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Reflections On God Biography Come
To Your Senses
Psalm
14:1
“The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are
corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does
good.”
You Fool….
Attending Mass one Sunday , as he started his sermon
the priest donned a clown’s hat and red foam nose. An
article had appeared in the Kansas City Star that
week chronicling his clown career and how it related with
his priestly ministry. He drew several laughs as he came
from behind the pulpit but I would guess there were a few
smirks and some quiet whispers of “you fool”. There is a
connection between clowning and evangelizing. I’ll explain
later.
I was one of those who chuckled. My kind of person I
thought. If you want to draw attention to yourself just do
something foolish especially in church at the start of your
homily where you are competing with fussing babies, restless
toddlers and …..ringing cell phones. (People, you are in
church, in the presence of God. Do you really think he’s
going to call you on the phone? Turn it off!) Even the
kids had to pause and give notice. After the short bit of
humor had gained almost everyone’s attention, he proceeded
with his well prepared message regarding the scriptures of
the day.
These are the times during Lent when there’s sort of
a circus atmosphere in the gospels leading up to Jesus’
death. As the time of those final days and the final hour
is drawing near, some believers are beginning to feel a
little foolish. The diehards are staying true to the
mission but those on the fence are ready to jump and run in
the other direction. And then there are the unbelievers,
the most outspoken, and the most critical. They are the
ones who see the whole thing as foolish. They’ve
occasionally watched from a distance curious about the man
who has been pleading his case that he indeed is the Way.
They called him a fool.
It’s been well over thirty years since I made a high school
Search retreat. At that time the walls were
filled with banners and posters in the halls and conference
room. All of them were made by young adults who had their
own experience on an earlier Search retreat.
Many were creative works with spiritual messages on poster
board or sheets of long paper created with chalks, water
color paints and permanent markers. They all were messages
from others working and volunteering outside the retreat
telling of Jesus’ love for those of us making the retreat.
I remember one in particular. It was a yellow poster a
couple of feet wide and five feet long with three crosses on
a hill painted in black water color. Whether intentional or
not someone hung the poster up before the water color fully
dried so the painted image and words had dripped and run
down the sheet of paper leaving streaks of black. Maybe it
was a symbol of Christ’s blood poured out for me. The
wording under the crosses asked, “Are you going to follow
the fool on the hill?” It was during that retreat as a
teenager that I made my commitment to follow Christ and if
others wanted to call him a fool or label me a fool for
joining the cause, so be it.
I played a clown on a couple
retreats myself. No, really. Some of my nieces and nephews
can attest to this. During one of the retreat sessions
while the participants were listening to a talk I would make
my appearance by causing a commotion while entering from the
back of the room and after gaining everyone’s attention
begin my “performance”. I carried a wrinkled brown bag with
a slice of stale bread in it. I pretended to sit down and
eat my “lunch” but before taking a bite I started tearing
pieces off the slice and sharing it with those in the room.
Like Red Skelton’s Clem Kadiddlehopper, I didn’t say a
word. When I ran out of bread I started wiping my makeup
off my face and rubbed some on the face of each retreatant.
While my bumbling entry into the room drew a few chuckles
and laughs, the rest of my time with the group was in
silence.
After making sure everyone had been given some of my
“identity” I waved a sad good-bye and quietly left the
room. I don’t know what happened after I left the room.
The illustration was to symbolize Christ’s giving of himself
to us, of revealing himself; giving us his identity.
As I prepare to make my annual retreat each year I look
forward to the time spent mostly in silence. And when I
walk the paths along the steep hills above the Mississippi
River, there’s a place along the path I will stop and look
back up the hill at the Stations of the Cross. I will
silently commit again, my answer to, “Are you going to
follow the fool on the hill?”
Have you been called a fool?
Have you doubted at times? Are you on the fence not sure
whether to join Him or jump and run? Lent is a time for us
to experience Christ’s passion and death on the cross but
also to prepare for His resurrection from the tomb! It
doesn’t end at the cross! If you follow Him, you have to
get past the cross because He didn’t stop there!
Even though it all seemed like a three ring
circus at the time leading up to his death, even when it
seemed like his death was the end to the unbeliever, for the
believer it was just the beginning. Maybe the three rings
symbolize the three crosses. Maybe that’s the connection
between clowning and proclaiming the Gospel. Jesus was no
fool. Neither am I. I may be a clown but I am not a fool!
Peace.
©
Dave
2011
I
appreciate your comments:
dpolitte57@gmail.com
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