I am reading a biography of the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was hanged in 1945 for his role in the plot to kill Hitler.  I will feel very accomplished when I finish Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.

Suddenly the door opens and my 4 year old son, Jordan, bounces in. Seeing the book, he attempts to climb into my lap so I can read to him as well. I put down the biography, pick him up, and select Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?, which is in the pile of books beside my chair along with Bonhoeffer’s Ethics and Half the Church by Carolyn Custis James, shifting instantly from the lead-weight of Nazism to the whimsy of Dr. Seuss. Amazing, isn't it?

Mr. Brown is an imitator extraordinaire of sounds. He can moo so well that a wide-eyed cow with blue horns looks on in stunned amazement. He can make the tick-tock sounds of a clock so convincingly that the clock changes its angle of repose out of respect. He is adept at the buzz of bees who, like the cow, look happily surprised by hearing their own sound emerge from a human mouth.

However, Mr. Brown’s most impressive imitation is thunder and lightning about which he gets so excited that he jumps up and down as yellow bolts zigzag around him. On the opposite end of the decibel scale is the silent kiss of two goldfish.

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) had a superb way of pulling listening children into his books. In Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?, which is subtitled Dr. Seuss’s Book of Wonderful Noises, he encourages them to make the sounds along with Mr. Brown. “I think you ought to try,” he writes. And my son does just that, hooting like the owl and popping like a cork.

There is one odd thing about Mr. Brown that most adults probably haven’t noticed. Never once in the book does he open his eyes. Like an opera singer with hands reverently clasped and head slightly tipped back, Mr. Brown has abandoned sight for sound. Even when standing on the back of a purple horse, his eyes are shut tight, and he is totally engrossed in klopp klopp klopp.

Mr. Brown lives fully in the present, or more accurately, the auditory moment he himself produces. About such strange goings-on, the horse looks blissfully happy. So does Jordan.

I am not annoyed about having my concentration broken and my solitude taken away. In fact, there is something fundamentally right about it.

Bonhoeffer would have understood. He was interrupted numerous times during the writing of the Cost of Discipleship (which he composed in the late 1930s while running a seminary that the Nazis had declared illegal) and Ethics (which he wrote while deeply involved in the resistance).

Following his arrest in 1943, he read and wrote as much as possible in the enforced solitude of his cell. But he was often interrupted by guards, inmates, bombing raids, and work in the prison infirmary, taking the time to listen and to offer what help he could right up until the day he was hanged.

For example, on February 1, 1944, he wrote to his friend Eberhard Bethge about a terrible bombing raid on Berlin that had blown out the prison windows the night before. In the morning, some prisoners and guards had sought out Bonhoeffer for comforting. He wrote in his letter:

But I’m afraid I’m bad at comforting. I can listen all right, but I can hardly ever find anything to say. But perhaps the way one asks about some things and not about others helps to suggest what really matters; and it seems to me more important actually to share someone’s distress than to use smooth words about it.

Occasionally, Bonhoeffer broke off mid-sentence, writing “Enough of this; I’ve just been disturbed again” (May 29, 1944). But later he picked up his chain of thought as imperturbably as if nothing had occurred.

Similarly, the life of Jesus can be seen as perpetual interruption. I have often thought the disciples must have fumed at his inability to stay on schedule and get things done. Jesus would never have adhered to a prioritized things-to-do list. There was always one more child to hold, one more sick person to be healed, one more anxious person asking a hard question. Never impatient or self-absorbed, Jesus knew, as Bonhoeffer put it, “what really matters.”

And so my son and I finish Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? The last sound he makes is the soft whisper of a butterfly, very soft and very high.
“Maybe YOU can, too, I think you ought to try.”
​

I have been counting gifts for over two years now.  I started this on Christmas day two years ago after reading Ann Voskamp's '1000 Gifts'.  With my whole heart, I endorse both reading her book and counting your own gifts over the next year.  Let's celebrate life and all of its beauty together.

Highlights from this month's list of gifts have been very special.  I saw some birds sitting on a snow covered tree singing praises (similar to the picture above).  My sons smiling and laughing are always good to boost my spirit.  My husband's thoughtfulness of a hot water bottle on my aching back.  Playful 'talks' with the baby.  Good meals with family and friends.  

Have you noticed that these things are not big?  These gifts are small things that warmed my heart, caught my attention, and let me notice the beauty in the everyday things.  What richness!

This is not to say that life is always good.  Sometimes I am amazed and paralyzed by my inadequacies, weaknesses, and attitude.  But isn't this the point?  When I can only see myself, I need to look around me to see goodness, light, love, and God.

