There’s a lot of similarity between comedy and ministry. Both require viewing the world from a skewed perspective. Both require a love of words and a love of people. Both end with the letter “Y.”
Instead of raving on and on about the class and the uber-interesting people I met, I’m blogging this list of a few things I discovered in the past seven days.
I still have a tendency to be an anxious talker. Despite the fact that I spent months of a Clinical Pastoral Education Hospital Internship learning how to be silent and preset to a stressful situation. So- hospital room – I’m good. But put me in a new environment like a comedy class where I feel way over my head – I start yapping like a toy poodle in a crate of squirrels.
Good news! I’m not as smart as I think I am and I’m also not as dumb as I think I am. Somehow in the mix of chaos and order that makes up Jen - the balance seems just right. This isn’t to say I don’t wish I were smarter. It is just to say that I believe I can work with what I’ve got.
The best comedy writing is crisp and active. Some letters sounds are funnier than others. I wonder if the other letters are jealous.
I’ll never be twenty-one again. This wasn’t really a new discovery – it was more of a delightful reminder. Mourning for my lost youth and young adulthood is pointless and I’m so much more myself now than I ever was back then. I do however mourn for my lost muscle tone and dress size.
I am a pastor and a mommy at all times. Even with the occasional “human foible” of an unguarded comment- I still wear the mantle of clergy – just as I wear the mantel of mommy. It was second nature for me to sit with someone who was in need of a listening ear or encouragement just as it was for me to put my hand out to take the trash from a classmate to throw it away. Thank God she didn’t have gum in her mouth. Yes, I would have taken it in my bare hand. Ick.
And I learned how to write jokes like this one:
A large South Carolina funeral home, complete with two viewing rooms and a crematorium just added a Starbucks. People, what ever you do - do NOT assume that the pot on the counter is non-dairy creamer.
Totally. Worth. It.