William H. Willimon - "The Last Laugh" (April 19, 1987)

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	(processional trumpet music)	0:04
	(choral music)	1:37
	(fast-paced organ music)	3:22
	♪ Christ the Lord is risen today ♪	4:07
	♪ Alleluia ♪	4:13
	♪ Sons of men and angels say ♪	4:19
	♪ Alleluia ♪	4:24
	♪ Raise your joys and triumphs high ♪	4:30
	♪ Alleluia ♪	4:36
	♪ Sing ye heavens and earth reply ♪	4:42
	♪ Alleluia ♪	4:48
	♪ Lives again our glorious king ♪	4:56
	♪ Alleluia ♪	5:01
	♪ Where O death is now thy sting ♪	5:07
	♪ Alleluia ♪	5:13
	♪ Once he died our souls to save ♪	5:19
	♪ Alleluia ♪	5:25
	♪ Where's thy victory boasting grave ♪	5:31
	♪ Alleluia ♪	5:37
	♪ Love's redeeming work is done ♪	5:45
	♪ Alleluia ♪	5:51
	♪ Fought the fight the battle won ♪	5:57
	♪ Alleluia ♪	6:03
	♪ Death in vain forbids Him rise ♪	6:09
	♪ Alleluia ♪	6:15
	♪ Christ hath opened paradise ♪	6:20
	♪ Alleluia ♪	6:27
	♪ Soar we now where Christ has led ♪	6:34
	♪ Alleluia ♪	6:40
	♪ Following our exalted head ♪	6:46
	♪ Alleluia ♪	6:52
	♪ Made like Him like Him we rise ♪	6:58
	♪ Alleluia ♪	7:04
	♪ Ours the cross the grave the skies ♪	7:10
	♪ Alleluia ♪	7:15
	(trumpet music)	7:22
	♪ Thine be the glory ♪	7:35
	♪ Risen, conquering son ♪	7:40
	♪ Endless is the victory ♪	7:45
	♪ Thou o'er death hast won ♪	7:50
	♪ Angels in bright raiment ♪	7:55
	♪ Rolled the stone away ♪	8:00
	♪ Kept the folded grave-clothes ♪	8:06
	♪ Where thy body lay ♪	8:11
	♪ Thine be the glory ♪	8:17
	♪ Risen, conquering son ♪	8:22
	♪ Endless is the victory ♪	8:27
	♪ Thou o'er death hast won ♪	8:32
	♪ Lo, Jesus meets me ♪	8:39
	♪ Risen from the tomb ♪	8:44
	♪ Lovingly he greets me ♪	8:49
	♪ Scatters fear and gloom ♪	8:54
	♪ Let the Church with gladness ♪	9:00
	♪ Hymns of triumph sing ♪	9:05
	♪ For her Lord now liveth ♪	9:10
	♪ Death hath lost its sting ♪	9:16
	♪ Thine be the glory ♪	9:22
	♪ Risen, conquering son ♪	9:27
	♪ Endless is the victory ♪	9:32
	♪ Thou o'er death hast won ♪	9:38
	♪ No more we doubt thee ♪	9:52
	♪ Glorious prince of life ♪	9:58
	♪ Life is naught without thee ♪	10:03
	♪ Aid us in our strife ♪	10:09
	♪ Make us more than conquerors ♪	10:14
	♪ Through thy deathless love ♪	10:20
	♪ Bring us safe through Jordan ♪	10:25
	♪ To thy home above ♪	10:30
	♪ Thine be the glory ♪	10:37
	♪ Risen, conquering son ♪	10:42
	♪ Endless is the victory ♪	10:47
	♪ Thou o'er death hast won ♪	10:53
	(lively symphonic music)	10:58
-	Hallelujah Christ the Lord is risen.	11:12
Congregation	The Lord is risen indeed, hallelujah.	11:15
-	And a voice from the throne said,	11:19
	"Behold I make all things new."	11:21
Congregation	Hallelujah.	11:25
	The Lord God of high makes the best choices	11:27
	for us all, may your honor Him in prayer, amen.	11:31
-	Almighty God who threw your only begotten son	11:36
	Jesus Christ overcame death and opened	11:40
	to us the gate of everlasting life.	11:44
	Grant that we who celebrate with joy	11:47
	the day of the lord's resurrection	11:50
	maybe be raised from the death of sin	11:52
	by your life giving spirit.	11:54
	Through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives	11:57
	and reigns with you in the holy spirit.	11:59
	One God now and forever, amen.	12:03
-	Let us pray.	12:17
Together	Oh living God bring us forth from	12:20
	death to life so that as the scriptures	12:23
	are read and your word is proclaimed,	12:27
	we might be brought to assure a	12:30
	living faith in your lordship, amen.	12:32
	The first lesson is from the book of Exodus.	12:37
	When Pharaoh drew near the people	12:41
	of Israel lifted up their eyes and	12:43
	behold the Egyptians were marching after them,	12:46
	and they were in great fear,	12:50
	And the people of Israel cried out to the lord	12:52
	and they said to Moses, "Is it because there	12:55
	"are no graves in Egypt that you have	12:58