Christmas day is a yearly reminder that God is with us.  He was born in a barn filled with mud, muck, hay, pigs, and other animals.  He reaches down into our messy, mud-filled lives and does His best to get our attention.  

The beauty of this that I don't fully grasp is that He has chosen me.  Me?  My shame and inadequacies as a mother, wife, teacher, lover, friend, writer, cook, and occasionally, an artist, He knows me very well.  He changes me.  As I count gifts, as I become more and more grateful for life around me.  He transforms me.  He is filling me with love, light, patience, and grace.  He is with me.

Isn't that the point of Christmas? God is with us.

He is with me as I count gifts, struggle with students, interact with my kids, talk to my husband, bake muffins, take walks, and live life!  He is with me.  Just. Waiting. For.  Me.  To.  Notice. Him.  He is here.

He is.

To say that His birth was opposed is to touch the limits of mortal language.  The mighty one has been hated since the pride of the bright one led many away.  Your world war comes close, but even then, believe me, you have no idea.

We sang that night as we had never sung before.  Those shepherds believed they were the primary audience.  True, they were important — the Mighty One has always favored the lowly.  But there was much going on that night.  The other reason we sang in the fields was to hallow the ground where Rachel would weep over her sons.  There the graves would be dug, the graves for the little boys of Bethlehem. 

Herod’s rage soon stripped dozens of firstborns from the breasts of their mothers.  Those so fresh from heaven, so quickly silenced.  Slaughtered like animals.  So much blood.

The town had no room for Mary, and Herod’s heart had no room for another king.  He would not share his glory.

Although we do not exist in time, there are moments when the affairs of earth are hard to endure.  Even Angels desire vengeance. 

“Vengeance is Mine,” declared the Mighty One.  “Justice is coming.  I need you to sing.”

And so we sang. What the shepherds heard as an anthem the innocents would hear as a lullaby.  We sang as we had never sang before. A song to bring Him safely into the world, a song to guide them safely from it, and a song to help Mary endure it:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,                             
Fly, fly to the breast of the Father,                                     
This wrong will be righted,     
Jesus is here,                      
Peace to all men and women on earth                               
who please Him.                   
Rest, rest in the arms of the Father,                                  
His fury remembers,                
His love holds you dear.   

Many do not sing of this horror at Christmas.  That is understandable; it was an unspeakable deed.  But I remind you that His birth was opposed.  You have no idea.

(This version of the Christmas Story has been adapted from Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas by John Blasé)

It's interesting how people come and go through our lives, but manage to become a part of who we are.  Anne Shirley referred to Diana Berry in Anne of Green Gables as her bosom friend, a soul mate for life.  Of course, it's a story, but even in that story Anne and Diana grow apart as they married, had children, and raised their families.  It is something that happens to all of us.

Our family recently said goodbye to Max, my cousin, who after a full year of working at an English institute for children, went back home.  The kids and I miss him already.  He was here for many a weekend and almost every long weekend on the Korean calendar.  It was a blessing to have him here.  I cooked a lot.  Boy, could he ever eat! The boys enjoyed the silly games he played, his knowledge or computer games, his willingness to go for walks, and his love of anything fun.  Somewhere along the line, he became 'Uncle Max'. He got a special place at the end of the dining room table, and we learned to pull out his favorite blankets before he arrived. A have a wonderful mosaic of pictures in my mind of his time here.  He became someone who is more than a cousin.  He became family.

Loved this! Has a child ever stumped you with a great question?

Another week has gone by.  I was tired this week, but I laughed a lot! Students are great in creating humor in the classroom.  The highlight this week was a freshmen who asked me, "When was your first kiss?"  This, of course, was his idea of making get-to-know questions a little more interesting! It make the whole class crack up and brings me to another important point on humor.

9) Humor Fosters Good Relations and Builds Community
Humor and community are intimately linked.  In an intuitive way, we get the feeling that jokes are enjoyed only in the company of friends.  We tell them at school, at work, and at home.  They demonstrate intimacy trust, and sense or togetherness among those those who tell jokes and listen to them.  Thus, one of the important elements of humor is the intimate connection it fosters among the members of a community.  Through jokes we also show our affection for the people who are most important in our lives.  By joking with people we are, in effect, taking care of them and simultaneously telling them that we love them.  And in inviting more people to share the same joke, our community expands and becomes more open to the presence of others.

