{"product_id":"a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-a-funeral-paperback","title":"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to a Funeral - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJames a. Auchmuty\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to A Funeral \u003c\/em\u003emay seem inappropriate as the title of a book that talks about deaths and burials. But as a former teacher astutely observed, words have uses rather than meanings. Funny is one of those words. Something may be funny\/ha-ha--amusing, humorous or funny\/odd--unusual, out of the ordinary, even weird. And there are times when a thing is simultaneously funny\/ha ha and funny\/odd.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy experience across more than sixty years of ministry has included all three uses, and that fact began early. Though a Baptist, I began like a Methodist serving a circuit of two rural churches. They referred to me as their pastor, but I was more like what the Air National Guard calls a \"week-end warrior.\" I was a college student in Birmingham, the churches were 120 miles away in Chambers County, and I had no car when the first one called me. One met on first and third Sundays, the other on second and fourth Sundays. On fifth Sundays I went hungry  And to keep things interesting, though the churches were in the same Alabama county, one operated on central time and the other on eastern.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI discovered this pattern applied in ministering to those who were genuinely grieved as well as to those, to put it nicely, \"less emotionally stressed\"; of whom there are many. Moods and happenings have run the gamut from: pious to secular; heart-breaking to funny bone-tickling; sublime to ridiculous; holy to irreverent. \u003cem\u003eA Funny Thing Happened on The Way to A Funeral\u003c\/em\u003e, therefore, seemed most appropriate as a title.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 140\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.3 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 07, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47629152878813,"sku":"9781949888119","price":21.97,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/9867\/8237\/files\/LzAwYjQ4RnRPRFdPZktRbnp6eW8wUT09.webp?v=1773788507","url":"https:\/\/handfulofbooks.com\/products\/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-a-funeral-paperback","provider":"Handful of Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}