(“I Know What God Is,” Perry Como, YouTube)

A miserable-looking guy is sitting at a bar one evening, intently staring at his drink. He’s been like that for over an hour.

Suddenly this big, trouble-making truck driver walks up to him, takes the guy’s drink from the bar, and drinks it all down in one gulp. The sad guy starts to cry.

The truck driver is a bit off-put by this and says to him, “Come on man, I was only joking. Here, I’ll buy you another drink. I can’t stand to see a grown man cry.”

The sad guy sobs, “No, it’s not that. This is the worst day of my life. First, I fall asleep after the alarm goes off and I’m late for work and my boss fires me. Then when I leave the office, my car was stolen. The cops said there’s nothing they can do. So I have to get a cab home. After it drives off I realize I’ve left my wallet and credit cards in it. So I walk into my house only to find my wife in bed with the mailman. I walked right out and came straight here. And, just when I’m thinking about ending my miserable, sad life, you show up and drink my arsenic.”

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It’s the mystery of life that we celebrate today. Not only Hal’s but each of our lives lived, so very often, within life’s contradictions. Scripture bounces us back and forth between birth/death, planting/harvesting, easily killing/difficult to find healing. And, that’s only Scripture’s first listing, there always seems to be more waiting between the wings of our births and deaths.

The best part of humor is taking the obvious and finding its opposite. It catches people off guard until it sinks in and laughter follows. I’m told that Hal had that gift. And a true gift it is when properly executed. The joke at the beginning, I found on the internet, after ignoring the site that offered “dirty truck driver jokes.”

Hal’s sense of humor may have entertained family and friends but, more importantly, it definitely had to assist him through life’s crying/laughing, grieves and dances.

Beyond a doubt, one of the greatest standup comedians is the one we turn to throughout all of life’s times. It’s not Jerry Seinfeld, it’s Jesus Christ. “A mustard seed becomes the greatest of plants?” (pause for laughter) “My good friend Lazarus is dead?” Yeah, right.

Scripture’s list continues. Time for searching but then faithfully and trust quit searching and live life as fully as you can. That time for keeping? That leads toward those necessary times for letting go.

“Ecclesiastes” was written by the good king Solomon. A man of quick wit. “Song of Songs,” his first act is full of natural sexual urges attempting to describe his relationship to God and his own personal faith. “Wisdom” is his adult scholarly work, full of heavy advice and counsel to show off his intelligence. Act three from the good king is the one we heard this morning where he goes on to say that life is really all about nothing; like Jerry’s TV show. Solomon says that life is “like chasing after wind.” Good luck with that.

People living without this gift of faith have got to be the most boring, stoic folks on the planet. Never, ever recognizing that all those contradictions solely lead to the faith’s anchor, faith’s perspective, and faith’s foundation. All of them provide us believers with those Holy Spirit Gifts of fortitude, patience, wonder, perseverance, and many, many others. That’s no laughing matter. Embracing life’s contradictions is not only living life fully but it is also the fullness of our faith.

Well, it is a laughing matter but it’s life’s serious undergirding. We’d all agree about that when thinking, remembering, and praying about Hal’s life.

The stupidity of the cross is our redeeming salvation? A piece of bread and a sip of wine bring us closer to Jesus, the Christ? A Jew yearning to eat the food of pigs? (Pause for laughter.) How about feeding five thousand men with meager fish and bread? And what about the women and children who went hungry that hot sunny day? (Pause for laughter.)

May God welcome Hal as God has welcomed all of those folly followers who were full of wisdom, insights, and understanding. All anchored in our beautiful Catholic/Christian faith.

Love/hate, war/peace, speaking/and a time to quit speaking. I guess that’s my cue.

(“Pabst Blue Ribbon” jingle, YouTube)