The following page contains materials that were handed out at the 2006 Annual Conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

Scriptures about Laughter and Joy
Compiled by Sonia Solomon, "Laughter, Love and Wellness Insight Session" -- Click here for a pdf file for printable version

The Bible is full of quotes about laughter and joy. This is just a sampling of them. And below the Scripture texts are some quotes from famous people on the importance of humor in our lives.

Scripture Texts
Gen. 21:6: “Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’”

Psalms 16:11: “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Ps. 68:3: “But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy.”

Ps. 96:11: “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice.”

Ps. 107:22b: “…and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.”

Ps. 126:2: “Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy…”

Ps. 126:5: “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy”

Ps. 128:2b: “…you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.” (those who walk in the Lord’s ways)

Proverbs 3:4a (for everything a season): “…a time to weep, and a time to laugh.”

Prov. 3:12: “I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live.”

Prov: 17:22: “A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.”

Isaiah 49:13a: “Sing for joy, o heavens, and exult, o earth; break forth, o mountains, into singing!”

Is: 65:18: “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy and its people as a delight.”

Quotes
Victor Borge: “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”

Comedian/actor Alan Alda: “When people are laughing, they’re generally not killing one another.”

Psychotherapist John McBride: “Laughter is God’s hand on the shoulder of a troubled world.” (also attributed to country comedienne Minnie Pearl)

Mahatma Gandhi: “If I had no sense of humor, I should long ago have committed suicide.”

Writer E.B. White: “Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process.”

Newspaperman H.L. Mencken: defined Puritanism as “that haunting feeling that somewhere, someplace, somebody is happy”

Writer T.S. Eliot: “Humor is also a way of saying something serious.”

Author George Bernard Shaw: “When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.”

Comedian Jay Leno: “You cannot be mad at somebody who makes you laugh—it’s as simple as that.”

Author Kathleen Fischer:
Humor …”loosens our perspectives and the tenacity with which we hold to established patterns of thought.”

“…loosens our bodies and emotions and lightens the connections among us.”

“…softens the edges of our cynicism and reveals the nonsense in what appears to be sensible–the inconsistencies and incongruity in all human behavior.”

“…humor is an indication that we are still capable of being surprised.” (as happened with Sarah in the Old Testament)

Writer Anne LaMott: “Laughter is carbonated holiness.” (from her book Plan B)

Cartoonist Bil Keane (“Family Circus”): “Laughter is not all ‘ho, ho, ho’ and ‘ha, ha, ha.’ It’s also a quiet inner warmth that spreads good vibes throughout the mind and body.” He also said that without humor we focus on failures, defeats, lack of fulfillment.

Prominent Protestant minister Elton Trueblood: “Never trust a theologian who doesn’t have a sense of humor” AND “The critics of Christ have, on the whole, been as blind to his humor as have his admirers.”

Quaker Tom Mullen, in his book Laughing Out Loud and Other Religious Experiences: “True believers need the perspective humor provides. Otherwise, they become as self-righteous and unfunny as Luke’s Pharisee…”

Resources on Humor and Laughter
Compiled by Sonia Solomon, "Laughter, Love and Wellness Insight Session" -- Click here for a pdf file for printable version

Websites
Fellowship of Merry Christians (and The Joyful Noiseletter epistle/newsletter): www.joyfulnoiseletter.com
Jesus Laughing Art and Gifts: www.jesuslaughing.com
More art of Jesus laughing: www.picturesofjesus4you.com
Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor: www.aath.org
Story on Sherman Hospital’s Laughter Club: www.consciouschoice.com/2004/cc1704/laughtermedicine1704.html
Healing the world with laughter: www.hahalogy.com
More on laughter clubs: www.ivanhoe.com/about/p_laughterclub.cfm
and www.worldlaughtertour.com
Therapeutic humor: www.humormatters.com

Books
Holy Humor; More Holy Humor; Holy Hilarity; and More Holy Hilarity, all books by Cal and Rose Samra and available through the Fellowship of Merry Christians at its Website above.
Didn’t My Skin Used to Fit? By Martha Bolton (about life and laughter after age 40), also available at www.joyfulnoiseletter.com
Humor for a Friend’s Heart by various humorists and available through the Fellowship of Merry Christians Website listed above.
Cooking with Hot Flashes by Martha Bolton from www.joyfulnoiseletter.com
Joy that Never Fades by Ann Ball (joy and humor among the early Christian saints) available at www.joyfulnoiseletter.com

I found these in the library but haven’t read them:

The Joyful Christ: The Healing Power of Humor by Cal Samra
Snickers from the Front Pew by Todd and Jedd Hafer
Peace and Quiet and Other Hazards by Ethel Barrett
Help! I’m Laughing and I Can’t Get Up by Liz Curtis Higgs
Grab the Extinguisher, My Birithday Cake’s on Fire by Patricia Lorenz
Faith, Hope and Hilary by Dick Van Dyke
Espresso for a Woman’s Spirit: Encouraging Stories of Hope and Humor by Pam Vredevelt
Laughing Out Loud and Other Religious Experiences by Tom Mullen

Movies
There are many comedies that can create laughter. Just as it can be helpful to rent a sad movie when you are feeling down but are unable to cry, it can be good for your spirits to rent comedies that will make you laugh uproariously.

One movie that was directed to healing and laughter is:

Patch Adams starring Robin Williams as a doctor who believes in the healing power of laughter.

Watch re-runs of I Love Lucy or the Dick Van Dyke Show and other TV comedy series.

Videos or footage of comedians. Norman Cousins, former chair of the editorial board of Saturday Review, wrote a book called Anatomy of an Illness in which he describes how he laughed his way to recovery. Doctors told him his illness would be fatal. He got footage of Marx Brothers Films and of the Candid Camera TV show as well as books on humor. He said 20 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect” and gave him two hours of pain-free sleep too. He went off his pain-killers, took vitamin C and engaged in laughter each day. Within months he was back to work and gradually improved. He called laughter “inner jogging.”

NOTE: This is only a partial list of resources. There are many, many resources out there. Go to your local library and look up humor as a topic, and you’ll see what I mean. “Google” humor or laughter and you’ll see pages of Websites.

Most of all, don’t worry about resources; just laugh at life situations and events in your every day settings. Sometimes things aren’t funny at the time but become fodder for laughter after the fact. Look for the positive. Enjoy life and all its beauty. This doesn’t mean ignoring life’s hurts and pain. They’re always there. But so is the beauty, the love and the laughter.


Hymns and Occupations
Compiled by Sonia Solomon, "Laughter, Love and Wellness Insight Session" -- Click here for a pdf file for printable version