Ministry is serious business. We're dealing with life and death issues and, more significantly, with eternal issues. That's why I don't care for the sort of whimsical pulpit style that seems to me unbecoming of a pastor.
But while we take our work seriously, we don't have to take OURSELVES seriously!
A sense of humor (appropriately expressed!) can go a long way toward dissolving tensions in meetings and relationships. If a member knows that I can laugh at myself (never at someone else's expense), she's much less likely to take offense at something I say or do. My people and I laugh a lot together -- and that makes it easier to cry together when we need to.
Someone has said that God must have a sense of humor -- after all, he created the giraffe! So if God can smile, shouldn't his pastors?
(By the way, there's a huge difference between humor and sarcasm. One is life-giving, the other deadly.)
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