We Christians need to learn how to laugh

Fr Noel Connolly SSC

Pope Francis has introduced us to a number of “new” words: “mercy”, “tenderness”, “warmth”, “conversation”, “dialogue”, “pilgrim”, “discernment”, “synodal”, “joy” and “beauty”. On the 9th August, he introduced another word, “noisy”. During his General Audience, he told two groups of sisters, “Be always joyful, and even . . . noisy!” and he encouraged them to “witness everywhere the beauty of your consecration to God and to the Gospel.”

This has been a constant theme for Francis. In the Joy of the Gospel  he tells us that you cannot argue someone into believing because “only the beauty of God can attract” [EG #15]. He questions what kind of  missionary disciples we will be if we are Christians who look like “Lent without Easter” #6, or people “who have just come back from a funeral” #10? We must live the Gospel in a free and happy way for it to be credible. Frederick Nietzsche once wrote that for him to believe in Christ as the Redeemer, “his disciples would need to look more redeemed”. If our faces and lives are not suggestive of joy, beauty, tenderness and freedom then we can hardly blame our secular brothers and sisters for thinking there is nothing in Christianity, certainly nothing attractive and joyful.

This is particularly true in Australia. Many Australians are easy going larrikins. We appreciate the glint in Shane Warne’s eye and admire Ned Kelly’s “criminal” bravado. Traditionally we are egalitarian, anti-authoritarian, self-reliant, critical of fun-denying wowsers and suspicious of preachers with all the answers. We like religion with its “sleeves rolled up” and practical religious leaders who share our lot, like Mary MacKillop, the SVdP and the Salvos. Unfortunately, the Churches have too often been moralistic, sectarian, doctrinal and serious. We Christians need to learn to laugh and present a happy but relevant face.

Australia has never been a particularly religious nation and some have called us the most secular nation on earth, but that is debatable. We have an Australian way of being religious. Manning Clark described our approach as, “A whisper in the mind and a shy hope in the heart.” There is a great reluctance in Australians to talk about religion and spirituality and a distaste for extravagant display. Interestingly John Thornhill in his book Making Australia (1992) entitled his chapter on religion The Embarrassing Subject.

However, that does not mean we are irreligious. There is an inarticulateness about Australian spirituality and a silence before mystery. Theologians like John Thornhill, Tony Kelly and Ross Langmead believe this suggests not a lack of spiritual depth but a silence that reveals wisdom. We don’t have the tools to express what we have experienced because of our isolation, our brutal early history, our guilt before the aborigines and our struggles with a harsh, raw land and climate. But many Australians still have the whisper in their minds and the shy hope in their hearts. How can we learn to live and speak about Jesus in an understandable and attractive Australian way?

One strong trend in Australian culture that has helped us cope with heartbreak and tragedy has been humour. We have an exceptional ability to laugh at ourselves and “take the mickey” out of the over-serious and the pompous. Even in our iconic tragedy, the inevitable defeat at Anzac Cove, the ANZACs used irreverence and humour to face the hopelessness of their situation.

We will be much more credible when we have learnt to speak of the beauty and suffering we have found in our own lives in a friendly, humble, appreciative and light hearted way. And especially when we “look more redeemed” and have learnt to laugh.

Fr Noel Connolly SSC is a member of the Columban Mission Institute in North Sydney and a lecturer in Missiology at both the Broken Bay Institute and the Catholic Institute of Sydney.

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