Isn’t God the one who urges us to “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord”? Why do we always think that means singing? Seems to me the most obvious joyful sound on earth is laughter… I’ve seen folks quote verses like “Rejoice in the Lord always” while their faces look like they just buried a rich uncle who willed everything to his pregnant guinea pig. Something is missing.
Laughter
Theophane Venard
Be merry, really merry. The life of a true Christian should be a perpetual jubilee, a prelude to the festivals of eternity.
Mark Buchanan
Laughter—just good bone-shaking, belly-jiggling, light-in-the-head laughter, is a sure sign of health. The only one who hates it is Satan and all his wannabes.
Meister Eckhart
When God laughs at the soul and the soul laughs back at God, the persons of the Trinity are begotten. When the Father laughs at the Son and the Son laughs back at the Father, that laughter gives pleasure, that pleasure gives joy, that joy gives love, and that love is the Holy Spirit.
Rick Warren
Psalm 2:4, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs.” Isn’t that a great verse? God has a sense of humor. God laughs! Have you ever seen the face of an orangutan? God thought that one up! That proves he has a sense of humor. Do you want to be more like God? Learn to laugh!
Martin Luther
If you’re not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.
Anne Parrish
What pleasure! What healing is found in sharing a long and hearty laugh with a good friend!
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
There are also many expressions which may provoke a smile: but let it be remembered that every man has his moments when his lighter feelings indulge themselves, and the preacher must be allowed to have the same passions as his fellow-men; and since he lives in the pulpit more than anywhere else, it is but natural that his whole man should be there developed; besides, he is not quite sure about a smile being a sin, and, at any rate, he thinks it less a crime to cause a momentary laughter than a half-hour’s profound slumber.
Henry Ward Beecher
Mirth is God’s medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety – all this rust of life ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth. It is better than emery. Every man ought to rub himself with it.
Martin Luther
It is pleasing to God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.