VALPARAISO, Ind. — The Rev. Jim Wetzstein said there is a humorous side to Scripture and tries to share it with others in a weekly comic strip he created.
Inspiration for the strip, "Agnus Day," comes from each week's gospel reading from the Common Lectionary, which is used by mainline Protestant denominations to lay out the liturgical year.
The comic strip features two sheep, Rick and Ted, who put a whimsical spin on the Sunday reading, according to the Northwest Indiana Times.
"Humor in most church publications is bitter, passive-aggressive humor," said Wetzstein, associate pastor at Valparaiso University. "I'm really interested in using humor in a serious way."
The strip began six years ago when Wetzstein took a cartooning class while serving as pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Gary, Ind. His instructor suggested students show their work to others and Wetzstein thought the church bulletin would be ideal for the comic strip.
After he put his strip online, its popularity soared. Word of mouth and use in a Lutheran Hour Ministries workshop on using media in ministry gained his work worldwide attention.
More than 1,600 subscribers receive the comic each week.
"Since the (lectionary) pattern is pretty universal and global, all churches will be reading the same thing … that makes it possible for someone like me to put out something that is universally relevant," Wetzstein said. "It crosses denomination lines among folks who use the lectionary."
Since the comic has gone global, Wetzstein said he has had to be more careful about including American humor.
"I got an e-mail from Australia that said, ‘What's a homie?'" Wetzstein said. "I'm way more sensitive about Americanisms than I was at the start."
