Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.
Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.                                                                                                                      Psalm 100

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.                                                                                                                     Philippians 4:4-7
***

We don’t often think of laughter as a part of worship, but one study notes that in healthy, growing churches one of the key factors is laughter in worship

Several years ago the largest survey of worshippers in America was conducted. The survey included growing Presbyterian (USA) churches. Laughter in the worship service was ranked in the top five characteristics of those growing churches!

In this morning’s scripture readings we find joy, rejoicing, reasons for hope, and reasons for laughter!
Psalm 100

• Make a joyful noise!
• Worship the Lord with gladness!
• The Lord is good.
• God’s steadfast love endures forever!

Philippians – The Letter of Joy

• Rejoice in the Lord! Again, I say, rejoice!
• Do not worry about anything instead pray about everything
• God’s peace will guard our hearts and minds

I love writer Anne Lamott’s phrase, “Laughter is carbonated holiness.”

Theologian Karl Barth wrote, “Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.”

Elsa Maxwell, Party giver of the ‘30s, the Hostess with the Mostest, inventor of the scavenger hunt.  “Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can.”

“Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.”  Anonymous

“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.” Woody Allen
Here’s a great definition of laughter – “An interior convulsion, producing a distortion of the features and accompanied by inarticulate noises. It is infectious and, though intermittent, incurable.”

One of the central reasons for laughter as worship is the experience of the living Christ in our midst. Christ’s presence makes the gathering for worship an oasis of joy and hope in a desert of depression and fear. We do not gather to escape the problems of the world or the needs of others, but to refresh ourselves with God’s perspective.
 
As the late Catholic theologian, Karl Rahner, commented: “God laughs the laughter of the divine superiority over all the horrible confusion of history that is full of blood and torture and insanity…”
We see that blood, torture and insanity portrayed before us every day. But we love God and serve others in hope and confidence, knowing that sin, sickness, evil and death do not have the last word. The resurrected Christ has the last word!

Other faith traditions incorporate laughter….
What’s interesting theologically is the way Jewish humor tackles evil and suffering. Jewish humor has a way of embracing "all the world’s pain" and "all the world’s wisdom." The stories exhibit "bottomless despair, the “joy of living,” the “unspeakable misfortune of being,” and also, the pride of being Jewish. (See Adam Biro’s preface in his collection of Jewish stories).

Here’s one of those stories:
Moshe was dying. He was old, very old. He had seen much suffering in his life. Golda, his wife, was seated on the edge of the bed wiping his brow. They had lived more that 70 years together.
"Tell me, Golda, do you remember the horrible atrocities in our village in 1905?

• "Of course I remember. I was with you through all that."

"Do you remember when the Bolsheviks beat me up in 1918? Were you with me then?

• Of course I was with you then, my love."

“Were you with me in the Lemberg ghetto?"

• Of course, my love, I’ve always been with you, always.

Moshe was silent for a moment, then he looked at his loving wife.
" Golda, …I think you were bad luck!”

Male egotism, marital love and the ghastly horrors of Jewish history are all part of this humorous story…. But beneath it all, improbably, is "the joy of being alive.”

Laughter is an unbidden confession that someway, somehow, - in the words of Julian of Norwich, “All will be well, and all will be well and all manner of things will be well.”

It’s revealing that we talk about “gales of laughter, for perhaps we instinctively recognize that laughter belongs to the world of the wind, or SPIRIT…unexpected joy arrives on the gust of a fresh current and carries us to a new place of hope and joy….
Laughter is “carbonated holiness” – part of the life of God…to laugh is to worship the Giver of all Gifts…to laugh is to worship our Creator, who made us with a sense of humor. ((Adapted from Carolyn Arends, “Carbonated Holiness: Laughter is Serious Business,” in the March, 2008, issue of Christianity Today.)

You’ve probably seen the email story going around…..

“One day a little girl asked her mother how the human race began.
The mother answered: 'God made Adam and Eve and they had children,
Two days later the girl asked her father the same question:
'How did the human race begin?'
The father answered:  'Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved.'
The confused girl returned to her mother and said:
'Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Dad said they developed from monkeys?'
The mother answered:  'Well, dear, it is very simple.
I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his.”

I close with a quote from Michael the Archangel …yes, Michael the Archangel!
 "You've got to learn to laugh. It's the way to true love."

(A quote from Michael the Archangel, played by John Travolta in the movie "Michael.")