I keep the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
    my body also rests secure.

You show me the path of life.
    In your presence there is fullness of joy;
    in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

– Psalm 16: 8, 9, 11

Today I want to make the case for laughter and smiling with our faith. I believe they go hand in hand. In describing his mission, Jesus said, “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) Joy and laughter are not the same thing, but I believe they are related.

Solemn Joy?

When Nancy and I got married, our wedding program from Augsburg Publishing House had a picture of interlocking wedding bands along with the line, “the wedding service is an occasion of solemn joy.” I remember wondering what in the world “solemn joy” was. A tempered laugh? A slight smirk on one’s face? A raised eyelid? (I still wonder about it, but I am happy to report that 43 years later our marriage is more joy than solemn.)

It gets right down to basics: is our faith unfailingly serious or is there levity, too? Is there room for exuberant laughter within our faith? I happen to believe that there is lots of room for laughter. In these days of unending stress over the pandemic, with political and racial tensions pulling at us, how great it is to know that we have a God who smiles and a Lord who enjoyed a party. Jesus obviously enjoyed celebrating. We can guess that the wedding at Cana was lively after Jesus turned water into gallons of wine (John 2).  

In my previous congregations we celebrated “Holy Humor Sunday” the week after Easter. It came from the early Greek Christians who, on the day after Easter, celebrated God’s last laugh on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. Those early Christians spent the day picnicking, singing, dancing, joke-telling, and playing practical jokes. They knew the reason to laugh!

For years our worship has ended with the benediction: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine [i.e., SMILE] on you, The Lord lift up his countenance (i.e., SMILE) on you, and give you peace.” We leave fortified for another week-- knowing that our Creator is smiling on us.

So in these tense times I encourage you to laugh… at jokes, at our human foibles, at silliness. For sure there is plenty to be sad about, but knowing that we have a God smiling at us certainly lightens the heaviness we encounter!

– Rolf Olson, Visitation Pastor

Prayer

God of joy, keep us focused on your good news and promises. Jesus paved the way through life’s greatest challenges. Help us to laugh and know that with Him we will, too. Amen.