FOOLING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE Jane Sherwin "Here we are fools for Christ's sake" - 1 Corinthians 4 The concept that the idiot, though unintelligent in human terms, may yet be a vehicle for the voice of the divine has been held at many times and in many cultures.
The most persistent strain of Holy Fool in the Christian tradition has been in Holy Mother Russia.
An order of fools, equivalent to that of deacons, functioned in the mediaeval church there - fooling and prophesying in the streets by day, sleeping in their cells wearing hair shirts by night. The tradition of the dedicated, wandering or hermit prophet persists to this day. But foolishness, in this context, should not be confused with the deliberate promotion of laughter: though mockery is inevitable.
Prince Mishkin, the "Idiot" of Dostoyevsky's novel, was the embodiment of this tradition, in the character of a young nobleman - a Christ figure. His idiocy was displayed in the fact that he persisted in loving and trusting people, no matter how often he was betrayed and humiliated.
So here we have the first two strands of Holy Fooling. The divine message by way of the innocent, wisdom "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings". Secondly. the portrayal of a childlike vulnerability and freshness: "except you become as a little child you shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven".
Now to "Bring on the Clowns!" Our particular brand of European clown comes from the Comedia del Arte, the band of strolling players in mediaeval Italy. All the characters of the Comedia wore masks.
They represented stock characters and "humours", the bombastic soldier, the avaricious lawyer, the guileless virgin, etc. The actors were trapped behind their masks, but the stage-hand, the lowest of the low, had no mask. He resorted to covering his face with flour instead, and this "mask" proved to be one that was mobile. And so the Clown was born.
The Comedia gave way to the Harlequinade and then the clowns invaded the circus. The "white face" was splendidly attired in satins and sequins, arrogant and bossy; the "auguste", the brown-face, was the foil, vulnerable, inept, down-trodden. But at the end of the day the auguste managed to outwit the white-face: the high and mighty were "brought low" and the humble vindicated.
When the circus went to the USA the clown clan was augmented by a "hobo", a tramp clown, and the white/auguste pair spawned a child, the "mixed": white-faced but no longer so arrogant, and dressed in colourful rags and tatters rather than spangles.
From the USA we have reimported the Holy Fool, the clown that has given up the circus ring and has made its home in the House of God. Holy Fools have been in Britain for about twelve years now, scattered up and down, singles and pairs and troupes, ecumenical. We number some 200.
Amongst us are many priests, quite a few nuns and even one bishop (he says he's "non-practising" but I did manage to get him to wear a red rose for the Blessing the other day). But all of us, clergy or lay, see ourselves in a Ministry.
There is no "right way" to fool. Each of us as individuals, driven/inspired by the spirit, seeks to release the child still alive in each one of us. That sounds a bit precious, perhaps, but I like to think that we don't take ourselves too seriously. Children enjoy our performances, but we are really directed at adults, many of whom may have forgotten how to laugh spontaneously, or to cry with equal abandon.
We are there to prod the moribund back to activity.
Holy Fooling is a Ministry of the Word that is also a therapy, both for the congregation and for the fool.
Too often we bring merely selected parts of ourselves to our worship. The Holy Fool attempts to make worship more holistic/holy. I'm not suggesting that this ministry is for every Sunday, every occasion, though even in the most tragic of circumstances it can be of comfort. One priest was asked to don his clown for the funeral of a young baby.
We perform in school assemblies, prisons, hospitals, church services, church fetes, festivals, conferences - you ask us, we come - so long as we are not seen just as cheap entertainment for the children. No-one who has seen us performing has thought that we were actually blasphemous. Some parts of our scripts are obviously not supposed to be taken at face value, as when the Archangel Gabriel (in white boiler suit and over-large feet, weary from tramping FOOLING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE Jane Sherwin "Here we are fools for Christ's sake" - 1 Corinthians 4 The concept that the idiot, though unintelligent in human terms, may yet be a vehicle for the voice of the divine has been held at many times and in many cultures.
The most persistent strain of Holy Fool in the Christian tradition has been in Holy Mother Russia.
An order of fools, equivalent to that of deacons, functioned in the mediaeval church there - fooling and prophesying in the streets by day, sleeping in their cells wearing hair shirts by night. The tradition of the dedicated, wandering or hermit prophet persists to this day. But foolishness, in this context, should not be confused with the deliberate promotion of laughter: though mockery is inevitable.
Prince Mishkin, the "Idiot" of Dostoyevsky's novel, was the embodiment of this tradition, in the character of a young nobleman - a Christ figure. His idiocy was displayed in the fact that he persisted in loving and trusting people, no matter how often he was betrayed and humiliated.
So here we have the first two strands of Holy Fooling. The divine message by way of the innocent, wisdom "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings". Secondly. the portrayal of a childlike vulnerability and freshness: "except you become as a little child you shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven".
Now to "Bring on the Clowns!" Our particular brand of European clown comes from the Comedia del Arte, the band of strolling players in mediaeval Italy. All the characters of the Comedia wore masks.
They represented stock characters and "humours", the bombastic soldier, the avaricious lawyer, the guileless virgin, etc. The actors were trapped behind their masks, but the stage-hand, the lowest of the low, had no mask. He resorted to covering his face with flour instead, and this "mask" proved to be one that was mobile. And so the Clown was born.
The Comedia gave way to the Harlequinade and then the clowns invaded the circus. The "white face" was splendidly attired in satins and sequins, arrogant and bossy; the "auguste", the brown-face, was the foil, vulnerable, inept, down-trodden. But at the end of the day the auguste managed to outwit the white-face: the high and mighty were "brought low" and the humble vindicated.
