‘I haven’t seen you in a while ...’

Last week, a good friend of the Baptist brand invited me to a comedy show at her church on Saturday night.

Yes, you read that right: a comedy show at a church.

To add to the unexpectedness of the night, the church pastor was the opening act.

Yes, you read that right, too: the pastor was the opening act of a comedy show in a church.

And honestly, he had us giggling. Amen!

What also had my friend and I giggling that night on the way home was Wanda W., according to the greeter name tag she was proudly bearing and carrying out the task of name tag’s purpose.

I hadn’t been in this particular Baptist Church since the wedding of my friend’s daughter. As a matter of fact, it was 11 years ago when I was last there, and I happened to not only be a guest, but I doubled as the photographer for the joyous occasion. I even remember a few tears welling the bottoms of my eyes as my friend – a single mom of now two-grown children – escorted her daughter down the aisle. As a friend, I knew what it all took leading up to that moment.

But my step inside First Baptist Church this time was for very different reasons: the simple reasons of laughter and fellowship.

And Wanda W. was there to welcome us to a night of just that.

“Welcome,” she said, extending her hand. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

It’s no wonder she “hadn’t seen me in a while,” because as far as I could reckon, we’d never met until that moment.

“Uhhhh, I don’t think I know you, Wanda W.,” I responded, keying in on her name tag.

The next morning, Lutheran Church Ladies 2.0 and I were on coffee detail. Together, we sign up once a month for the job, and after more than a year, we’re a well-oiled machine. Michele gets started on the set-up of things. I head to Sunshine to pick up the 12-dozen doughtnut balls. Jo (wo)mans the “welcome center” as the worship coordinator, and Sharon, if she’s not in the video booth pushing the button for the slides, usually joins us in the pew just as the church bell is being rung. Surprisinginly so, on this particular Sunday, she arrived earlier than normal. And so, with a bit of time before the bell would be summoning us, the Church Ladies 2.0 got to giggling – as we often do. It didn’t take long for organist Ben to let us know that he could hear us “all the way down the hall.”

“God loves laughter,” I quipped.

Just ask the Baptists.