Jokes can affirm a group's identity and, at the same time, make that community far richer.  Yet the important of humor extends farther.  Jokes and humor may also be viewed as evidence of the changes that occur in the community over time.  They point to a shared history, a common past that consists of a litany of dangers, trials, and occasional bouts of real suffering and genuine hardship.  Humor does more than "take the edge off" these rough times.  It literally reverses the sentiment of despair into its opposite: hope.  Humor performs the Janus task of looking backwards and forwards at the same time.  It recalls the past, and it sets it squarely before us.  Humor, the language of hope and joy, turns our eyes more resolutely toward the future.  By telling a joke, we affirm that our relationships are vitally healthy and ongoing, and thus open to change, to development, to continual deepening - in short, jokes open our lives and our communities to God.

10) Humor Opens Our Minds
 Laughing releases endorphins, which helps us to relax.  When we relax and feel less threatened, we more able to listen and to lear.  By relaxing listeners, laughters can help get a message across.  And, it may help us think more broadly or creatively. It may even give us spiritual insight like in the following story.

A pastor is giving spiritual direction to an older man who was practical, hardworking, and efficient.  He was getting older, and he was becoming frustrated.  As aging slowed him down, he felt less "productive."  A big part of the problem, both in prayer and daily life, was an overemphasis on "results."

The pastor asked the older man to pray using the image of Jesus as a young man between the ages of twelve and thirty, before he started his public ministry.  During those years, as far as is know, Jesus was not preaching or performing miracles.  He was simply working in a carpentry shop, plying his trade and living a simple life.

At one point, as the older man imagined watching Jesus working in his carpentry shop, he found himself saying to Jesus, "Why don't you start healing people now?  You're wasting all this time!  You're not very efficient!"

When he recounted this to the pastor, the pastor said, "You told Jesus that he wasn't productive?" The older man smiled and began to laugh.  That moment let him relax, pray in a more relaxed way and led him to see himself and others as a "human being" not a "human doing."

Laughter can be a sign of being freed from old ways of thinking, from being bound to old habits.  It was a sign of God's liberation.

The recording of God's gifts over the last year has me thinking about happiness and the paths toward it.  Sometimes the path to happiness is humor or a good laugh.

The book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible says there is a time to weep, a time to mourn, and a time to laugh.  Sometimes laughter can be healthy in the midst of sadness - as a way of lightening a heavy heart.

Here is a cute story from a book I have been reading that illustrates this point. A few years ago the regional superior of the Jesuits in New York City was visiting the infirmary, where the sick and elderly priests and elders live.  The superior was talking about how the Jesuits in the area were getting older and older.  "We have so many aging Jesuits", said the superior, "that there really isn't any place to put them.  There isn't even room for anyone else here in the infirmary." To which an elderly Jesuit shouted out, "Father, we're dying as fast as we can!"

Silly humor, as in this example, can sometimes help lighten sad situations. But it can deepen a person's spiritual life in a variety of other equally important ways.  Over the next month I will look at 11 1/2 reasons for humor in the spiritual life.

1.  Humor evangelizes
Joy, humor, and laughter show one's faith in God.  Joy draws others to God.  To paraphrase Saint Teresa, why hide it?

Many years ago, I asked a dear friend and committed Christian named Derek Liebenberg what he thought was the best way to get people to come to faith.  His answer surprised and inspired me.  He said, "Live your own life joyfully."

Isn't that good advice.  Joy attracts people to God.  Why would anyone want to join a group of miserable people? A better way of expressing this came from Timothy M. Dalan, after his appointment to archbishop of New York in 2009.  A New York Times reporter asked him about the declining number of vocations to the Catholic priesthood and wondered about his approach to the problem.  Archbishop Dolan's answer: "Happiness attracts."

2. Humor is a tool for humility
We can tell jokes about ourselves to deflate our egos.  This is important for those working in an official capacity in a religious institutions, where it's easy to get puffed up.  It goes for those in silk robes who are called "Your eminence." It goes for priests, brothers, and sisters whom others think are holy because they are ordained or are in a religious order.  It goes for preachers or rabbis whom others revere because they can recall verses of Scripture effortlessly.  It goes for lay people in parishes, schools, and hospitals, who exercise a great deal of power over people's spiritual lives.  Frankly, it goes for everyone.

Anyone can get puffed up, and humor is a good way for people to remind themselves of their basic humanity, their essential poverty of spirit.  It brings us back down to earth and reminds us of our place in God's universe.  "Angels can fly," write G.K. Chesteron, "because they can take themselves lightly."

An overriding theme in the book The Wit of Martin Luther is how Luther used humor to remind himself of the limitations of human knowledge where it comes to God.  "Humor was for Luther," writes the Luther scholar Eric Gritsch, "the guard to prevent him from crossing the frontier to speculations about God and human life beyond its earthly existence." Humor served as a reminder of his own humanity and humility.