When the circus went to the USA the clown clan was augmented by a "hobo", a tramp clown, and the white/auguste pair spawned a child, the "mixed": white-faced but no longer so arrogant, and dressed in colourful rags and tatters rather than spangles.
From the USA we have reimported the Holy Fool, the clown that has given up the circus ring and has made its home in the House of God. Holy Fools have been in Britain for about twelve years now, scattered up and down, singles and pairs and troupes, ecumenical. We number some 200.
Amongst us are many priests, quite a few nuns and even one bishop (he says he's "non-practising" but I did manage to get him to wear a red rose for the Blessing the other day). But all of us, clergy or lay, see ourselves in a Ministry.
There is no "right way" to fool. Each of us as individuals, driven/inspired by the spirit, seeks to release the child still alive in each one of us. That sounds a bit precious, perhaps, but I like to think that we don't take ourselves too seriously. Children enjoy our performances, but we are really directed at adults, many of whom may have forgotten how to laugh spontaneously, or to cry with equal abandon.
We are there to prod the moribund back to activity.
Holy Fooling is a Ministry of the Word that is also a therapy, both for the congregation and for the fool.
Too often we bring merely selected parts of ourselves to our worship. The Holy Fool attempts to make worship more holistic/holy. I'm not suggesting that this ministry is for every Sunday, every occasion, though even in the most tragic of circumstances it can be of comfort. One priest was asked to don his clown for the funeral of a young baby.
We perform in school assemblies, prisons, hospitals, church services, church fetes, festivals, conferences - you ask us, we come - so long as we are not seen just as cheap entertainment for the children. No-one who has seen us performing has thought that we were actually blasphemous. Some parts of our scripts are obviously not supposed to be taken at face value, as when the Archangel Gabriel (in white boiler suit and over-large feet, weary from tramping the black hills of Judea) finishes the Annunciation sketch with "Beam me up, Scottie!" But after that same sketch (in which I played Mary wearing baggy black trousers with red braces, red and white striped T-shirt, purple wig and bells on my shoes) someone came up and said "I'd never thought of Mary as a real person till now". Hurrah!
That was the whole point of the sketch. Mary was seen , not as a mealy-mouthed twerp in blue and white drapery, with meekly bowed head, but as the spirited woman she must have been in actuality. She questions and refuses and says "Why me?", and is then won over by the realisation of the challenge of God's plan - that there should be "no more proud people sneering at the poor and destitute... no more unjust laws and rulers grinding us down... no more greedy people grabbing everything while others have to go without... everybody allowed to stand up with dignity and take their rightful place in the sun". We have a member of the local church read the Magnificat from the lecturn after that sketch.
This juxtaposition of the modern and the archaic serves to point up both humour and understanding of the actual relevance of Christ's message to us, today. In our Launch sketch, The Feast of the Kingdom, the first guest is summoned by Telex, but can't make it "owing to a temporary blip in on-going fiscal machinations. European screw-up - Oh Lor, de Lor!" The second guest refuses because he is off to collect his Lamborgini, which has been on order a year. But the third guest - "I have taken a wife and therefore I cannot come" - goes on to read out the actual quotation from Deuteronomy 24.5: "When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but shall be free at home one year, and shall take cheer of his wife, whom he hath taken".
Eventually the Ruler sends his servants out "to the hostels and refuges of the city. Give my invitation to the physically disabled, to the mentally sick, to the battered wives, to the one-parent families, to the abused children, to the people with AIDS, to the drug addicts, to the alchoholics... tell them the good news, welcome them to my Feast". And at the end: "My love is all-inclusive, my grace is given without stint. Your Mission has no boundaries. Go!" What started as a romp has ended as the Gospel proclamation of Christ's love.
I have been quoting mainly from the ministry of my own particular troupe. There are others who do it differently. Some juggle, some use puppets, ride unicycles, do magic. Personally, as an actress and a writer and a natural bossy-boots, I have found great satisfaction in being able to offer a harmony of my talents to God through Holy Fooling. The daughter of a clergyman, but from an era before it was conceivable that a female should follow in his footsteps, I have found my ministry at last.
Identification, participation and guts are what Holy Fooling is all about. To me, the process starts with joy, building through the spontaneous into a climax of creative energy which finds its release in absurdity and laughter and a pervasive atmosphere of love and openness/vulnerability. The invitation is to come anmd play with joy and safety in the House of God - not, as hitherto, to have to sit and be good and not fidget in the drawing room of some forbidding, elderly aunt.
I've skipped the bits about the universal message of the mask, and the significance of the colours that we use, about the Lords of Misrule and the Jesters. But hopefully this has been an aperitif, to tempt you further! Should you wish to contact the Holy Fools for a performance, the booking fool is Goopy - Ann Kirch (081 994 0908) 2 Sharon Road, Chiswick, London W4 2PD. Workshops are given by me, Jane Sherwin (081 876 3231) 2 Sutherland Gardens, Sheen, London SW14 8DB. We also have a book of eight sketches for sale, price £2.50 including p&p (and typos and spelling mistakes) from my address.
So all you prelates, pontiffs and parsons, All you magistrates, magnates and merchant bankers, All you statesmen, scientists and surgeons, All you lawyers, legislators and lecturers, Cast off your laurels...
Except you become as a banana skin, You shall in no wise slip into the kingdom of heaven
This is an edited version of an article which first appeared in "ONE for Christian Renewal", reproduced here by permission of the editor and the author.