Word from Wiese

Good Medicine

Good Medicine

Word From Wiese

February 4, 2026

Friends in Faith,

The last several weeks have been pretty heavy. So how about we pause for a smile or two. Or at least a groan orGood Medicine Word From Wiese Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church two.

Monday was Groundhog Day. Honestly, the whole thing is pretty hilarious when you think about it. We place our collective hopes for a six-week weather forecast in the paws of an overgrown rodent popping out of a hole in Pennsylvania? Shadow or no shadow, winter or early spring, sometimes you just have to laugh. And maybe that’s the point.

Three different families gave me joke books as Christmas presents this year. So, you can blame THEM for what follows. Consider this your warning: dad jokes are coming.

  • Why did Noah have to discipline the chickens on the ark? Because they were using fowl
  • What why did the scientist remove her doorbell? She wanted to win the No-bell prize.
  • Why don’t they play cards on the Ark? Because Noah was always standing on the deck.
  • Why did the fisherman work in Hollywood? He was very good at casting.
  • What kind of man was Boaz before he married Ruth? Ruth-less.

Okay. I’ll stop. (Somehow, I hear your groans while I’m writing 2 days before you’re reading!)

But here’s the thing: laughter is not a distraction from faith.

It’s one of God’s quiet gifts. Proverbs tells us, “A cheerful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22). Sometimes what our souls need most, to sustain our energy for serious engagement on a variety of life’s fronts, is a reminder that joy still belongs to us.

Even Jesus used humor, exaggeration, irony, and wordplay to make people stop, smile, and listen. A camel through the eye of a needle? A plank in your eye while pointing out a speck in someone else’s? That’s holy humor doing holy work.

We carry real burdens. We walk through real grief, uncertainty, and fatigue. But a cheerful heart doesn’t deny those realities. It sits beside them and reminds us that we are not alone. God is still good. And grace and joy still get the final word.

So today, may you receive permission to laugh. May you groan at a bad joke and smile anyway. And may God’s joy, quiet or loud, find you right where you are.

Grace and peace to you (and may the Holy Spirit weave another a joke and laugh into your week as good medicine).

In Christ’s hope,

Pastor Fritz

Let us pray: Gracious God, thank you for the gift of laughter. When our days feel heavy, lift our hearts. When our spirits feel tired, give us the good medicine of joy. We place our trust not in groundhog shadows and forecasts, or the worst of headlines, but in you, the One who holds all time, hope, and story endings. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.