This past Sunday was Senior Sunday at Chenal. This year, we celebrated Alexis Coy and Brian Allen. As I put together a sermon, I landed on the idea of laughter and joy as the focus. I picked this topic because these students are so much fun and have been a joy throughout their time at Chenal. Throughout the lesson, I wanted to show that God wants us to laugh and be joyful. Yes, there are moments to be serious, but there are also times when our spirit needs to be filled with joy.

One of the best examples of this is how Jesus lived his life. Yes, believe it or not, Jesus laughed. There is no way that Jesus spent most of his time with the twelve disciples without cracking a joke from time to time. Again, there were times to teach and there were serious moments, but Jesus also had a sense of humor. Look at how Jesus describes self-reflection in Matthew 7, Jesus talks about taking the plank out of your own eye before you tell your brother to take the speck out of his eye. This is clearly about looking inward before we judge, but it’s also meant to be exaggerated and funny. Imagine acting this out in front of a group of children; you can almost hear their laughter. This isn’t the only time that Jesus used humor to make this point.

As we have done each week, I try to encourage you to live like Jesus in relation to the topic. This week, I encourage to think about the person that makes you laugh or smile and spend time with them this week to refill your spirit. If you can’t do that, carve out some time this week to watch a funny movie or a comedy special. Find time to laugh because as Proverbs 17:22 teaches, “A cheerful heart is good medicine.”