The Restory Retreat Centre

  Humour Is Part Of It The Conversation Elements From The Conversation An example of Jewish humour.  And South African humour.  Music It's amazing, the power you have!  As always, with our love.  George & Matilda

Oupa Frans, December 2013 - Photograph by Matilda Within the context that Matilda sketched in her post Waiting for heaven is hell , last Wednesday was exceptionally challenging. It was a day filled to the brim with doctors’ appointments and visits to potential care facilities for Oupa Frans. Being out of his usual routine makes him even more agitated than usual. He tends to slump when sitting on a chair, to such an extent that his head is sometimes almost between his ankles. At the GP and during the interview at the retirement village, we had to help him sit up straight and then had to physically keep him in that upright position. The pit stop over lunch at friends’ house was arranged so that he could rest for a while. Nothing came of it because left alone in the bedroom he started undressing himself in an effort to get rid of the catheter. He constantly carries a harmonica, an early birthday present from Juanita, Matilda’s sister, in the upper pocket of his shirt. He...

I don’t know why we haven’t written on humour and laughter before. I really don’t. It’s not as if we share the viewpoint of those who think that God and religion is no laughing matter and should only to be discussed and experienced in an atmosphere of dead seriousness. How dead it usually ends up to be is really a serious matter. More sad than serious but nevertheless. Not for a moment are we suggesting that these are subjects to be ridiculed – they are too important for us. But from experience we do know that in order to come to terms with the serious it is helpful and sometimes even necessary to follow the route of humour. Quite often wisdom and guidance are wrapped in laughter and it may be necessary to look at the lighter side of things in order to touch the deep. Creation is filled to the brim with things that hint on a playful God. There are so many elements in the stories and lives of the people of the Old Testament and in the parables of Jesus that can only be r...