Sermon One

An Hour Lecture on Tax Law and Religion

On April 1, 2012, my sermon topic was the following:
Come to church but bring a pillow for a nap - it'll be very
boring!

Section 7.25.3 of the Internal Revenue Service - Regarding

Religious, Charitable, Educational, Etc., Organizations
IRC 501(c)(3) exempts from Federal income tax: corporations,
and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated
exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety,
literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international
amateur sports competition (but only if no part of its activities involve
the provision of athletic facilities or equipment), or for the prevention
of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which
inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no
substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or
otherwise attempting to influence legislation (except as otherwise
provided in subsection (i)), and which does not participate in, or
intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements),
any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.
<<Deep Breath/Hard Beat>>
OK, I cant keep that up. On this holy day, its important for
some of us to pause and reflect on one of the deepest needs in life
laughter. Foolishness is vital, silliness is sacred, to joke is to join
humanity in an attempt to lighten the load.
Believe it or not and this being April fools day, I remind you to
take anything and everything with a grain of salt believe it or not, this
day originated by way of a Pope. It seems that the Gregorian calendar
changed when the beginning of the year was celebrated moving it
from April 1st to January 1st. Word traveled slowly in those days and
those who continued to celebrate the new year on April First were seen
as April Fools (Snopes
http://www.snopes.com/holidays/aprilfools/origins.asp).

Sometimes, we all need to be made a fool of. Its true. Although

I desperately hope to avoid it myself, joking and surprising has a great
role in our life because it shakes us up from the status quo.
In fact, scientists say that those who laugh one minute each day
will live a day longer than the rest.*
<Beat>
OK, so I made that one up.
Generally, while in the pulpit, it seems uncouth to tell a lie and
yet once ever so often, the first of April falls on a Sunday and its really
hard not to indulge in a little goofiness.
For months now, I have considered it my professional duty to find
the best jokes and gags for today. While meeting with colleagues, we
had a brainstorming session. The staff took time in its weekly steak
dinners*.
All of this for one hour of absolute fun.
The reason for this may not be as shallow as you think. In our
readings, you heard two viewpoints of work. The first (excerpts from
Romans 12) was that we are all called to do work, we all have gifts and
talents to share. Its true life is not a spectator sport, we desperately
need people to do the things they are great at. If youre a good
teacher, then teach if youre a good singer, sing. If youre a good
fundraiser well lets get started! If youre a good preacher, well let
me know when you can take over.
The second reading (Beating Burnout), however, reminds us
that no matter what we are called to do we should follow that calling
but also to balance our work with play. Work without play, without
total engagement in a different type of learning and enjoyment, work
without play can lead to stress and ultimately burnout. More and

more, we need to be reminded not to work harder but to play harder,

to relax for a bit.
In Lynne Baabs book, Beating Burnout in Congregations, she
tells of a rabbi who points out that balance is inherent in Judaism but
not Christianity or Unitarian Universalism. In Judaism, the rabbi says,
everyone is called to work, to rest, to spend time with family, and
to make some positive difference in the community. All of these
responsibilities have equal weight (13).
Over time, we can heal from burning out on life through rest,
reflection, spiritual deepening, and yes, even play. So therefore,
humor, at least in our holy context be it in the sermons and worship
or in weekly spiritual messages or announcements whatever the case
humor is not about seeking attention and gaining favor Id need
better jokes for that but rather humor is one tool in the toolbox of
learning to encourage people to stop, to think, to reflect, to balance.
There can be humor for humor sake and there can be holy
humor, a chance to stop and see the divine in everything, including our
emotions and our joy. (There can also be unholy humor but thatll be
held later this evening at our two-drink minimum church nightclub.*)
In life, sometimes we need seriousness and sometimes we need
humor. My theology is one of balance I believe that the holy is found
in the balancing of life and that I, and in fact the world, are at our best
when we find equilibrium. Our ministry, be they professional or lay,
but our ministry to the world is one that is made brighter when we
smile more.
Particularly in areas of life that can be so solemn, its important
to include the lightness of levity. I think back to the memorials of loved
ones and the touching moments of inside jokes and humor that are
shared. Our deepest beliefs need not be solely about stoic and deep

understandings of God on high and sin and eschatology. Theres

something to be said about equally including the awkward moments
that cause us to laugh twenty years later.
For instance, when I was a young boy ok, stop laughing, I know
Im still a young boy to some of you but when I was a young boy, I
was incredibly earnest. In advance of my first spelling bee, in third
grade, I studied for weeks. As the day approached for the class
spelling bee, I won with flying colors. Onto the school-wide bee and I
hoped the state one.
In front of the entire school, I got my first word an incredibly
easy word. And in my nervousness and earnestness to get it right I
got it deeply, deeply wrong.
Enter, the teacher said.
Expecting a harder word I mean it was a spelling bee for gods
sake I heard the word and immediately thought of some of the
longer words with enter in them. Interlude. Intermission.
Interject. Interrupt. Inter..inter..inter.
Enter, I repeated. I-N-T-E-R.
The entire school erupted in laughter. My face turned r-e-d red.
Well, at least I could spell that one.
Flash forward a year, and I was ready for the spelling bee. Come
hell or high water, I would win this thing. No more silly mistakes,
this was mine.
Class spelling bee was a breeze. No nervousness at all.
And thenthe school spelling bee.
First round the word doorbell.
How could you screw up the word doorbell, I thought. Easy as
pie.

