On another occasion shortly after I had gone into ministry my former pastor was in my congregation one Sunday morning. Everybody was conscious of his presence. So I told the story of the man in heaven that asked an angel if he could tell his story about the time he had been in a village that was washed away in a flood. The angel organised a group who would listen to the man tell his tale. Just as he was about to begin speaking the angel whispered in his ear "by the way Noah is in the audience." I told the congregation that I could understand how that man must have felt, as I was about to preach in the presence of my former pastor. I believe this enabled us to set aside the distraction of his presence. I then welcomed him as a friend and mentor.

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Some of us will have heard preachers' malapropisms 14 and spoonerisms 15 where the blundering misapplication of a word or phrase sounds somewhat like the one intended but is ludicrously wrong in the context or the transposition of the sounds of words with comic effect. Some are smutty and unworthy of repetition. Paul warned the Ephesians about such talk 'Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place...' (Eph.5: 4). One preacher, whom I know, in the course of a sermon, meant to say 'the bottom fell out of his world'. But what he actually said was 'the world fell out of his bottom'. There is always the danger of unwittingly saying something amusing with the unintentional and unfortunate result of detracting from the message. That, however, is quite a different matter.

I am aware of a minister who was preaching on a passage of scripture that had a long list of names. He intended to show that there are gems among the genealogies and if they are polished they sparkle like jewels. Such passages contain names that most people find difficult to pronounce. So before commencing to read he told the story of the young man who worked in a newsroom as an assistant. His job involved fetching and carrying and delivering messages but he had an ambition to be a newsreader. There was an outbreak of laryngitis and this presented the young man with the opportunity he had dreamed of. The head of broadcasting asked if he would go on air and read the news, live. The young man was thrilled and just as he was about to go on air he was handed a piece of paper saying that the President of Moldova had been assassinated. He looked at the President's name in despair. It was one of those 'Eastern European' names all X's and Y' and Z's, completely unpronounceable.16 What was he to do? Suddenly he was on air. He read "the President of Moldova has been assassinated, his name (pause) is being withheld pending notification of next of kin."

There was hearty laughter and after a moment he proceeded to read the verses to the best of his ability and when he finished he asked the congregation 'what would you make of that in your quiet times?' Again there was a ripple of merriment. Did he use humor inappropriately? I don't believe he did. I think he helped people to appreciate the text and the sermon went on to prove that 'All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness' (2 Tim.3: 16).