Satan fell by the force of gravity

Do you get the pun?  "Gravity" ... get it? No? Sigh!

Oh well, if you don't, it'll sink in at some point.  Here's a clue: "For solemnity flows out of men naturally; but laughter is a leap. It is easy to be heavy, hard to be light.  Satan fell by the force of gravity"

Or perhaps this one? "Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly"

Both quotes from GK Chesterton, someone who would have been completely at home with the blogsphere.

So here's a question: why are Christians so serious?  I mean, it's not as if we should all be comedians, but really, the laughter factor in Christian writing and discourse is pretty poor ... and I'm as much a culprit as anyone.  There are not many who can inveigle a keen wit within serious writing ... Chesterton was one, Kreeft is another.  They both sneak in subtle humour that tickles like a feather just as you're trying to concentrate, turning seriousness into joyfully serious. 

And isn't that what life should be ... at least, life as we were created to be?  Being joyfully serious and seriously joyful?  It's the humour of xkcd, Punch, Zapiro, and Chesterton (google them for yourself).  Its where we laugh about serious issues because "humor can get in under the door while seriousness is still fumbling at the handle" (G.K. again). 

This is the joy of security despite the seriousness of circumstances.  As when I am my sister laughed through our tears while viewing our mothers body, because the funeral parlour had made up her hair in a way she never have dreamed to wear!  And we could do it because we were in the full assurance that our mother had changed her address from the here to the hereafter.

But when we have no assurance, when we feel fragile, as the stress builds, then joy is first to leave the party.

At this time of the year I celebrate my reason for assurance.  "Blessed assurance ..."

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