NO FOOLIN': Christians are called to be merry people

They wonder if "WWJD" is the name of Jesus' web site.

They admire a billboard that's popped up all over the country: "Keep using my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer. -- God."

Who are they? The Fellowship of Merry Christians, a national organization that prints its own monthly newsletter, "The Joyful Noiseletter," offering jokes, cartoons and other "holy humor" to more than 10,000 members.

Franciscan fun

Several of the Franciscans who staffed the center "were really wits," he recalled. "In the kitchen, they had a print of Jesus laughing by Willis Wheatley. They were quite buoyant and cheerful people."

With the encouragement of the Franciscans and a prayer group, "I began to see Jesus in a different light," Mr. Samra said. "They helped me out of this through prayer and laughter."

Laughing Jesus

In 1986, the author organized the Fellowship of Merry Christians in response to requests from clergy and laity alike, and began publishing "The Joyful Noiseletter."

"It's one of the only grassroots organizations in the country to bring people from all these denominations into a fellowship of good cheer," he explained. "Humor is a very powerful evangelistic and healing tool."

April fools

The fellowship publishes the newsletter and a catalog of prints of a happy Christ, humorous books and even bumper stickers featuring such phrases as, "Grace Happens." Two new books, "Holy Hilarity" and "More Holy Hilarity," are due out this year, in addition to four mini-books. Occasionally, the FMC sponsors "playshops" where participants can share humor in a workshop-like setting.

And each year, they remind their members that April is "Holy Humor Month."

"Starting on April Fool's Day, we ask people to be `fools for Christ,'" Mr. Samra said. "Churches have `Holy Humor Sunday' the Sunday after Easter. Church attendance usually goes down the Sunday after Easter -- but in churches where people are coming in and sharing jokes, they're finding that attendance goes up!"

Gospel joy

"Are these the words of a gloomy Messiah?" the FMC founder asked. "We've lost touch with the fact that we basically have a joyful Messiah. That was one of the reasons He was crucified -- because He was so joyful. That was in conflict with the members of the religious [hierarchy] of His times."

BY not being joyful ourselves, he continued, we're disobeying Christ: "If He tells us to be joyful, how much clearer does He have to be, so that we imitate Him?"

Balancing act

However, the FMC founder believes that society has become too serious. "I blame the psychiatrists for that stuff," he declared. "They've got us looking inward, when Jesus taught us to look outward. I have found seriousness and solemnity across the theological and political spectrum, both among the liberals and the conservatives."

Mr. Samra hopes that people turn to the many "heroes of humor" that exist: writers G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis and Malcolm Muggeridge, for example; English Baptist preacher Charles Bergen; or saints like St. Philip Neri, who stated firmly that "I will have no melancholy in my home."

In stitches

Patch Adams "is sort of in the `holy fool' tradition," Mr. Samra explained. "He's discovered the healing power of humor. Steve Allen is sort of a holy fool, too."

Of course, he added, the example of Christ Himself should encourage joy. "If you're taking, in the Eucharist, Jesus' body and blood in, it should wipe that vinegar face right off you! There should be some sort of transformation," he said.

If you've lost your funny bone, the FMC founder offered a solution: "Subscribe to The Joyful Noiseletter and become a member of the Fellowship of Merry Christians! We're rattling some cages, getting people to look at things differently.

"Humor reminds us all that we're very fragile," Mr. Samra concluded. "It puts things in perspective and puts ourselves in perspective. `Humor' and `humility' are very close -- they have the same roots."

(Membership in the Fellowship of Merry Christians costs $22/year, including a subscription to The Joyful Noiseletter. Call 1-800-877-2757, write PO Box 895, Portage, MI 49081-0895; or e-mail [email protected].)

(04-01-99) [[In-content Ad]]