Mid-Week Message - April 8

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you!

Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

We practiced this response on Sunday morning in worship when we celebrated the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus. But even though students are back in school and most of us are back to work after the long weekend, Easter isn't over yet. In fact, the season of Easter lasts for 50 days, which will take us right through to the celebration of Pentecost (pente = fifty) which will be on May 24 this year. We have seven full weeks to celebrate the resurrection and the promise of new life. (Which is fitting as we only have 40 days in Lent - Easter is the longer season.)

And in many places, the second Sunday in the season of Easter (ie this coming Sunday) is marked as Holy Humour Sunday.

What is humour?  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first definition of humour is: "that quality which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous : a funny or amusing quality."  But what makes something funny? If this were an easy question to answer, then being a stand-up comic would be an easy job! But it is hard to pin down what makes something funny, and what is funny to one person might not be funny to another.

Something that is incongruous or unexpected can be funny. Word play often falls into this definition; as does my favourite joke. (What is green and has wheels?  Grass. I lied about the wheels.)

There is also sometimes a power component to humour.  This is why the advice to comics is to "punch up" rather than to "punch down."  Making someone with more power than you the butt of your joke is funny; it isn't funny to make jokes about someone with less power than you - that is cruel.  This is why the jester can make fun of the king and be met with laughter rather than repercussions; whereas if the king lashes out at the jester, he is being mean.

So why Holy Humour Sunday?  Easter is the ultimate example of the unexpected or incongruous.  Jesus died.  Dead people stay dead.  But instead the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive again.  The whole idea of Easter is ridiculous!

And at the same time, Easter gives us the power to reverse those power structures - death is no longer the ultimate authority and no longer holds power over us.  We can laugh at death, and we can laugh at Satan, because of Easter.

And so we celebrate Holy Humour Sunday on the second Sunday in the season of Easter.  We celebrate the ridiculous, ludicrous, unexpected fact of the resurrection which flips the world order on its head.

This year, for Holy Humour Sunday, I have a couple of things that I invite you contribute to the service.

1)  For the Story for All Ages, I invite you to bring your favourite "church-appropriate" joke to share with the congregation.  (And by church-appropriate, I mean not cruel. Not a joke that makes fun of someone or a group of people.)

2)  For the sermon, I am reversing the power structure.  Normally I choose what I talk about, but this week you, the congregation, get to decide what I will talk about.  I invite you to bring all of your questions on Sunday - all of the things that you are curious about, or that you want my opinion on. These might be questions about the church, questions about my own faith, deep theological ponderings, or the hardest question of all, what is my favourite hymn or bible passage!

Moving on to announcements this week:

• Worship on Sunday will be at 9:15 at Long Reach and 11:15 at Westfield and on Facebook Live.  As I mentioned above, we are celebrating Holy Humour Sunday, and since I have no idea what I will be talking about, I can't give you any previews of the sermon!

• Harvest Garden Clean-up - The annual garden clean-up at Westfield United will be happening this Saturday, April 11, from 10-12.  (Watch the forecast - in case of messy weather, the rain day will be the following Saturday, April 18. If you are uncertain, you can check out the Harvest Garden page.)

• Student Minister Steve's Last Sunday - this Sunday will be the last Sunday that we will have Steve as our student minister, as the university terms ends next week.  I invite you to offer Steve your best wishes on Sunday as he leaves us and continues on his journey towards ministry.  (It won't be the last that we see of him around Two Rivers though, as Session has invited him to offer Pulpit Supply on a couple of Sundays when I will be away this spring.)

• Watercolour Workshop - This workshop is going to be a fundraiser for the Harvest Garden, to help them to buy soil and seeds (and deer deterrents!).  It will be held on Saturday April 18 in the St. Giles Room from 10-12 and will be led by talented local artist, Christopher Marson.  The cost is $35, and for more information or to register, you can contact Cathy T.  Her contact information, as well as some examples of Christopher Marson's art, can be found on the poster which you can see by clicking here.  (Please note that I spotted two typos on the poster - the workshop is on April 18, not May 18; and the second phone number should start with 217 and not 317.) You can also see more of Christopher Marson's art on his website.

