One of my all time favorite books is one I just finished this semester by Brennan Manning. The work is titled the Signature of Jesus. At first, I was skeptical because it was written by a catholic priest. This book did an incredible thing in opening my heart to any type of person who claims they love Jesus. For the most part, Catholics that I have met had a very calloused spirituality about them and they never quite spoke of Jesus with the intimacy that I felt they should. After being put in my place and taught to quit judging Catholic people, I came to appreciate a concept that may very well be Catholic, maybe not, but it sure smells a lot like Jesus.
The second-to-last chapter is titled Lazarus Laughed and Manning uses it to dive into the idea of a laughing and smiling Jesus. What would it look like if we worshiped a laughing Jesus? What if our God didn't call for stoic prayers with super advanced verbiage? Of course, he isn't laughing in a way that is condescending, but in a way that is light and enjoys life just like the next person. Worshiping a God that enjoys life and is able to keep it light could be monumental to some.
"The smiling Christ heals and liberates. With newly discovered delight in ourselves, we go out to our brothers and sisters as we are, where they are, and minister the smiling Christ to them," (Manning, 1998)
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