise. This has much to do with the ability to choose freely as humans as well. Also, on a side note, if we all knew what would happen it the future, nothing would be ironic. Controlling the punch-line means we can create an ironical effect.
If you take the simplest form of humor, slapstick, such as “the pratfall,” (like slipping on a banana peel) you’ll see what I mean. Simply put: A person falls down suddenly when you expect that they should remain standing. Many interpret this as humorous. It has to do with expectations, the set up and patterns built in, and then the sudden change. It has to do with ideals too. Yes, some don’t find humor in it. It’s perspective too. But, just about any humor involves irony of some kind, satire does too. Satire is a high form of humor which points out the truth to illicit change. It pokes fun, but in doing so, it pits what is happening to what should happen or ought to happen, so the difference stands out to us. What is most excellent or beneficial is the ideal that is not happening, so it is “on trial” in a sense, through humor. So, we understand it, and the process or “the human weakness on trial”, to be funny, especially if we agree with the comedian’s perspective.
Why might it all be spiritual? Humor, if you think about it has much to do with Ideals that point off the map–or what “ought to be”. Eternal truths reveal an Eternal Mind. In a positive light, when things don’t match up, they are ironic, and we find it amusing. So, we laugh. Imperfection of humanity is amusing. It lets us “off the hook” for not matching up to perfection. People without humor, are no fun, really, correct? They can’t laugh at their mistakes, and they take life and everything much too seriously. It’s hard for them to improve or grow, too. Laughing makes being human easier to bear. It’s gracious living. It’s good medicine to laugh, so it’s spiritual to laugh. It brings health and relief to the human Soul.
It’s also spiritual because it is a way to share with the Divine in Joy, which is a sturdy happiness, that points off the map of the tangible things of this world to the Divine. Joy exists (and may be felt) in a permanent sort of way through pain, sorrow, gladness, and the rest of normal life.
Leave your thoughts about humor, if you’d like.