	"taken us away to die in the wilderness?	13:00
	"What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?	13:04
	"Is not this what we said to you in Egypt?	13:08
	"Let us alone and serve the Egyptians.	13:11
	"For it would've been better for us	13:14
	"to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."	13:16
	And Moses said to the people,	13:20
	"Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation	13:23
	"of the lord which he will work for you today.	13:27
	"For the Egyptians whom you see today	13:30
	"you shall never see again.	13:32
	"The Lord will fight for you and	13:35
	"you have only to be still."	13:37
	Then Moses stretched out his hand	13:40
	over the sea and the Lord drove the sea back	13:42
	by a strong east wind all night,	13:45
	and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided.	13:48
	And the people of Israel went into	13:53
	the midst of the sea on dry ground.	13:55
	The waters being a wall to them on	13:58
	the right and to the left.	14:00
	The Egyptians pursued and went in	14:02
	after them in the midst of the sea,	14:05
	all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.	14:07
	And in the morning watch the Lord	14:12
	and the pillar of fire and of cloud	14:14
	looked down upon the host of the	14:17
	Egyptians in discomfited them.	14:19
	Clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily.	14:22
	And the Egyptians said "Let us flee from before Israel,	14:25
	"for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians."	14:30
	Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister	14:35
	of Aaron took a timbrel in her hand,	14:38
	and all the women went out after	14:41
	her with timbrels and dancing.	14:42
	And Miriam sang to them, "Sing to the Lord	14:45
	"for he is triumphed gloriously.	14:49
	"The horse and his rider, he is throw into the sea."	14:51
	This ends the reading of the first lesson.	14:56
	(soft piano organ music)	15:09
	("We Shall Be Changed")	15:15
-	The gospel for this Easter from John.	21:50
	Now on the first day of the week	21:56
	Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early,	21:58
	while it was still dark,	22:00
	and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.	22:02
	So she ran and went to Simon Peter, the other disciple,	22:07
	whom Jesus loved, and said to them,	22:11
	"They have taken away my Lord out of the tomb,	22:15
	"and I do not know where they have laid him."	22:19
	Peter then came out with the other disciple,	22:22
	and went toward the tomb.	22:24
	They both ran but the other disciple	22:26
	outran Peter and reached the tomb first.	22:28
	And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths	22:31
	lying there but he did not go in.	22:35
	For as yet they did not know the scripture,	22:39
	that he must rise from the dead.	22:42
	And then the disciples went back to their homes.	22:44
	But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb,	22:48
	and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.	22:52
	And she saw two angels in white,	22:56
	sitting where the body of Jesus had lain,	22:58
	one at the head and one at the feet.	23:01
	They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"	23:04
	She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord,	23:09
	"and I do not know where they have laid him."	23:13
	Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing,	23:16
	but she did not know that it was Jesus.	23:21
	And Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?	23:24
	"Whom do you seek?"	23:30
	Supposing him to be the gardener,	23:32
	she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away,	23:34
	"tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."	23:39
	Jesus said to her, "Mary."	23:43
	She turned and said to him in Hebrew "Rabboni!"	23:47
	Which means teacher.	23:51
