Alright, I don't really have a good joke here. But maybe I should come up with one! That's the teaching from a workshop in England that focuses on training clergy to use the presentational skills of a stand up comic. Intriguing! Read on:
British clergy are seeking preaching tips from stand-up comedians. Not that
there's anything wrong with that. (rimshot)
In February, the annual Leicester
Comedy Festival introduced a new workshop to help clergy preach better. Leader
and comedian Andy Kind wants to make Christianity more accessible to average
people. The course focused on improving body language, voice modulation, and
overall performance skills. Kind wants to build the preachers' confidence and
self-awareness, while encouraging them to be engaging and
relevant.
"Christianity can be seen as something terribly serious, but Jesus
must have been a great laugh to have had such a following," Kind says. "He used
humor and so can we."
I agree with this, and think we could all use a little extra humor in our lives, and in our preaching and ministry. Of course, I've had many people tell me my ministry is nothing but a joke.... Not that we want to come across overly light-hearted, but I think too many pastors come across way too heavy-hearted and serious. We have a variety of tools at our disposal to communicate the Gospel. Humor is certainly one of them, and at the appropiate time, can be a very effective one.
6 comments:
I agree wholeheartedly; good humor is essential. Used properly, it can really communicate the Truth.
Amen brother! A Presbterian pastor, Methodist pastor and a Baptist pastor were in a boat... Oh yeah, good post, Jeff!
I've always believed that the best stand up comedians are some of our culture's most creative, engaging, and articulate communicators.
Why not spend time studying their craft?
Come to think of it, my sense is that all those years of watching David Letterman have had an enormous impact on my timing and delivery.
A brief memorial to Sam Kinison who was a pastor before he was a comedian. I always wondered what he must have been like in the pulpit.
Leonard Sweet made an interesting comment in one of his books. He said that in His everyday personality, Jesus was probably closer to David Letterman than He was to Jerry Falwell.
The question is....were the Pharisees more like Frank Costanza?
Frank Costanza as a Pharisee - good analogy! Would George make a good Zaccheus? I admit I like Letterman on occasion, but Leno is much more to my liking. I do like Letterman's top 10 lists, and used them as a springboard for a sermon series on the 10 Commandments. Lots of good stuff out there (although I wouldn't quote too much of Sam Kinison from the pulpit!) I do wonder what his sermons would have been like. Bill Cosby has a lot of material that can be used, especially his bit on Noah. The Cos is still my all-time no. 1 favorite comedian, with Seinfeld as a not-too-distant second.
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