大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Harry Baker

Good Evening.

April fools! It is in fact the morning.

Suitably for a holiday so shrouded in mischief, there are conflicting reports of when and where April fool鈥檚 day began, but setting a day aside for harmless pranks on one鈥檚 neighbour has been surprisingly common in the world historically. My favourite suggestion was that the first ever April Fool鈥檚 day prank was Noah sending out the dove to look for dry land before the flood had subsided, and I am sure that if April Fool鈥檚 day was a thing back on the original Easter Monday it would have given folk like Thomas all the more reason to doubt.

My favourite April Fool鈥檚 day memory is from when me and my brother were teenagers. There were two-for-one vouchers for a theme park on the side of a carton of juice, and we decided we would pretend to try and cut out said vouchers while the carton was still full when my dad walked in the room, and see if he tried to stop us. Sure enough when he entered he asked us what on earth we are doing, and we couldn鈥檛 explain because we were too busy crying with laughter to be able to speak. It was incredibly silly and I am still cannot help smiling thinking about it now.

While making someone the butt of the joke or laughing at their expense can be very cruel, to joke with someone is one of the most generous acts I know. There is an inclusivity in subverting the expectations of society together. There is a trust that you are both on the same page in executing your collective ruse, and there is a palpable relief in revealing that all was perhaps not what it seemed, and don鈥檛 worry things can go back to normal now. Part of what made me and my brother laugh was how much the other was laughing, and my Dad ended up joining in, even if he was perhaps questioning the absolute fools that he had raised.

Dear God, thank you for fun. Thank you for the friends that make us laugh, and for those who are the first people we think of when we want to share a joke. Thank you that playfulness and silliness are another way of finding connection, and we pray that we would be open to that spirit of fun and inclusivity today.

Amen