Giggling God

Good morning God,
I've been wondering just how different the Church would be if the smallest verse in the bible had been Jesus giggled instead of Jesus wept.
Now of course I know how important it is for us to know that you care for us, that you grieve for us, that you are capable of being moved to tears.. but I really do think that we would all be so much better off if our faith, and particularly our Church's were based on the knowledge that you meant what you said - that our joy will be complete - instead of that our suffering should be endless.

Sorry God - but you know what I mean - so much of Church life and teachings seems to be based on misery. We dwell on sickness and sin and dare to use these as a call to salvation. We almost always seem to forget to talk about the joy and delight of being made GOOD, or if we do, its as a sort of consolation prize for having to give up sinning! Never mind - we say - God loves you!

Dear God - please! Save another generation from the misery of modern Christianity! From the daunting lists of thou shalt nots and the endless rounds of confession and forgiveness.
This is not just about worship in Church on a Sunday (although that really DOES deserve laughter) This is about something far more fundamental - its about YOU and US and life in all its fullness.

How would it be if the Church was the one place where a person heard the real truth about themselves - that they are made GOOD - that they have the God given potential to become something so much more than an accountant, lawyer, clerk, cashier, dentist, minister etc etc.. You have made us all apprentice messiahs, star makers, world shifters, mountain breakers and miracle workers - the sisters and brothers of Christ.
What would happen if the Church was the place where the first thing that people heard was the real truth about life in all its fullness - that their life is an opportunity to laugh, to grow, to heal and to discover what it is to transcend mediocrity with divinity, to appreciate beauty through majesty and know, really know that there is more.. that fear can be defeated, that suffering is not the end, but can be overcome, that life is SO full, that you can't ever destroy it.

God giggled -
you've got to admit God, it would have re-written the history of the church if that verse had been the shortest verse in the bible.

Priests would have been dressed in anything BUT black, churches would have been designed to be full of light and colour, sound and dance. Laughter would have resounded at the heart of the Eucharist which really would have been CELEBRATED - a JOYOUS thanksgiving. We would have written prayers of encouragement instead of petition, prayers of delight instead of confession. You never know - we might even have sung Hymns with decent melodies!

What say you God - too radical - too impossible?
Are we too far gone now, too stuck with our misery, with our petitions and pleadings, our solemnity and suffering, our sins and our sorrows?
Is the best we can hope for the charismatic moments - Toronto blessings, outpourings of the Spirit when giggles interrupt sermons and disrupt services?

Surely not..

Giggling God, teach us how to recover the GOOD in the Good news of the gospel.