Does God Laugh?

An interesting question. And, if you observe most of us wacky nutheads called Christians you would say no, He doesn't.

Thankfully, the followers don't always represent the Master. God does laugh and His laughter is found throughout the Bible. Usually, the laughter is directed at idols, humans who set themselves up as gods or other such madcap hilarity.

The fact is, we are bumbling, stumbling buffons, and deserve all the mockery heaven can send our way. But, God's mockery is always done to get us to turn from our farce driven, sin sick, self centered lives and turn to Him for real, healing laughter. I think that is why everyone is afraid of sarcasm and mockery. If it is done right, it will penetrate us and expose us for what we really are. No one really wants that, as much as they say they do. We hate, at least I do, to made to look silly.

And when sin gets exposed in our lives, it gets exposed in all of its idiotness and rebellion. That is why I think we need more humor in the church, especially of a sarcastic nature. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we should be sarcastic for the fun of it and to tear people down. Rather, that we are sarcastic on behalf of our own idols, pointing the gun of Holy Ghost sarcasm at ourselves.

I have been in the church a long time, in many different roles, in many different denominations, in many different settings. Catholic. Charismatic. Reformed Presbyterian. High School kid. Student leader. Intern. Pastor. Assistant Pastor. And one common strand I consistently see, is the complete inability to laugh at ourselves. We find it every easy to mock other Christians for their supposed sins, but we never laugh at our own. We think that we have the corner on God's kingdom, the center of its activity, so therefore everything is serious.

God's kingdom work is serious. In fact, way too serious for sinful, silly human beings to take themselves too seriously. Too serious to to see ourselves as the most important thing going. Too serious that we need laughter, fun, and enjoyment. Too serious not to tear into the idols of our heart.

So, in that vein, check out these websites. A good start to help laughing at the church. Personally, one of my favorites was the article in the lark news about a guy getting kicked out of small group for "not being authentic enough".

Anyway, here are the sites....

www.shipoffools.com
www.larknews.com
www.wittenburgdoor.com