This is a great deal longer than most of the jokes in this thread, but it’s always tickled me. It’s not making fun of either of the denominations involved; other than the fact that one should be a little more conservative than the other, you could change them both and it wouldn’t effect the punchline.
In a small American town there lived an Episcopalian priest and a Southern Baptist preacher. In spite of their religious differences, they were good friends. The town was so small that there was no need to drive anywhere, and the priest, when he didn’t want to walk, would peddle around on a bicycle.
One day, when the two of them were having lunch together, the priest complained to his friend that his bicycle was missing; clearly, someone had stolen it. It was very upsetting to him, not only because of the inconvenience of not having it, or because of the cost of replacing it, but because he hated to think that one of his own congregation might be the culprit. The preacher listened to him talk, and then made a suggestion. Next Sunday, his friend should preach about the Ten Commandments; and when he got to “Thou shalt not steal” he should really lay it on. He should rain fire and brimstone down from the pulpit, until the guilty party could practically hear the crackling of the hellfire. And when he did that, he should observe his flock; surely, the culprit would go pale, or tremble in fear of the Lord, and then the priest would at least know who it was. In the best case scenario, he might be frightened into honesty, and the priest would find his bicycle returned to him that night.
Well, Episcopalians are not known for their “fire and brimstone” attitude. But the priest was desperate, so he told his friend that he’d give it a try; and when they met again next week, he’d tell him how it went.
A week later, they met for lunch again; and this time, the priest peddled up to the restaurant on his bicycle. The preacher was very pleased, of course, and asked him what happened. Had he been able to identify the thief? Did he turn pale and tremble, as the preacher had predicted?
“Well no,” said the priest, “it didn’t happen exactly like that. I preached about the Ten Commandments, just like you suggested. But when I got to ‘Though shalt not commit adultery,’ I remembered where I’d left my bicycle.”