By Sister Doreen, SSJD
In the Liturgical calendar, Anglican Church of Canada, the beginning of September is marked as ‘the beginning of the season of creation’. The scripture quote: “You are … members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself as the cornerstone.”(Ephesians 2:19b-20) The Message translation paraphrase calls it “this kingdom of faith is now your home country…”
Over the next four weeks I thought that pondering different thoughts about the season of creation would be a helpful journey for our life together, especially as we are surrounded by so many stories of both successes and of failures amid climate change and environmental issues.
I have always thought, when reading the biblical stories of creation, of how God, in joy and laughter, creates and continues to create while over it all rejoicing, again and again, in seeing that it is good, very good! For me this creates a wonderful image of God enjoying the sun, the moon, the stars, the creation and the cosmos … of laughing it all into being with clapping of hands and twinkling of eyes. That laughter of God continues, throughout history and down to today and forever, causing a constantly changing evolution or shift of the pattern or ideas of life. We experience it in ourselves as we grow older, and as we sift through the memories of our life and of our world. God continues to laugh life into being, changing and adapting and in invitation, involving humanity and creation in shaping the cosmos. Creation, all of creation, including ourselves, are part of an ongoing evolution.
This month on September the 8th it is also the story of another beginning, another creation. On the Feast of the Nativity of Saint Mary it is the Foundation Day of our Community, the Sisterhood of Saint John the Divine: 1884 – 2026. Through prayer, planning, and the hard work of a group of people, our first Associates, this Community was launched into being with praise and thanksgiving – and I imagine with laughter and the clapping of hands and the twinkling of eyes God has continued to laugh life into this Community, changing and adapting and inviting all of us over the 142 years in shaping the Community.
Teilhard de Chardin was one of the people that introduced the understanding of Noosphere which refers to the sphere of human thought, viewing it as a growing web of human thought connecting all minds across the planet, and it represents the collective consciousness, knowledge, and intellectual activity of humanity shaping the planet. He thought that only by reaching to the heart of the noosphere, that place where we are still and open to the inner deeper thoughts that need to be pondered, can we hope, and indeed be sure, of finding – all of us together and each of us separately – the fullness of our humanity. De Chardin’s thoughts confirm for me that God laughs, and continues laughing with us to create, change, and renew – God laughs and continually calls us to ‘metanoia’ – a shift to a deeper mindset or way of thinking, to a oneness and love that is beyond anything we know today. Thomas Merton put it in another way “We discover that the ‘kin-dom’ is among us now, and we live as if this were true.” He believed that our job is to maintain this ‘kin-dom’, this connection to the natural world, and to allow it to be our teacher and guide. It is a good place to ponder … the earth, creation and all that is in it are our kin – our relations.
There is a beautiful poem of Hafiz, a beloved poet, in a book called I Heard God Laughing called “LAUGHTER” which highlights wonderfully an entrance into a reflection on the beauty of creation.
What is laughter? What is laughter? Is it God waking up! O it is God waking up!
It is the sun poking its sweet head out from behind a cloud
You have been carrying too long, veiling your eyes and heart.
It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure that is your Real body – called Truth.
It is happiness applauding itself and then taking flight
To embrace everyone and everything in this world.
Laughter is the polestar held in the sky by our Beloved, who eternally says,
‘Yes, dear ones, come this way, come this way toward Me and Love!
Come with your tender mouths moving and your beautiful tongues conducting songs
And with your movements – your magic movements of hands and feet and glands and cells – Dancing!
Know that to God’s Eye, all movement is a Wonderous Language, and Music – such exquisite, wild Music!
O what is laughter, Hafiz? What is this precious love and laughter budding in our hearts?
It is the glorious sound of a soul waking up!
God laughs! We laugh! Laughter, healthy and honest laughter is a non-verbal form of communication that acknowledges that more is going on than meets the eye – that more is happening than what is being captured into words. Pondering laughter, how important it is for healthy lives: releasing tension, lowering anxiety, and we could each add our own healthy benefits of a good deep felt laugh! There is laughter that comes with the incredulity of friction, destruction, tension and even violence – it is a laughter that happens when all that seems real and honest and good clashes before us, and we know deep down that this will not last forever, that this is not the final word, that more is happening that what we see before our eyes. The psalms are full of this – God’s laughter is both upsetting and wonderful. God’s laughter warns cosmic rebels of their impending doom, while reminding those struggling to walk the Jesus way that the best is yet to come. Archbishop Tutu’s comment that ‘Goodness is stronger than evil; Love is stronger than hate; Light is stronger than darkness.’ rings true – in the face of incredulity and amazement at all that is good and all that is broken.
