does god have a sense of humor?

my sister, my husband, and i went to san diego over easter weekend to visit my parents. catholics at easter time, as you can imagine, go to church a dang lot in the days leading up to easter sunday. (or maybe you can't imagine, because maybe you don't understand the whole easter mystery stuff, blah blah blah. suffice to say, there is a lot of church-going going on.) anyway. so we're at the good friday service which (totally didn't know this, but) centers around the Seven Last Words of Christ -- or, the seven last things he said before he died on the cross. so, this mass on good friday isn't your typical mass: readings, homily, communion, etc. THIS mass is just going to be a series of people reflecting on these seven last words and how they apply to their lives today. okay. i can appreciate the message; i can appreciate how they are trying to keep it "real" and keep the message for "today's" catholic and all that. so, the people all say their thing, okay, it's pretty okay. and that's it; that's the whole service BUT they have to end with music. every church gathering is not complete without music, right? so this duo, these older men (who were totally gay) playing electric acoustic guitar and keyboard, start singing their final song. "the seven last words of christ...before he made the fin-al SACrifice..." it's something akin to a chicago or a jefferson starship song, and they are SO into it, and they've got the fake strings (violins and the whole nine yards) playing with the electronic keyboard, and they are singing like it's the American Idol finals, and it is cheeseTASTIC. and. it. is. SOOO. hard. to keep from BUSTING out laughing. i am VERY studiously looking down at my hymnal to avoid eye contact with my husband, because we are grown adults and are surely beyond laughing in church.

and i think to myself, does god think this is funny? like, if god were a friend that i could call when i got home, could i say, "OMG, god, they had this TERRIBLE music at church today," and when i told him about it, would he pee his pants laughing, or would he just shake his head disapprovingly? i really hope he'd think it's funny. now, okay, those guys were feeling it, man, they were giving their all in god's name. so maybe in their fervor they didn't realize they were a little bit ridiculous. i guess you can't laugh at someone who's totally idolizing you, so maybe god wouldn't laugh after all. i'm actually reading this book by christopher moore right now called "lamb: the gospel according to biff, christ's childhood pal." and it's the story of jesus christ as a kid and teenager, and it shows him as just those things -- just a kid, just a teenager, before he becomes the Redeemer, and the Christ. it's funny, and interesting. interesting point of view.

i bet joshua (as they called j.c. in the book) would think those guys were funny.