Posts Tagged: "Laughter"

Laughter And The Bible

- - Life With God, Uncategorized

Frederick Buechner, in his book Peculiar Treasures, writes:

Quantitatively speaking, you don’t find all that much laughter in the Bible, but, qualitatively, there’s nothing quite like it to be found anywhere else. There are a couple of chapters in the book of Genesis that positively shake with it. Sarah was never going to see ninety again, and Abraham had already hit one hundred, and when the angel told them that the stork was on its way at last, they both of them almost collapsed. Abraham laughed “till he fell on his face” (Genesis 17:17), and Sarah stood cackling behind the tent door so the angel wouldn’t think she was being rude as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

When the baby finally came, they even called him “Laughter”—which is what Isaac means in Hebrew—because obviously no other name would do.

Laughter gets mixed up with all sorts of things in the Bible and in the world too, things like sneering, irony, making fun of, and beating the competition hollow. It also gets mixed up with things like comedians and slipping on banana peels and having the soles of your feet tickled. There are times when you laugh to keep from crying, like when the old wino staggers home in a party hat, or even in the midst of crying, like when Charlie Chaplin boils his shoe for supper because he’s starving to death. But 100 percent, bonded, aged-in-the-wood laughter is something else again.

It’s the crazy parrot squawks that issue out of David as he spins like a top in… Read More

Lent Day 11… First Sadness, Then Gladness

Today’s Lent post is from Walter Brueggemann’s devotional book, A Way Other Than Our Own.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

—Luke 6.21b, 25b

In his “woe,” Jesus reviews the “laugh now” party. The “laugh now” party consists of those who celebrate the way things are, who benefit from the way things are. The “laugh now” party is filled with buoyancy and confidence, looks extremely well fed, speaks only positively, and sleeps unhindered at night.

Jesus says of the “laugh now” sect: “You will mourn and weep.” You will have your laughter silenced. You will plunge into grief when the bubble bursts, as it surely will. You will face loss, because… Jewish control will not last and because the Empire of Rome, like every empire, will pass away soon. And you will be left bereft.

Mourning and grieving and weeping have to do with… Read More

21 Things I’ve Learned In 21 Years Of Marriage

Today is our 21 year anniversary. Yup. 21 years ago, I was 21 years old (and Shari was 22). We had a Friday night wedding – on a budget (which means we had cake at the reception, but not a meal). We were young, in love, and ready to begin our life together.

wedding picture 1993

Here are 21 things I’ve learned in our 21 years of marriage…

  1. Opposites attract. We did. I’m thankful for our differences (and they also can be frustrating). But we do make each other stronger, better—and we make a great team.
  2. Hotel sex!
  3. Her dad was right… Read More