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What has made you smile lately? Got a joke or funny incident you’d care to share with your wider church family? Please send it to The Banner at 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560; or email it to editorial@thebanner.org. Thanks!

On a family vacation many years ago we visited the Hell’s Gate Tram in the Fraser Canyon, British Columbia. Admission was free for children 5 years old and under. As we paid for our tickets, the attendant said to our youngest daughter, Mona, “You’re free!”

“No, I’m not,” she replied promptly, “I’m 4!”

—Joanne Meyles

As my son, Greg, and I listened to a Reformed sermon, the preacher emphasized his point about legalism, saying, “Anything that ends in –i���� is a bad thing.” I leaned over and whispered to Greg, “I guess that includes Calvinism.”

“Yeah,” he whispered back, “and catechism.”

—Bob Loerts

During the church service, we sang a hymn that concluded, “Gladly, the cross I’d bear.” Later my 6-year-old daughter, Kristen, remarked, “I don’t know why we had to sing about a cross-eyed bear.”

—Alma Kramer

Two pastors who were touring Germany together visited a nearby church on Sunday. Because they didn’t understand the German language, they decided to sit behind someone and mimic whatever that person did.  Shortly after the service began, the pastor looked their way and said something, after which the man in front of them stood. The visitors stood too, but when they did so the congregation laughed, and they were terribly embarrassed. After the service, the pastor explained that a new baby had been born, and he had asked the father to stand.

—George Vander Weit

Many years ago all CRC pastors followed the same format in worship services: prayer, singing, Bible reading, sermon, offering, singing, and so on. One Sunday, however, our pastor switched things up a bit. Our family was discussing this over dinner when our 8-year-old son remarked, “Yeah, I didn’t know when to eat my peppermint.”

—Mrs. A. Dykema

Our pastor was preaching a sermon titled “EPIC.” He’d asked one of the seventh-graders to read related Scripture passages on cards with the letters E-P-I-C printed on the back so the congregation would see the visual.

When the pastor called the young man forward to read, the student stood up immediately. However, he remained rooted where he was, occasionally looking down at the floor. Finally, after the pastor called him forward once more, he hobbled to the front of the church. The congregation’s laughter certainly reached EPIC proportions. His younger brother had tied his shoelaces together.

—Irene Brink

My mother loves to travel and often goes on day or weekend trips. One day, while my parents were visiting, we read our family devotions from the book of Genesis. We hadn’t realized how much our children had noticed Grandma’s traveling until our 8-year-old announced, “Grandma has moved more times than Abraham!”

—Sharon Bean

One day I answered the phone at the Light of the World Prayer Center. The salesperson calling asked to speak with the owner. I replied, “You can talk to God anytime!”

—Bev Sterk