Michael Rosen says that ‘Anxiety, surprise, absurdity and language-play all offer us a rich source for humour’. Anxiety, surprise, absurdity and language-play: we find each of these in the story of Sarah: The anxiety of being told to leave the place where you’ve lived your whole life, to start a journey to some unknown land, however flowing with milk and honey it was promised to be. The surprise - and that’s an understatement - of being told that after a lifetime of carrying nothing but the shame of barrenness, she would bear a child.  The absurdity of falling pregnant in her nineties to a husband turning 100. And the language-play: ‘God has brought laughter for me’. That’s funny from Sarah, it’s a beautiful joke, naming her child laughter, remembering how she first laughed cynically at God’s promise, and now she found herself giggling, chortling, joyfully dancing with glee, at that absurd promise having been fulfilled. It is God’s delight to bring laughter - to those least expecting it.

A talk for the Second Sunday after Trinity, 18 June 2023.

Find the text to this and all my talks at ⁠bit.ly/johndavies-talks⁠.