sacred journeys

We love living in LA so far, but there are many things we miss about MN. The most being good friends that we knew for a very long time. Some we stay in touch with, others (sadly) we don’t.

One such friend is Peter. If I remember correctly, I met him in the summer of 2000. It was at a church retreat that we were at, with the church that I helped to start and was a pastor at for a number of years - The Rock .

Peter and I made an immediate connection that summer, we have been friends ever since, and I was the officiant at Peter & his wife Bridgette’s (the much better half) wedding a couple of years ago also. He also gave my son Caleb guitar lessons for a while back in Minnesota.

Peter is a high-school teacher, but on the side - he heads up a ministry at The Rock — called Rock TV. They put together these outrageous videos to show at church — simply for laughter’s sake.

It reminds me of a quote by Willard (I know — another quote by this guy…)

“Laughter is the automatic human response to incongruity, and incongruity is never lacking on the human scene, no matter how far advanced we may be into the kingdom. It is indelibly imprinted in our finitude. There will be lots of laughter in heaven, you can be sure, as well as joy, for our finitude will always remain…

We should note that one of the things that disappear when we are grinding away at others with our condemnations, blamings, and ‘pearls’ is, precisely, laughter. We become insufferably grim. But genuine shared laughter is one of the surest ways for human beings to come together and break the stalemates of life. It is essential to genuine community.

No wonder, then, that laughter is so good for our health. It is even a symbol of redemption, for there is no greater incongruity in all creation than redemption. When deliverance comes, “we are like those who dream: our mouth filled with laughter, our tongue with shouts of joy” (Ps 126.1-2)

Thus Abraham fell on the ground laughing when told by God that he, a one-hundred-year-old man, would have child by ninety-year-old Sarah (Ge 17.17). Later Sarah herself laughed at the same “joke” (18.12-15). God specified to Abraham that the child of promise would be named “Laughter”. Isaac mean “Laughter.” “Your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Laughter, and I will establish my covenant with him” (Ge 17.19). Was this a penalty imposed upon them because they laughed? Hardly. Rather, it was a perpetual reminder that God breaks through. What joy they had when little Laughter came into their home and as he grew to become a young man!â€?

In light of all of this, I give to you one of the Rock TV video’s - entitled ‘WWJD - Christian Radio’. If you cannot laugh at Christian ‘culture’ - don’t watch this. If you can — you will find this very amusing. Here is to all of you at Rock TV — keep up the incredibly creative work that you all do.