“St. Francis the Clown”

May 21, 2006

Scripture Reading:    1 Corinthians 1:20-25

Rev. Dr. Carol L. Kerr 

Blue Point Congregational Church

 

(The Sunday we were suppose to have our family service and debut the clown ministry was February 12.  Well, February 8^th was the day Gavin, my son, had is stroke.  So, it couldn’t be done.    I feared that we would never do it.  But, the kids loved clowning.  The energy of Gail and Cathy persevered.  And when I returned, they said that the kids were ready and that by all means we were going to have our Clown Ministry Sunday even if it wasn’t when we thought it was going to be.  I am so happy to see it come to fruition today.

The three Sundays before February 12, I had preached on clowns and humor so as to prepare you all for the Clowns.  “Clowns and church” just don’t seem like they ought to go together.  In fact, it can seem sort of sacrilegious!    But, Feb was a long time ago.  If you are like me, remembering the sermons from back then can be a challenge.  But, it is important that we understand the theological context of what we do here.  It is fun, and the kids love it.  But, clowning is far deeper and more profound than that. 

My most significant sermon, I think is about St. Francis.  Let me share some of that again for us today.  Then I will finish with simply noticing the importance of noticing God in the simple things around us.)

Saint Francis called himself a “Jongleur de dieu!”  He called himself a clown for God.   He realized that he was so in love with God that it was ridiculous.  He did many foolish things.   Once he took off all his clothes in front of the whole town and the bishop.  He gave them to his father saying that he was no longer his son.  He declared he was now only God’s son.   Another time, he spoke to a wolf who was so terrifying that the people of one town refused to leave the city gates.  He said to the wolf, “Brother Wolf in the name of Jesus Christ I command you not to harm me, or anyone else.”  Then Francis realized that the real wolf was inside the people.  Once, he saw a woman with leprosy.  He gave her gold coins and then kissed her putrefying mouth.  When he let go and opened his eyes he kept saying “Where are you, I can’t se eyou, where have you gone?”  Francis had fallen in love with an extraordinary woman.  His beloved was the most foolish of all.  He loved Lady Poverty.  A woman who he continually searched for all his life. 

People laughed at St. Francis  they thought he was a fool.  But, instead of a badge of shame Francis took this as a badge of honor.  He agreed he was ridiculous in his love for God.  He was over the top.  He was a one man stand up comedy for those who didn’t understand.  Only those who also loved could understand how the ridiculous was indeed the sublime.

When you think about it, St. Francis is right.  Not only him, but anyone who is truly in love with God is a clown of sorts.  Consider some of the major characters of the Bible.  It makes for quite of list of surprisingly clownish people.  If you ever find yourself trying to explain the Bible to people who have never heard of any of the stories it starts sounding quite strange.  There is Noah, building an ark in the middle of the desert.  When you stop to think about it, that is an odd thing to do.  Then there is Moses, a murderer with a stutter, who confronts the Pharaoh and commands him to “Let my people go!”  Abraham and Sara have a child in old age – really old age -90 and 100 years old.  Job made a habit of arguing with God.  Jacob wrestled all night with a shadow, or an angel, or something and ended up getting his hip out of joint. 

The New Testament is no better.  We have men like Peter who one day declares Jesus to be the Christ and the next day betrays him three times.  Then in another twist of events the Resurrected Christ calls Peter the rock on which he is going to build his church. 

Christ draws strange people around him.  They were ragamuffins and bumpkins.  They were tax collectors, street walkers, winebibbers, the lonely and the down trodden.  Those who were to inherit the Kingdom were the poor in spirit, the lame and blind and deaf.  Most of all were the least of all, children.  (Who, by the way, love clowns.)

St. Francis was not the only one who recognized how foolish this all seems from the outside.  Jongleur de Dieu ,  fools for God was something Saint Paul also noticed.  Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to the gentiles, but to those who are called…Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of god.  For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” 

A cynical man once said, “Blessed is he that expects nothing, for he shall not be disappointed.”  But St. Francis the clown for God said, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall enjoy everything.” 

What is the truth in St. Francis’ claim to expect nothing and therefore enjoy everything?  Often our expectations of where God should be and how God should show up in our lives actually gets in the way of seeing where God really is in our lives.  So if we get rid of the preconceptions and expectations we can finally begin to simply notice things.  When we do everything begins to take on the glow of the divine.  The most ordinary thing becomes extraordinary.

This is what we can learn from Jesus or clowns or children.   If Jesus was in my yard right now he would say,  “See how the dandelions grow…even King Solomon did not have clothes as beautiful as these.”  God created a new covenant with Noah after he flooded the earth.  Wherever we see rainbows it is to be a sign for us.  Children pointed out to me how many rainbows are in bubbles.  A clown uses a broom and a yardstick to make a cross and pretends to sweep up her sins.  There is nothing fancy or sophisticated in any of this.  It is simply noticing here and there and everywhere are signs of God.  

Saint Francis did not write theology.  He left barely a few statements of what he believed.  The power of Saint Francis and why he speaks so profoundly to people of all faiths in in his actions.  Likewise, clowns don’t have theories, they just do, and try to get along, and stumble upon the foolishness of hope. 

Wondering if clown ministry really has a place in church?   A young clown from the southeast also wondered.  Until the silence that followed the first reading of the following clown skit explained it.

A girl sitting on a park bench is weeping.  A clown (non-speaking) enters and shows concern.  In pantomime and with humorous gags, he tried to cheer her, but to no avail.  Finally, the clown removes his hat and weeps large clown tears into ti.

“Is that suppose to be funny?”  asks the girl.  “Well, it’s not!  Nothing is funny!”

She reaches into her bag and, one by one, pulls out papers reading Love, Failure, Death, and Divorce, and angrily comments on how each has affected her life, bringing her to despair and desolation.  “…And my parents told me this morning that they are getting a divorce,” she finishes.

Crumpling the Divorce paper, she shoves it into the clown’s hat, shouting, “Put that in your hat!”  She then crumples the others, Death, Failure, and Love, into his hat and bursts into tears.

At this point, the clown truly weeps.  After a few moments, the girl looks at him in bewilderment and, hesitatingly, asks, “Why are you crying?”

He reached into the hat and sifts her crumpled papers through his fingers.

“My problems?”  she asks.  “You’re crying for my problems?”

The skit ends with the girl being touched by faith and offered a ray of hope.  (source:  The Clown As Minister I.)

This is the truth in what Saint Paul said so long ago.  This is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.