	Early in his ministry critics came to Jesus	23:59
	and said,	24:04
	"Why do your disciples eat and drink?	24:06
	"The disciples of John fast."	24:11
	Now do you think it's interesting	24:15
	that one of the earliest charges	24:17
	against Jesus was your people have too much fun?	24:18
	We can tell the disciples of John The Baptist	24:24
	are religious, they look miserable, yours eat and drink.	24:27
	Could the same be said of Jesus' people today?	24:34
	I know as a preacher I have never gotten	24:38
	into trouble for being too serious in a sermon.	24:39
	Humor has been my downfall, it's just not	24:43
	appropriate for church they say at the backdoor.	24:48
	People seem more troubled that their minster	24:53
	should be funny than that their minister should be wrong.	24:55
	I know that I helped edit a theology magazine,	25:00
	and the most difficult articles for us to get	25:04
	are articles which attempt some kind of humor.	25:06
	Oh we get lots of articles on Central America,	25:10
	and capital punishment and the arms race,	25:13
	death, poverty, hunger.	25:16
	But maybe you're saying after all of that	25:21
	that's really what religion is supposed	25:24
	to be about, those things.	25:26
	And maybe that's why it's so difficult for people,	25:29
	particularly sincere devout religious people to laugh.	25:32
	After all with the world and the state it's in,	25:39
	you'd have to be incredibly insensitive to laugh.	25:44
	"Woman why are you weeping?",	25:53
	asked the angel out at the cemetery	25:56
	on the first Easter morning.	25:59
	"Why are you weeping?"	26:01
	Let me answer for her.	26:03
	Why are we weeping?	26:05
	If you live very long in this life	26:09
	you know that there is plenty to weep about.	26:11
	And maybe that's why it's always Monday,	26:14
	Thursday, or Good Friday at church.	26:16
	I mean we watch the 6:30 news,	26:20
	we read the morning newspaper,	26:22
	we have seen enough death, and defeat,	26:26
	and betrayal in our own time to	26:28
	understand it in Jesus's time.	26:30
	We know the good get it in the end,	26:32
	we have seen the crosses raised over the	26:35
	battlefields, and the ghettos,	26:37
	and the concentration camps so we	26:39
	believe in the cross over Golgotha.	26:41
	Feel good?	26:46
	Come to church we'll cure you of it	26:48
	because church is for mourning,	26:51
	and laments, and the singing of dirges.	26:54
	Sunday is for getting together and talking	26:56
	about the terrible things they did to Jesus.	26:59
	Worship is cataloging the terrible things they	27:01
	still do to the poor, and the hungry, and the oppressed.	27:05
	The doleful injustice.	27:09
	Speaking of injustice, have you ever	27:15
	thought about how many of our popular	27:16
	comedians come from the ranks of people	27:19
	who have really known what it is to	27:23
	be on the receiving end of injustice?	27:26
	I'm thinking of the Woody Allens,	27:30
	the Richard Pryors, the Eddie Murphys.	27:31
	Now why do they laugh?	27:34
	In an odd sense they laugh because it hurts.	27:38
	They laugh because sometimes laughter	27:43
	is much more productive than weeping.	27:46
	And then what makes us laugh?	27:53
	A pompous banker struts down the sidewalk,	27:56
	everyone differentially bowing to him as he passes.	27:59
	He slips on a banana peel, we laugh.	28:02
	Whenever the expected ordinary everyday rational	28:06
	is flipped on it's head, and we laugh.	28:10
	(Congregation laughs)	28:14
	I think this may be a...	28:17
	I don't know a peculiarly southern characteristic.	28:20
	I was traveling out in eastern North Carolina	28:24
	a while back and I stopped to fill up my car	28:26
	at a little wayside grocery store.	28:29
	There was some men sitting around there talking.	28:32
	I walked in, one of them said, "Where are you from?"	28:36
	And I said, 'Durham.'	28:39