Nervous again hoping to avoid a mistake I spoke very quickly.

My mind raced at about 100mph and all I could do was think of
enter no, wait, thats not the word I needed to spell.
Doorbell, I said. D-O-R-B-E-L-L.
OH!
Again, here I was, with egg on my face e-g-g, f-a-c-e see I can spell!
(though of course none of you will ever know since you cant see my
script s-k-r-i-p-t)*.
For as hard as I tried, as deeply as I cared, I continued to make
mistakes and face laughter.
Looking back, I crack up at the thought of a seven year old boy
and his desire to spell correctly. I dont feel ashamed because I knew
that internally (thats with an i-n-t-e-r), I knew how to spell the words
right. And yet, mistakes were made.
And thats life. Thats the spiritual lesson I want you to take
home today. For all of the importance of the hard work we do be it
the work of developing our theology, or the work of social justice, or
the work of raising a family or the work of hard career for all of the
importance of that work, we will fall flat on our face and experience
laughter.
On a day like today, we may be fooled by the antics of someone.
The gullible among us may believe anything and everything. Those of
us who are suspicious may ignore anything and everything. But we will
all be fooled in some way.
It rarely feels good to be tricked. Oftentimes, the trust we
develop in relationship to someone is built on the assumption or
experience that they will not betray us, that they will tell us the truth.
And maybe thats why April 1st is so important. For 264 days a year*,

we expect the truth and we glide through life without paying much
attention, without having to dig into what we hear to see if its true.
But one day a year we allow ourselves to fool and to be fooled
to play games and be played.
In countless ways in our life, we work hard. Many of you give
hours upon hours to your community, to your jobs, to your family, and
to the church. Because life requires such attention and reflection, it
can be easy to fall into ruts, to ignore the joy of life, to stop smiling and
thinking of ways to engage in foolishness.
So let me give you permission to do so and maybe you can give
yourself permission.
We are better, we are spiritually stronger, we can avoid
becoming burnt out when we smile and laugh and giggle. Often, jokes
allow us to show that we have created a relationship with someone and
they mark a time and place where something special happened. In
fact, as a symbol and ritual, I invite you all to join me in the middle of
the floor for a tickle fest.
_____________ (name of congregant), well start with you.*
OK, OK so maybe not that.
But I want you to think of some way, some practice that will get
you to ease up and enjoy life. Our lives are short, far too short to take
everything seriously. I should know I was the kid in middle school
that even the teachers told to lighten up so that I wouldnt have a
heart attack.
And yet I remind us, myself and you all, to strive for that balance.
So many people in life ignore the more serious things; they indulge too
much in fancy and fun. Some of us see them and wonder if we need to
care more about the world to make up for them. In both cases, we are

called to the middle, to moderate ourselves and our behaviors and

emotions.
I see so many people, day in and day out, who tell me that they
work so hard, who tell me that they would love to do more but theyre
already maxed out. And I see it in their bodies that are tired and tense,
I see it in their families, which are stressed and strung out I see it in
every aspect of them.
There is much work to be done classes to finish and projects to
do and housework and yard work well, mostly Im just trying to get
out of mowing, there is much to be done but if we cannot enjoy life,
enjoy our time and our relationships with one another and the world
if we are miserable, then what is the point of doing anything?
Laugh. Do what you can go buy a clown costume and dress up,
pick up a puppet and have fun, or watch a comedian or funny movie,
or think of bad puns and word plays but do what you can to fill up
your soul. This world needs you you to live out your deeper
purpose, your true calling. You were placed on this earth, at this time,
in this setting to bring your specific gifts and talents and desires and
beauty to the world. But if you get too caught up in work, those can
get lost and destroyed.
A colleague once gave me a great metaphor for stress. She said
that getting tired was like running out of gas but burning out was like
driving a car with no oil and having the engine blow. You can fill up on
gas, but a dead engine is hard to come back from.
On this day of foolishness, I implore you all to let go, to
surrender, just a little bit of that which is holding you down. For some
of you, that will be easy. For some of you, there is simply too much
and it will feel impossible.

But try. And even if it takes days or weeks or years try to

connect to the comical. It will save your soul, or make you pee your
pants. [Good night everybody, Ill be here all week dont forget to tip
your waitresses and ushers.]

Amen.
(* - denotes the intentional mistakes.)

Works Cited/Referenced

Baab, Lynne. Beating Burnout in Congregations, Alban. (Pages

unknown)
Romans 12, adapted, New American Standard Bible.
Snopes.com. April Fools Day Origins.
(http://www.snopes.com/holidays/aprilfools/origins.asp)