Over and over again, in looking at the psalms, or at scripture Archbishop Tutu’s words ring true. We see that laughter is used to communicate power. One graphic example is psalm 2 where we hear “Why the big noise, nations? Why mean plots, peoples? Earth-leaders push for position, demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks. The God-deniers, the Messiah-defiers: ‘Let’s get free of God! Cast loose from Messiah!’. God breaks out laughing, at first God is amused at their presumption: then God gets good and angry …” (Message Translation). We see all of this destruction, division, power and anger overpowered by the happiest and most comforting sound of God in righteous laughter … God breaks out laughing! God’s laughter communicates that the dark and distressing things are laughably ridiculous! It is God offering a gift – trying to tell us that we can have confidence in partnership with God, that God will handle our greatest possible troubles with us and through us. Surrounded by creation, by nature as we ponder the season of creation … “nature reminds us of the messiness and beauty of things. Nature says that when we let ourselves get messy and play in the dirt, profound things can happen” (Christine Valters Paintner in Earth Our Original Monastery). She goes on to say that we need to be reminded of who we are in relation to everything else: the creatures, the plants, the mountains, the forests, the oceans, one another, and even ourselves.
In our journey through life I think we all find ourselves on a spiritual journey from the laughter of unbelief to the laughter of faith, over and over again, throughout our life. Sometimes our laughter turns to mourning as Proverbs 14:13 reminds us – “Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief” but in the end our confidence in God will indeed be “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh (Luke 6:21). In a real sense, God laughs out loud to quiet our fears! It is as if God says “Look all this is mine and all that is mine is good – it is all evolving, join me! I love you and will never leave you!” Laugh with me!
Joan Chittister in her book For Everything a Season says that “sometimes it is the season for laughter” and she refers to laughter as ‘airing the soul, that breath of the spirit that comes in the irrepressible awareness of the incomprehensible, the impossible, and the disjunctive … it marks the moment when all the rules of life fail and the world does not end … suddenly life is glorious again, anything is possible, and defeat is not forever.”
When reading the psalms, I read them as a critique of my own life at any given moment … when I come just as I am, warts and wrinkles and all into the messages of the psalms I hear Joan Chittister saying yet again: “Most of all, laughter is healthy when we are able to laugh at ourselves, when making a mistake is more a moment of freedom from protocol than it is one of the hidden tragedies of life. When I am laughing at myself, I have crossed the Rubicon of life and given notice that I can risk being mortal and know I shall survive. Laughter liberates and laughter uplifts. When laughter comes into a life, nothing is impossible, nothing is too difficult, nothing can defeat us. We can survive the noonday sun and the darkness of death and the grinding boredom of dailiness and still find life exhilarating. Other things in life change character like chameleons on plaid, but laughter is always ornament, always grace.”
I find it so true that it is laughter that makes the seriousness of life manageable and understandable (not an answer but a deeper understanding). It in its own miraculous way brings the overwhelming down to just my size!
God never laughs to ridicule or make racial slurs or be filled with hatred or bitterness … God laughs and we are to laugh with God to confront and set free, to quiet our fears and help us understand that perfectionism is an illusion, that life is never flawless – and that it is all possible in making goodness the ground on which we walk. It is well to remember that “even in laughter the heart may ache” is a famous quote from Proverbs 14:13. It means that people often use humor or happy moments to hide deep pain, and in the inner silence to wait for healing. Outward joy does not always heal inwardly without space and silence and that inner secret smile of knowing God’s ever presence.
As we remember and give thanks during this season of creation – in de Chardin’s own words “By virtue of the Creation and, still more, of the Incarnation, nothing here below is profane for those who know how see.” God’s presence is in all of creation – this is the great wisdom offered to us by our Laughing God, who invites us to laugh and create, and keep on creating, changing, making new, in partnership!
In the hymn book “Common Praise” of the Anglican Church of Canada, #18:
O Laughing Light, O First born of creation, radiance of glory, light from light begotten, God self-revealing, holy, bright, and blessed: you shine upon us.
Day’s light is fragile; your light is eternal. We look to you, our light within the shadow. We sing to you, Creator, Christ, and Spirit; you shine before us.
Light of the world, O Jesus, you are worthy! Giver of life and Child of God, we praise you! Hear as the universe proclaims you glory! You shine among us.
Yes! Yes! “Arise shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1.