	"So where do you work?"	28:41
	I said, 'Duke University.'	28:42
	And he said, "Oh."	28:44
	He said, "Yeah, Bubba knows you."	28:46
	I said, 'Bubba?'	28:50
	(Congregation laughing)
	He said, "Yeah, Bubba knows you."	28:51
	I said, 'I'm sorry, I don't know any Bubba.'	28:54
	He said, "Well he knows you."	28:57
	(Congregation laughs)
	He said, "He knows everybody."	29:00
	I said, 'I am sorry but I don't know anyone by that name.'	29:02
	They said, "Well he knows everybody."	29:05
	They said, "We were sitting down here	29:07
	"a couple of months ago.	29:08
	"Bubba was telling us he knew Terry Sanford.	29:09
	"We said, 'You don't know Terry.'	29:11
	"He said, 'I know Terry Sanford.'	29:12
	"He said, 'Give me the phone.'	29:15
	"We brought in the phone in there,	29:15
	"he called up to Washington got Mr. Sanford	29:17
	"on the phone, they talked.	29:20
	"He asked how was Margaret Rose and everything.	29:22
	"They talked a while, he put down the phone.	29:24
	"He said, 'See there, I told you I knew him.'	29:26
	"And we said, 'Well North Carolinas a small state.	29:28
	"'People know each other.'	29:32
	"He said, 'Well I know people outside of	29:33
	"'North Carolina, I know Ronald Reagan.'	29:34
	"I said, 'You don't know Ronald Reagan.'	29:37
	"And he said, 'Give me the phone.'	29:39
	(Congregation laughing)	29:41
	"He called up to the White House.	29:42
	"He said to the operator up there and said,	29:43
	"'Tell President Reagan this is Bubba calling.'"	29:46
	He said, "Next thing we know he was on phone.	29:48
	"He said, 'Yeah, how are you doing?'	29:51
	"He said, 'How is Nancy and all?	29:52
	"'And I saw your son on TV the other night.'	29:54
	"Then they talked, we were astounded.	29:56
	"We say, 'Well you don't know everybody.'	30:00
	"He says, 'I know everybody.'	30:03
	"Said, 'I know people that aren't even in this country.'	30:04
	"Said, 'I know the Pope in Rome.'"	30:07
	They said, "That is ridiculous.	30:09
	"You don't know the Pope in Rome."	30:11
	He said, "I will prove it."	30:14
	He said, "We took up a little collection	30:15
	"right there at the store.	30:18
	"And they sent me and Bubba over to Rome.	30:19
	"We got over to Rome, we took a taxi out to Vatican City.	30:22
	"They sent me out there to check it out."	30:26
	And said, "Bubba walked in there, he looked around,	30:28
	"and went to those ones, people dressed so funny."	30:31
	I said, 'Swiss Guards?'	30:33
	He said, "Yeah, one of them, they talked for a minute.	30:35
	"Next thing I know he went inside the Vatican.	30:36
	"He came back out, Bubba walked right in with him."	30:39
	I said, 'That's unbelievable.'	30:43
	He said, "Well wait."	30:45
	He said, "We waited a while, I stood around	30:46
	"outside in front of Saint Peters.	30:50
	"This big crowd gathered, more people, more people."	30:51
	Said, "Before long the Pope came out on the	30:54
	"balcony to speak and everybody was yelling,	30:57
	"and screaming, and there standing next	31:00
	"to the Pope was Bubba up there waving at everybody."	31:03
	(Congregation laughing)	31:06
	I said, 'That is amazing.'	31:08
	He said, "Just a minute."	31:10
	He said, "I was standing up there looking.	31:12
	"I couldn't believe it."	31:13
	Said, "There was a little Italian guy over there,	31:14
	"was selling postcards, and souvenirs,	31:16
	"and trinkets, and things.	31:19
	"I saw him looking up there on the balcony.	31:20
	"And he said, 'Hey mister, who is that	31:22
	"'man up there in that white suit next to Bubba?'"	31:24
	(Congregation laughing)	31:26
	Now we laugh whenever anything is dislodged	31:30
	that is expected that is predictable.	31:37
	Paul says the cross is the ultimate	31:43
	scandal, the ultimate stumbling block.	31:48
	Folly to some, a great joke.	31:52
	You get this in the Bible when old	32:00
