spiritual clown

I wasn't at all sure about the pastoral image of circus clown.  There is not a lot of  mirth and hilarity on the floors. But two pages into the chapter, and it was my favorite so far.  What an out of the box way of looking at ministry.


Heije Faver writes "Charlie Chaplin..spoke to thousands because he managed to show the ability to find the genuine, the authentic on the edges of life.  The wry smile in the face of failure; the strange victory of the man who recognized his weakness, his powerlessness in failure, and accepts it as part of the scheme of things;   the little man who continues to have faith in something indestructible.


This is also the function of the clown in the circus itself; that is why he belongs to it, this place in which people perform great feats, tame wild animals and do hair raising stunts on the trapeze.  They make us feel tense and frightened, but the clown puts it back in perspective.  In a childish way he makes these stunt men look a little foolish, he makes us feel that they are, after all, only human and ordinary, and thus reestablishes a sort of spiritual balance."  Images of Pastoral Care - Robert Dykstra


postscript - On Monday while discussing this chapter, our teacher Sherry brought each of us a little colorful bag with slinkys, sour candies, pinball toys, wind up robots and monster finger puppets.  She talked about how in the midst of the heaviness and seriousness of our job, we need to be intentional about having fun.  What great homework!


Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.  1 Cor 1:27  NLT