Today’s Word from Pastor Tom Kidd…
Recently I posted on Facebook a Ted Talk featuring the author Anne Lamott. She is exactly the incarnation of the line, “Hang out with sinners just enough to ruin your reputation with religious people.” If you have not yet read any of her works, I commend her to you. Clearly, one of the reasons I appreciate Lamott has to do with a spirituality born out of addiction and recovery, speaking of a time “when I was deteriorating faster than I could lower my standards.” A funny line actually. None the less, she tells my story. Many years ago, my former parish hosted an evening with Anne Lamott. It was pretty remarkable.
Anyway, in her 2017 Ted Talk (“12 Truths I learned from living and writing”), she reminds the audience that laughter is “carbonated holiness.” I like that. A lot. Isn’t there just something so grand, so freeing, so life-giving, about being a part of a moment that is just so undone by gut-busting laughter that tears flow, and you are not quite certain if you will make the bathroom in time? That is carbonated holiness. I think that kind of laughter calls for a certain freedom, a giving up of control. It is life that produces these moments, not a joke, but life’s serendipitous moments.
Many years ago, I was playing golf with a pastor friend who was priding himself on his new driver. It was just the two of us out on the course, and it was raining a bit. It was actually raining a lot, and sane people were holed up inside. Apparently, his grip was a bit wet, because on this particular swing the club flew out of his hands and landed 50 yards away… in the middle of the pond. It floated. Who knew? For the next 30 minutes, he was throwing rocks in the water, trying to hasten its sailing downwind to the other side of the pond. In the meantime, I was literally on the ground laughing, watching this normally in-control professional throwing rocks and begging his baby to come home to him. It did. When all was said and done and I got off the ground, he summed up the moment with, “Was that two strokes or one?” I was back on the ground. Carbonated holiness.
Proverbs 3:5-6… “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Pain and suffering make for a crooked path. In this age of Covid-19, there are so many competing voices vying for our allegiance. Not to mention we have our own list of wants, desires, activities, etc. All of which can make for high anxiety and confusion. A critical component of effective leadership is a non-anxious presence. Precisely what God’s Word is meant to provide. Trusting in the Lord, confident God knows how this is going to turn out, unwavering in our belief that Love is the answer, are signposts along the straight path we seek in the midst of confusing times. Such trust also makes it easier to find laughter, a refreshed pour of carbonated holiness along the way.
Which brings me back to this blog’s title. A 1950’s black and white photo of a little boy with a huge grin in a cowboy outfit, astride a Shetland pony; the words, “Y’all need Jesus… and a pony” emblazoned across the image. It was a gift from a parishioner. She was making a point, with a smile. We do need Jesus. And, as my gift-giver was trying to make a point to her pastor, we also need to smile and laugh. It is a sign of our confidence in the straight path.
God is good? All the time!
Pastor Tom Kidd
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