While attending a 2008 awards presentation at the Strathmore Music Center, a concert hall just outside of Washington, D.C., author Mark Gauvreau Judge witnessed what can only be described as unashamed joy—something we don't often get to see in a broken world, let alone the church. The scene was made all the more powerful because it included different people from different cultural backgrounds—a ...

Let's celebrate Easter with the rite of laughter.

Christ died and rose and lives.

Laugh like woman who holds her first baby.

Our enemy death will soon be destroyed.

Laugh like a man who finds he doesn't have cancer or he does but now there's a cure.

Christ opened wide the door to heaven.

Laugh like children at Disneyland's gates.

This world is owned by God and He'll return to rule.

Laugh like a man who walks ...

On Easter Sunday our minister, trying to emphasize the celebration of Jesus' resurrection, asked the children if they had noticed any changes in the music from previous weeks. "For the last few Sundays, the music has been slow and somber," he reminded them, "but today it's upbeat and joyful. Do you know why?"

No one ventured an answer until the organist's three-year-old daughter piped up, "Because ...

Easter is the New Year's Day of the soul.

I find that discipleship means, first, truly living. It does not mean a joy ride to heaven; it does not mean that there are no trials and no burdens. But it does mean peace in your soul and joy in your heart, and a sense, a supreme sense, of the smile of the Lord upon you. It is living. And discipleship means that you are using your time on earth to the best possible advantage. The Lord Jesus says ...