On this day to celebrate the gift of humour, I hope to convince you, not with solemn argument, but with a demonstration of the power of laughter, that life is just too important to take too seriously, and that we in the church should be the last to take ourselves too seriously. We do, after all, worship a God who doesn’t take us too seriously and who delights in puncturing our pretensions, pricking our pomposity and perforating our pride.