I love stand-up comedy. I love the art and the grind. I wish that I could do it. I have a little theory that goes like this.
Microphone
Photo courtesy of Jason Valendy
Preachers want to be a comics (to be funny).
Comics want to be musicians (to be cool).
Musicians want to be activists (to be influential).
Activist want to be preachers (to be meaningful).
Many preachers desire the comic’s ability to be funny, but there is something the comic has that the preacher does not have. It is not timing, impressions, or a two drink minimum. It is freedom.
Comics have the freedom to say just about whatever they want, however they want and in whatever formats they want. If the comic has a joke they can build the bit into a segment of the set or they can tweet it out and move along. They can use just about any word they want to, so much so that sometimes a comic has to say the are a “clean” comic just to address that they will not use some words or touch some topics. Comics can roast people, deliver self-deprecation, deal with hecklers, proclaim they have cancer, and even quit comedy all on stage. Comics have a freedom and that is what facilitates the funny.
Ironically, Christian preachers proclaim a freedom in Christ but as restricted on what they can and cannot say. It is not just that certain words (cuss) and phrases (vulgar) are off the table, but also topics (partisan politics) and contexts (bar) are out of line. I once saw a preacher step up to the pulpit, crack open a beer, did not drink it and then preach. At the end of the sermon the preacher said, “I am guessing there are more people here scandalized that I opened a beer than by the number of innocent people who died due to bombs made by our tax dollars.”
What the preacher lacks in freedom, the preacher makes up for with authority. The preacher’s authority is a direct result of lacking freedom. Conversely, the comic lives under such a tyranny of freedom that people do not take them seriously - even when they have something meaningful to say. Comics have freedom and lack authority, preachers have authority and lack freedom.
This tradeoff is not limited to preachers and comics but also has implications for societies and cultures. One could imagine a culture that puts authority as the highest virtue just as easily as one could imagine a culture that puts individual freedom as the highest virtue. In the U.S.A. we continue to put individual freedom on a pedestal (idol?).
If being a preacher has taught me anything it is that when I (we) lack restraint of any kind, I (we) lose any authority to speak change in the world and I (we) become a laughing stock.
For all the things that we reflect and hope for the new year, perhaps the freedom/authority trade off is worth considering as an individual and as a nation.
Valendy Thumb
Rev. Jason Valendy
The Rev. Jason Valendy, along with his wife the Rev. Estee Valendy, serves as co-pastor of Saginaw United Methodist Church in Saginaw, Texas. This post is republished with permission from his blog, JasonValendy.net.