funny spirituality?

Everyone in my family passes along their magazines to me, so I end up with quite the assortment of them. The latest one that I received is called "Body + Soul", and it is by the publishers of Martha Stewart Living. I wasn't overly impressed with the magazine as a whole, but there is one article I haven't been able to get out of my head. It is in the question and answer section.

Question: "I read somewhere that for a spiritual practice to be genuine, it needs to include a measure of humor. Should I really look with suspicion on any religious group that takes things too seriously? It seems they all do. What does humor have to do with tapping into the divine?"

Answer: (I'm going to include the parts that were most interesting to me, and put in caps the really interesting, it is a very long reply. You would probably lose interest)
"I have to agree with the value of humor in matters of spirit. Be wary of people in any walk of life who take themselves too seriously, especially if they profess to know anything about spirituality. SERIOUSNESS IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE SOUND OF ONES EGO CLAPPING - FOR ITSELF.Laughter is the music of the human heart. It offers, perhaps, the single best way for us to open up and get out of our own heads.

Divine inspiration rarely occurs during those moments when you grit your teeth and struggle to get it "right". When we laugh, we loosen our grip on how things "must be", or more accurately how we want them to be. Poking fun at ourselves allows us to step away from our egos.

Personally, I couldn't follow the advice of any group or spiritual teacher who lacked a basic sense of humor. LAUGHTER ENCOURAGES QUESTIONS AND OPENS US TO LEARNING DIFFICULT TRUTHS BY SOFTENING THE PAIN OF OUR OWN SHORTCOMINGS. I CAN'T HELP BUT THINK THAT OVERLY SERIOUS SPIRITUALITY LEADS TO BLIND FAITH - "DON'T QUESTION, JUST FOLLOW". It certainly slows serves to slow down the learning process. And what else does a spiritual path offer, if not the chance to learn."

I assume that both the person who wrote the question and the answer are not Christians, and that is why I find it so interesting. There was a service at our church a few weeks ago, and during it Pastor Glen joked around and poked fun at himself. Later in the day I told Justin that was one of the best services we've had in awhile. I think those few seconds of him joking around lightened the whole atmosphere of the sanctuary and allowed people to let down some of their guards. I think typically our church is very serious. I come from a catholic background, and they are even more serious. Now, I am the first to say that there needs to be a level of seriousness as we worship and come to God. But I also think that we could all lighten up a bit. I don't think church should be a comedy hour, but I don't think the "staged" joke lines in the sermon aren't really "cutting it". And based on this article, it seems that the non-Christians out there are turned away by the seriousness that is portrayed to them. I'd hate for it to be something like that that keeps people from really knowing Jesus.