• Needs Assessment - a reminder that we are completing a Needs Assessment to determine what the needs of our congregation are - how are we churching well, and how might we be churching better.  You can click here to complete the survey online, or paper copies will be available soon at all of our churches.

• Youth At Region - there is going to be a Regional Youth Gathering in Sackville on June 5-7.  This is a fabulous opportunity for youth between grade 6 and grade 12 to get together to build their faith, to build friendships, and get to know United Church youth from New Brunswick and PEI.  (The Home Mission Council usually covers most of the cost for youth attending from the Saint John area.) For more information or to register, you can click here; or reach out to our Regional Youth Minister, Catherine Stuart, at cstuart@united-church.ca. Our Two Rivers Youth who have attended in the past have always had a blast!  (And there is also a need for leaders, so if you are interested, you can reach out to Catherine.)

• Collective 2026: (em)brace for Impact - there is also going to be a national gathering this year for youth and young adults, held on August 12-15 in St. Catherines, Ontario. (Natalie Parish, from Westfield United, has attended the last couple of national gatherings - she spoke about her experiences there to our congregations a couple of years ago during the sermon time.)  There are two streams - one for youth ages 14-18, and the other for young adults ages 19-25 (and again there is a need for leaders!). There will be a bus traveling from the Maritimes to this event to assist with transportation.  For more information, you can go to the event website by clicking here.  I will echo Natalie's encouragement to go, or to encourage the young people in your life to go!

• Breaking the Silence Delegation to Guatemala - this week I learned that there is going to be a delegation going to Guatemala from November 7-20, 2026, and applications are now open to be a part of this.  Ida and Dave McPherson were very involved in Breaking the Silence, as was Rev. Elizabeth - this is a network of people across the Maritimes that support the efforts of Guatemalans struggling for political, social, and economic justice. For more information about the organization, you can visit their website by clicking here; and for more information about the delegation and to apply to be a part of it, you can click here.  (A personal note - I had the opportunity to be part of a number of international solidarity trips through my home church - to El Salvador, Rwanda, Ecuador, and Zambia - and they were all foundational to shaping my faith. If the idea is at all interesting to you, I strongly encourage you to look into it and apply!)

• Vacation - finally, I am going to be on vacation for two weeks from April 13-26. Session has arranged for pulpit supply on the two Sundays that I will be away, and for any pastoral emergencies, you can call Margaret Stackhouse at 506-xxx-xxxx and she will connect you with the minister who is covering.  (Vacation also means that there won't be another of these mid-week messages until the end of the month.)

Thank You Corner - this week's "thank you" goes out to everyone who made our Easter morning potluck breakfast such a success.  It was cold and wet and windy as we gathered at Brundage Point for our sunrise service (the sun was very definitely hidden by the clouds this year), but while we were celebrating the empty tomb, a crew was hard at work back at the church - Julius, Paula, Claude, and Doug - making sure that the coffee and tea were hot, and making waffles, pancakes, and sausages to welcome us back to the church with.  Thank you to you, and thank you to everyone who bought such delicious additions to the breakfast!

For a closing thought this week, let me share a couple of links to some Easter music.  First of all, "Alleluia" by Eric Whitacre - this was once described to me as an alleluia for the quiet times, the times that don't require trumpets. You can listen by clicking here.  And the second one is more... unexpected! (And possibly Holy Humour related.) Tubthumping by Chumbawamba - "I get knocked down / but I get up again / You're never gonna keep me down!" You can listen by clicking here.

Blessings to you and yours, today and always! Kate

Rev. Kate Jones Two Rivers Pastoral Charge (506) 757-2201 (office) (506) 343-1307 (mobile) www.tworiverspastoralcharge.com Pronouns:  she/her/hers "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: "You must love your neighbour as you love yourself." (Matthew 22:36-39)