	Abraham and Sarah were very old,	32:03
	the Lord told them that even though	32:06
	they'd never had children they were	32:08
	gonna have their first child.	32:09
	Would be the father of a great nation.	32:11
	And the Bible says that Abraham fell down	32:13
	on his face and laughed.	32:15
	Sarah gave out a toothless laugh as well.	32:17
	But nine months later this octogenarian gave	32:21
	birth to a son and she called his name Isaac,	32:26
	which means in Hebrew, laughter.	32:30
	She laughed all the way from the	32:33
	geriatric ward to the maternity ward.	32:35
	(Congregation laughing)	32:38
	They laughed.	32:41
	They laughed at the surprising way	32:43
	of God to insert himself into history	32:47
	just when we think we got it all figured out,	32:50
	and tied down, and we know the way it works.	32:52
	Evidently God likes nothing better	32:58
	than to pull some joke on us.	33:02
	Oh we think we know how the world works.	33:06
	We have everything figured out, and tied down,	33:11
	and then something mysterious intrudes.	33:13
	The thing is flipped on it's head,	33:16
	knocked out of kilter, and we laugh.	33:17
	What do you do when things are out of kilter in your life?	33:22
	What do you do when you have saved and worked	33:27
	for retirement, and the month after you retire	33:30
	your doctor tells you that you have cancer?	33:35
	What do you do when you dream about	33:39
	that special person you're going to	33:40
	spend the rest of your life with...	33:42
	You get this Dear John, this Dear Jane letter	33:45
	telling you that your dreams are not to be?	33:48
	What do you do in a nation founded on freedom,	33:52
	spending billions every year for the weapons	33:56
	of war and exporting these to other places?	33:59
	Bedding down with tyrannical regimes, what do yo do?	34:03
	You can cry,	34:09
	and tears are okay as far as they go.	34:12
	But sometimes we laugh	34:16
	because laughter is more redemptive than weeping.	34:21
	We laugh because to take it all too seriously	34:26
	would be to take it with a seriousness that would be deadly.	34:31
	I've seen this at funerals.	34:36
	The night before the funeral I'd go over	34:38
	to the house with the family, we're talking.	34:39
	Somebody remembers something Uncle Oscar	34:43
	did up in Chicago when he was up there.	34:45
	Somebody else tells another story.	34:47
	And lo and behold these people are laughing.	34:50
	And I as a minister say, 'Now just a minute.	34:55
	'Lets have a little respect here.'	34:57
	(Congregation laughing)	34:59
	And they say, "Well preacher you didn't know	35:01
	"Uncle Oscar that well, he wouldn't loved this."	35:02
	(Congregation laughing)	35:06
	Laughter liberates.	35:07
	Is that why laughter is always the enemy of	35:09
	tyrants and demagogues of the left or the right?	35:12
	Perhaps you've heard the story,	35:17
	the student he needed to improve his	35:18
	grade point ratio, his coach told him	35:21
	to take this course called Ornithology.	35:23
	He signed up for this course, Ornithology.	35:27
	He got in there and to his surprise it was about	35:30
	birds and they studied the whole semester about birds,	35:32
	migratory habits of the appearance of birds.	35:35
	He came finally to the final exam,	35:40
	he stayed up all night studying for the exam.	35:42
	He walked in the class, the professor	35:44
	handed out the exam, it was a sheet of paper.	35:45
	Nothing on the sheet of paper but	35:49
	pictures of bird's feet and legs,	35:51
	and had up at the top, "Identify these birds."	35:53
	(Congregation laughing)	35:56
	He was disgusted.	35:59
	He stormed up to the desk, he threw	36:00
	the exam at the professor.	36:02
	And he said, "This is the dumbest,	36:03
	"stupidest exam I have ever seen in my life."	36:05
	Professor said, "You impudent.	36:09
	"I'm gonna report you to the Dean.	36:12
