Apr 16, 2006 - 02:07:27 CDT
On Easter Sunday, churches are packed. But on the Sunday after Easter, attendance often drops drastically.In fact, the Sunday after Easter has traditionally been called "Low Sunday," said the Rev. Jake Kincaid, senior pastor at Bismarck's First Presbyterian Church.
That's not how it was in ancient times. Early Christians might celebrate Easter all the way through to Pentecost, 50 days, said Cal Samra of Portage, Mich., founder of the Fellowship of Merry Christians.
For churches facing the Sunday-after-Easter slump, reviving the old Greek custom of "Holy Humor Sunday" or "Bright Sunday" for that day has been a great success, said Samra, who has edited the Merry Christians' publication, "The Joyful Noiseletter," for 21 years.
This revived tradition is new enough that Kincaid said he had not been aware of it here, but that it might be an effort to overcome that "Low Sunday" designation.
On Easter Monday, or Bright Monday, Christians in earlier centuries would take the entire day to picnic and dance, sing and play practical jokes," with the idea that we celebrate the new life we have in Christ," said the Rev. Karl R. Kraft, senior pastor at Manta United Methodist Church in Manta, N.J., which this year will celebrate its 11th consecutive Holy Humor Sunday on April 23.
Today, "we've lost a lot of joy, lost a lot of humor,"Samra said.
The Fellowship of Merry Christians wants to restore more celebration to the resurrection: "It can't go just one Sunday," Samra said, "Good Friday is enormously important, but it's not the end of the story."
The Fellowship of Merry Christians have discovered that holy humor is a powerful healing, bridge-building, peacemaking and evangelistic tool, Samra said.
A former newspaperman, Samra experienced health problems in the late 1970s, which led to a deep depression. It got bad enough that Samra went out in the Arizona desert, where he found himself sitting behind a saguaro, wondering how to hang himself from a cactus, "which can't be done," he said.
While there, he got involved with an interdenominational prayer group. They were people with keen senses of humor, full of faith, he said. There his faith was rekindled.
"I realized how important faith and humor are. I recovered, pretty dramatically," he said.
Samra then wrote a book, "The Joyful Christ:The Healing Power of Humor," which sold 60,000 or 70,000 copies, he said.
A lot of pastors wrote him as a result of that book. So "The Joyful Noiseletter" was born, including contributions from cartoonists such as Bil Keane of "Family Circus" and Johnny Hart of "B.C."
"Humor is an expression of joy. From our standpoint, we have a joyful Messiah," Samra said. Easter joy is God's last laugh on the devil, he said.
Holy Humor or Bright Sunday is important on two levels, Samra said. One is theological, emphasizing the joy that Christians feel about the resurrection. The other is to bring a real "experiential" joy into the church, he said. Balloons decorate the sanctuary, joyful songs are sung, people wear their clothes inside out, "anything to connect with the joy of the resurrection," Samra said.
"One of the aspects of my ministry is to build a kind of joy into the worship service," Kraft said. On Holy Humor Sunday, lay people put together a creative, funny video, he said. One year it was a spoof on "Survivor;" another it was "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" but it always winds up with a message that is about Christ, he said.
"We are careful to explain this in advance to the congregation," Kraft said. "Some think this style is inappropriate. On the other hand, there are those who come specifically for this, and can't wait until next year."
Another congregation that has had huge success with Bright Sunday is First Presbyterian Church of Winter Haven, Fla.
This will be the church's eighth an nual Bright Sunday celebration, said associate pastor, the Rev. C. Alan Harvey, who is a member of the Fellowship of Merry Christians.
"Over time, we have seen that our attendance, which is normally sizably reduced on the Sunday after Easter, has been steadily climbing," said Harvey, who started the tradition in his previous church in Virginia, then brought it with him to Florida.
About five years ago, the church adopted the butterfly, a Christian symbol of the resurrection, as a Bright Sunday symbol.
That day, the sanctuary is filled with butterflies made of paper and wood, fiber-optic butterflies on garlands, hanging on the stained glass windows and on the lintels of the doors. Butterfly kites hang inside and out, along with butterfly mobiles and wreaths. Harvey even made white paraments with a smiley face and the words "Rejoice" underneath, he said.
Each year children compete to design that Sunday's bulletin cover. The only requirement is that the artwork must contain a butterfly, Harvey said. People dress in their brightest clothes, from Hawaiian shirts to loud plaid sports coats. One year the women's group encouraged each other to wear hats, Harvey said.
One year Harvey rented a bubble machine and, during the children's sermon, taught a camp song, "Jesus' Love is a-Bubblin' Over" and started the bubble machine from the choir loft. The children just loved it, he said.
People also have been invited to bring a flower to adorn a wooden cross and transform it into a glorious floral symbol of the resurrection, Harvey said.
The Bright Sunday sermon emphasizes "the Christian faith is a joyful faith," and includes humorous stories or jokes, "not to lighten the scriptures, but to reaffirm we serve a joyful God," Harvey said.
"At the conclusion of the service, we go out to the courtyard and we allow those who have lost a loved one since the last Bright Sunday, to release a live butterfly in their memory, and (others) in memory of church members who may not have family present," he said. "It's very poignant." As the butterflies are released, the members sing the hymn "I'll Fly Away."
"People have said it means so much to them to release that butterfly," Harvey said. "They enjoy the stories and leave feeling good. It's just a wonderful Sunday."
(Reach Karen Herzog at 250-8267 or karen.herzog@;bismarcktribune.com. For more information on the Fellowship of Merry Christians, visit joyfulnoiseletter.com, send an e-mail to JoyfulNZ@;aol.com or write to FMC, Box 895, Portage, Mich. 49081-0895.)
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