I
just saw a video of a stand-up comedian doing a piece titled
Laughing in Church is Illegal. Took me back to my childhood growing
up in the Church of God- very strict evangelical - and having to deal with the
desire to laugh – uncontrollably, more so because it was in church.
One
night service, the young sister of a friend was put to sit on the front bench,
presumably this would prevent her from falling asleep. But fall sleep she did
and fell off the bench, sprawled out right beneath the parson. Us teens,
sitting in the second bench, could not control our laughter and were shooed out
of the service in deep disgrace.
Thereafter,
there was a concerted effort to keep us from sitting together. We were forced
to sit beside our mothers or some elder who would not hesitate to pinch us at
the first sign of mirth. Strangely though, most of the pastors jokes at which
they laughed politely were not funny to us. As I grew older I began to
think that maybe they didn’t think his jokes funny either. Like somebody was
holding up a sign behind the parson – LAUGH NOW.
But
when Sister Jordan's wig flew off when she fell under the spirit; OR Brother
Morgen's false teeth fell out when he was giving a fiery testimony, OR
fat Sister Tome's white dress billowed out in the baptism pool and drew her
away from the baptizing deacon, there was no controlling our laughter.
As I
grew older, I found out that these holier- than- thou mothers and elders, also
found these things funny, but they had better control and only laughed
afterwards when they were out of church, because laughter in church, unless
directed by the Holy Spirit ( read the parson) was really sinful.
I
guess that children who grow up in these 'strict' churches have similar
experiences
Selah