	"What is your name?"	36:14
	The student stepped back from the desk	36:16
	and he hiked up his pants to his knees,	36:17
	and he said, "You're so smart, you tell me."	36:20
	(Congregation laughing)	36:23
	Now...	36:25
	Do you understand why...	36:29
	Do you understand why that joke appeared	36:33
	in a text book on better teaching?	36:35
	(Congregation laughing)	36:38
	Laughter deflates and liberates.	36:41
	And I'll tell you you get the same kind of humor in Jesus.	36:46
	Jesus told a story about a rich man,	36:50
	a winner of the Chamber of Commerce's award last year.	36:54
	He had these barns and he filled 'em	36:56
	so full he had to build bigger barns,	36:59
	and he got another award.	37:01
	And he settled down when all of this barns were full,	37:02
	and he said, "Soul take ease.	37:04
	"You've got it made."	37:06
	And the Angel Of Death tapped him on the shoulder	37:09
	and said, "Hello fool."	37:11
	We laugh at the odd way that God	37:16
	sees things differently from the way we see them.	37:22
	That God is not stumped by the things that get us.	37:26
	We laugh and I'll tell you laughter	37:34
	is close to faith, the very source of hope.	37:37
	You already know how Norman Cousins	37:41
	helped himself through a difficult illness by	37:43
	watching old Marx Brothers' movies in his hospital room.	37:45
	He found out that laughter is healing	37:49
	because health is related to hope,	37:55
	and hope springs from humor.	37:56
	Wherein is our hope...	38:01
	Our ultimate hope?	38:04
	Luke tells a story.	38:07
	It was on Easter evening, two disciples trudged	38:10
	their weary way from Jerusalem to Emmaus.	38:15
	They were looking down at their feet,	38:19
	they were depressed, they were downcast.	38:20
	As they walked suddenly they became aware	38:24
	that a third person walked beside them.	38:26
	He said, "Friends why are you looking so down?"	38:29
	They said, "Are you the only person in	38:34
	"Jerusalem who hadn't read the papers?	38:35
	"You don't know the things that went on this past week?"	38:36
	The stranger says, "What things?"	38:40
	They said, "The things concerning	38:42
	"Jesus of Nazareth, a mighty prophet.	38:44
	"And we had hoped that he would be the	38:46
	"one to redeem Israel but the authorities	38:49
	"turned against us, and the Chief Priest	38:54
	"sold out to the government.	38:56
	"And the people were fickle, and it	38:58
	"was a good campaign while it lasted,	38:59
	"but we didn't get him elected.	39:01
	"We're stuck with all of these bumper stickers	39:03
	"and campaign buttons, Jesus for Messiah.	39:05
	"It's over.	39:08
	(Congregation laughing)
	"More over some women came back hysterical	39:11
	"saying that he was gone but, you know, what do they know?"	39:15
	The stranger said, "Oh you, how dull can you be?"	39:20
	That evening when they got to Emmaus	39:26
	the stranger sat down at table with them,	39:29
	and he took bread and he broke the bread.	39:30
	And their eyes were open.	39:34
	And they ran all the way back to Jerusalem,	39:37
	and when they got to Jerusalem they told them,	39:43
	the women were right.	39:45
	He's loose, this thing isn't over, it's just begun.	39:47
	He's loose, God's done it again.	39:52
	And you could hear them laughing	39:55
	when the word got to them, they were laughing	39:57
	in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Sumeria,	39:59
	and all over the world.	40:02
	People who had never had anything	40:03
	in life but tears, laughed.	40:04
	Unseemly impudent laughter at this	40:07
	great cosmic joke God had put over	40:09
	on old Satan on Easter morning.	40:12
	Great death, almighty death sitting	40:16
	on his great thrown looked around and said,	40:20
	"Somebody laugh, I hear laughing.	40:22
	"What's so funny?"	40:25
	Still whenever disciples gather	40:29
