Wednesday Word: Finding Time to Laugh

I heard there was a cheese factory explosion in France. Da brie was everywhere.

Last week I wrote about rediscovering joy. And several hours later there was a whole lot of less-than joyful times. From the attempted coup at the capitol to the fallout to the screaming about whose fault this was to the screaming about whether we let the perpetrators go “in the name of healing” or whether we prosecute the perpetrators “in the name of healing and justice,” it has been a rough few days.

Added to all of that is that things in the office have been more hectic than usual. We are working on holding our annual meeting via Zoom. That meeting, by the way, is scheduled for January 24 at 11 am. In order to do that we needed a plan to get ballots to everyone. Most parishioners will receive (or have received) a ballot via e-mail. There are a few, however, who don't have e-mail and we were blessed to have a dedicated crew of couriers who offered to both deliver and pick up paper ballots. It has been a rough few days as we prepare to hold an online annual meeting.

Add to all of that and we still need to produce the annual report. Most individual reports are in, and we (well, mainly Melonie) are working on getting everything in a coherent format. Once she does that, I'll proof it, we'll print a few copies, and then we'll upload it to the website and place it here:

http://www.stjohnshagerstown.org/announcements (not there yet, but that's where it will go).

Add to all of that the situation with COVID and everyone trying to stay safe and healthy, trying to work or find work, trying to learn either from home or at school. Things are rough all the way around. And right now, to be honest, I am exhausted. But so is everyone else.

Which is why I opened today's Wednesday Word the way I did: because I, for one, needed to smile. I needed a little laugh in the midst of all the chaos. Yes, things have been rough, and yes, things will continue to be rough for awhile. But let's try to not lose our joy. Let's not lose our ability to laugh.

I'm reminded of the picture called “Laughing Jesus” that I first saw in a priest's office years ago. I think about that picture now in the midst of chaos and whatnot feeling like we need to laugh. And I wonder . . . Did Peter tell him a fishing joke? Did he just watch one of “these little ones” do something incredibly funny? Did he, as Son of God, just tell his disciples the best dad joke ever?

We all need to find time to smile and laugh. So no matter how rough these days are, I hope you find time to laugh.

And with that, I will leave you with a favorite joke of a certain someone who always laughs at it:

Do you know what happens when you toss a hand grenade into a kitchen?

You get Linoleum Blownaparte!

Have a great day,

Todd+