BBC Sussex Sunday Breakfast 60-second sermon

Yesterday morning, Graham Nicholls contributed a sixty-second sermon as part of the BBC Sussex Sunday Breakfast show. This is what he said:

As I look at the media and simply measure the traffic over the last few days, it appears that life is slowly moving towards what we might call normal. Pictures show packed beaches in Brighton and along the south coast. It doesn’t feel like we are very locked down!

That got me thinking about ‘cheerfulness’ during lockdown and how are we feeling as rules continue to ease. 

I wonder, how has your sense of humour been during these past two months?

As we ease out of lockdown, are you more or less pre-disposed to raising a smile?

A verse in the Book of Proverbs says:

A cheerful heart is good medicine,
    but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Humour is good – when we feel cheerful it tends to make us feel physically better.

But when we are crushed in our spirit, with nothing to laugh about, we feel drained physically – dry and dull and unable to enjoy anything.

So, having and sharing a joke is good. That experience of laughing together with family and friends, not in cruelty or ridicule but with that sense of shared amusement, is a great experience.

We should not underestimate the gift and benefit of good humour. Of course, there are things we should not joke about, but many things about which we can.

Jesus used humour as he told his stories, exaggerating and poking fun to drive the point home.

But this text in Proverbs speaks to a deeper reality: Through Christ, our souls truly are restored and for that we can be continually thankful and joyful. Meditating on the fact that we are truly loved by Jesus opens the way to being able to rejoice always, in all circumstances.

I wonder for you; how are you going to cultivate and express that joy in the coming week with all that is before you? 

Have a great Sunday! God bless….