	on this day to tell this story of	40:32
	the great joke God put over on death,	40:35
	you can hear them laughing.	40:41
	You can hear them laughing in church, at funerals,	40:44
	in cancer wards, in South African jails	40:48
	you can hear them laughing impudently	40:51
	at what God does in the world.	40:55
	Wasn't long after Easter and some	41:01
	of Jesus's people were gathered in	41:02
	Jerusalem on Pentecost.	41:03
	And somebody passed around the loaf of bread,	41:07
	somebody else passed around the wine,	41:09
	they got to tell stories and laughing.	41:11
	"Wouldn't you have loved to see the	41:15
	"face of Caesar when he got the news.",	41:16
	they said.	41:18
	"Wouldn't you have given anything to	41:20
	"hear what Kaiser had said when he heard about it?"	41:21
	And they laughed, they laughed, it turned raucous.	41:25
	People out in the street heard the commotion.	41:31
	And they said, "Those disciple doing the	41:35
	"same thing they did when Jesus was with them,	41:38
	"they're drunk."	41:41
	(Congregation laughing)
	Peter comes out and with a straight face	41:43
	he says, "We're not drunk it's only 10 a.m.."	41:45
	They were drunk but not with wine,	41:52
	they were drunk with dizzying possibility	41:58
	now that God's power is loose in the world for good.	42:02
	(Congregation laughing)	42:06
	Everything now is up for grabs,	42:08
	the future is wide open cut loose.	42:10
	As Peter told the crowd that day in Jerusalem,	42:13
	"This Jesus you crucified."	42:16
	Because that's the way the world	42:19
	always tries to handle people like him.	42:21
	But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death.	42:25
	Oh Satan, oh death,	42:33
	oh defeat.	42:39
	Who's laughing now?	42:41
	(high-pitched organ music)	42:47
	♪ The strife is o'er, the battle done ♪	43:18
	♪ The victory of life is won ♪	43:27
	♪ The song of triumph has begun ♪	43:34
	♪ Alleluia ♪	43:42
	♪ The powers of death have done their worst ♪	43:50
	♪ But Christ their legions has dispersed ♪	43:58
	♪ Let shouts of holy joy outburst ♪	44:07
	♪ Alleluia ♪	44:16
	♪ The three sad days are quickly sped ♪	44:23
	♪ He rises glorious from the dead ♪	44:31
	♪ All glory to our risen head ♪	44:39
	♪ Alleluia ♪	44:48
	♪ Lord, by the stripes which wounded thee ♪	44:56
	♪ From death's dread sting thy servants free ♪	45:04
	♪ That we may live and sing to thee ♪	45:12
	♪ Alleluia ♪	45:21
-	The Lord be with you.	45:31
Congregation	Also with you.	45:32
-	Let us pray.	45:34
	God of birth, God of joy, God of life,	45:48
	thou hast revealed the power of thy saving love.	45:53
	And once again we proclaim with joy	45:57
	I know that my redeemer liveth.	45:59
	Enlivened by the truth which the empty tomb	46:03
	has laid bare, we lift our prayers unto thee.	46:05
	Fervently praying that the promise of new life,	46:10
	even as we are surrounded by it's beauty this	46:14
	Easter morning may be made manifest throughout the world.	46:17
	Let us pray for all who are forlorn,	46:22
	forsaken, or stricken with grief.	46:25
	Like Mary Magdalene, may they be restored	46:30
	in their laughter and comforted in their	46:33
	sorrow through an encounter with thee.	46:36
	Let us pray for the hungry, and the homeless,	46:40
	the sick, and the dying.	46:43
	Like the Disciples in their time of need,	46:46
	may they be empowered to find hope in the midst of despair.	46:48
	Let us pray for those who are victims	46:54
	of poverty, oppression, violence, or prejudice.	46:56
	Even as Christ was unjustly accused,	47:03
	may they find the strength to persevere	47:06
	in the face of justice.	47:09
	Let us pray for those who are attentive to the	47:13
	needs of others, yet go unnoticed in this busy word.	47:15
	Like the women at the tomb, may they be	47:19
	rewarded for their unassuming acts of love.	47:21
	Let us pray for those--	47:26

