The Between Heaven and Mirth Twitter Book Club continues this week with our next excerpt, below. Join the conversation by reading the excerpt and tweeting a response or a question for author Father Jim Martin – and don’t forget to include the#patheosmirth hashtag!  You can follow the whole Twitter conversation here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23patheosmirth Between Heaven and Mirth, by James Martin, SJ Excerpt 6:  Humor Deepens Our Relationship with God (pp. 97-98) One of the best ways of thinking about our relationship to God... Read more

The Between Heaven and Mirth Twitter Book Club continues today with our fifth excerpt, below. Join the conversation by reading the excerpt and tweeting a response, or a question for author Father Jim Martin – and don’t forget to include the#patheosmirth hashtag!  You can follow the whole Twitter conversation here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23patheosmirth Between Heaven and Mirth, by James Martin, SJ Excerpt 5: Humor Evangelizes (pp. 87-88) Joy, humor, and laughter show one’s faith in God. For Christians, an essentially hopeful outlook shows people... Read more

"When I first began reading the lives of the saints, nothing surprised me more than the frequent stories of their lightheartedness, playfulness, or sheer sense of joy." Read our 4th excerpt from Fr. Jim Martin's new book Between Heaven and Mirth and join the Twitter conversation! Read more

In the spirit of the new book Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life — in which Fr. Jim Martin shares how humor is essential to the spiritual life, and offers a few of his own favorite jokes — we’re inviting you to share your favorite religious joke with us here at Patheos.  We’ll choose a few of our favorites of the bunch, and send the winners a copy of Martin’s book... Read more

[This post is part of a conversation on the new book Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life, by James Martin, SJ, at the Patheos Book Club.] This is the day that God has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)   Rejoice in God always; again I will say rejoice. (Philippians 4:4) Each day as I begin my sunrise walk, I repeat the words of... Read more

The Between Heaven and Mirth Twitter Book Club continues this week with our third excerpt, below.  Join the conversation by reading the excerpt and tweeting a response, or a question for author Father Jim Martin – and don’t forget to include the #patheosmirth hashtag!  You can follow the whole Twitter conversation here: https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23patheosmirth Between Heaven and Mirth, by James Martin, SJ Reprinted with permission from HarperOne Publishers Excerpt 3 – pp. 62-63 One of my favorite sources of laughter is the... Read more

It’s Day Two — and Excerpt #2 — of our Twitter Book Club on Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life, by Fr. James Martin.  We’re tweeting through the book over the next several weeks and inviting your comments and questions. It’s easy to join — just read the brief daily excerpt here (or in your book), and then tweet a response or question with the hashtag #patheosmirth. You can follow... Read more

Need a little levity this holiday season? This month, you’re invited to join the Patheos conversation on the lighter side of faith as we tweet through the new book Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life, by Father James Martin. Read more

Think the spiritual life has to be so serious?  Think again, says Fr. Jim Martin, Jesuit Priest, Colbert Nation “Chaplain” and author of the new book, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life. You’re invited to join the Patheos conversation on the lighter side of faith as we tweet through his book over the next two weeks.  It’s easy to join — just read the brief daily excerpt here, and then... Read more

I love to laugh, and maybe that's part of the reason I was attracted to what I envisioned James Martin's new book, Between Heaven and Mirth, would be. It didn't let me down. Each chapter contained at least one good laugh, and I caught myself actually giggling out loud a few times. Read more