-	To know thee, yet question the faith,	0:03
	like Thomas who sought proof of thy resurrection.	0:07
	May they be sustained through their times of doubting,	0:10
	and may they receive reassuring signs	0:14
	of thy presence in their lives.	0:16
	Let us pray for all who hunger and thirst	0:20
	for deeper faith, for clearer discernment,	0:23
	for more abiding love.	0:27
	As the disciples recognized thee in the breaking of bread,	0:30
	may we recognize thy face in the face	0:35
	of all our sisters and brothers,	0:38
	and be drawn ever closer to thee in true community,	0:40
	one with another.	0:44
	Oh thou who didst rise again,	0:47
	arise and live within each of us now.	0:49
	That we may become thy body,	0:52
	that we may be thy feet to walk into the worlds pain,	0:55
	that we may be thy hands to heal,	0:59
	thy heart to break if need be for love of the world,	1:02
	thou risen Christ,	1:07
	make Christ of us all,	1:09
	Amen.	1:12
	As forgiven and reconciled people,	1:17
	let us offer our gifts and ourselves unto God.	1:20
	(people sitting)	1:23
	(operatic singing)	1:50
	(orchestra plays)	1:53
	(choir sings)	3:50
	(grand crescendo)	4:04
	(operatic singing continues)	4:50
	(climactic crescendo)	7:12
	(All Creatures Of Our God And King plays)	10:25
-	Almighty and most merciful God,	11:55
	we give thanks to thee for the light of this Easter morning,	11:58
	and for the news it has revealed to us	12:02
	of the resurrected Christ.	12:04
	We offer now these gifts in praise to thee	12:07
	for the gift of eternal life which we celebrate this day.	12:09
	This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ,	12:14
	who taught us to pray with confidence.	12:17
	(congregation joins)	12:20
	Our Father who art in heaven,	12:21
	hallowed be thy name.	12:24
	Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,	12:25
	on earth as it is in heaven.	12:29
	Give us this day our daily bread,	12:31
	and forgive us our trespasses,	12:34
	as we forgive those who trespass against us.	12:36
	And lead us not into temptation,	12:40
	but deliver us from evil.	12:43
	For thine is the kingdom, the power,	12:45
	and the glory, forever,	12:48
	Amen.	12:50
	(orchestra plays)	12:53
	(choir joins)	13:30
	(climactic finish)	16:22
-	And now may the same power of God	16:50
	that raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead,	16:52
	be with you and abide with you now and always.	16:55
	(choir sings)	17:02
	(organ plays triumphantly)	17:23
	(murmur from congregation)	17:25
	(climactic finish)	23:25
	(applause)	23:40
	(cheers)	23:49
	(murmur from congregation)	24:03

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "The Last Laugh" (April 19, 1987)

Description:

Sermon start time: 23:59. Sermon end time: 42:46.
The preacher contends that sometimes it’s better to laugh than to weep when unexpected hurt happens, because laughter liberates. Showing humor even in hard times presents an attitude of “don’t care”, which doesn’t allow the hardship to have the last word. Likewise, Jesus’ unexpected walk with two disciples on the way to Emmaus is a humorous way of stating that death is not a big deal and has been triumphed over by God. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4sq8qz6m

Date:

April 19, 1987

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Easter

Biblical Book:

Luke

Chapter and Verse:

Luke 24:1-35

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0388
ref8323_ciz
uachapelsermaud
duke:320844
dcrau001350
ark:/87924/r4sq8qz6m
73b0e41f-b9f4-4782-8541-214a0e9c4e92

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "The Last Laugh" (April 19, 1987)

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Duke University Archives