I don’t want to offend anyone, or hurt anyone’s feelings, but I’ve never cared much for clowns.
I don’t mean those class clowns that make elementary school teachers’ lives miserable and grow up to be Robin Williams. I’m referring to clowns with painted faces and funny hair and big shoes and polka-dot clothes and tiny cars. I don’t remember if I was a clown-lover when I was young, but as far as I know, I’ve never cared for them. I don’t understand why anyone would want to be a clown. They aren’t funny to me.
Someone who loves clowns might respond that engineers aren’t so great, that engineers aren’t as smart as they think they are, and for all that, writers who think they’re clever usually aren’t, either. “So leave clowns alone,” they might say.
Well, they could be correct. Circus clowns have done pretty well all these years, haven’t they?
I know that a lot of churches, including my own, have used clowning ministries as a non-threatening way to reach people for Jesus. Good for them. I wish them success. However, if a clown had been my first exposure to Jesus, I might’ve gone Buddhist.
“So what’s the point?” you may ask. “Why are you turning cranky on us?”
The reason I’m writing about clowns is in response to a story I heard last week on National Public Radio about a study conducted in England by the University of Sheffield. The study was designed to learn how to manage and decorate children’s wards in hospitals. They tried painting the walls with images of clowns but found the pictures widely disliked. Researcher Dr. Penny Curtis said: “We found that clowns were universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening.” The researchers surveyed 250 children and found that all 250 of them disapproved of using clowns to cheer them up.
Well, that’s a slam. In defense of clowns, it is probably true that pictures of clowns are not what clowns are about anyway and clowning is a performance art that ought to be experienced in person. But 100% disapproval is pretty harsh.
I remember a church picnic some years ago at Ulmer Park when a large number of our teenagers were dressed up as clowns. They seemed to be highly successful at entertaining the kids - telling bad jokes, doing goofy stunts, and making balloon animals. But as Cyndi and I made our move toward the food line we noticed a young girl named Madison sitting in her lawn chair under a tree with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around her legs and tears in both eyes. Cyndi, thinking she must have fallen down and hurt herself, asked, “Oh sweetie, what’s wrong.”
“I’m afraid those clowns are going to come over here.” She said.
I understood completely. I was a little afraid, too. We said, “Come sit with us and we will shoo them away.”
Well, regarding clowns, what do I say about medical doctor Patch Adams, played by Robin William in the movie by the same name, who was wildly successful treating sick kids while in full clown costume. I don’t know. Maybe he should visit the University of Sheffield and see if he can change their minds.
Clowns aren’t the only people who aren’t coming across like they hope. Christians have the same problem. For too long now we’ve been unintentionally scaring people. Our spokesmen have scared listeners away from God with their harsh rhetoric and judgmental declarations, even as they spoke the truth. And too many Christians have carved protected lives away from the world and lived exclusively among other believers, afraid of outside influences. I get weary of having to defend Christianity after some public spokesman makes an off-the-cuff remark that is all about retribution judgment and none about grace.
I think our calling as 21st-Century Christians is to learn how to live our lives out in the open without frightening people. Maybe if we wear funnier clothes and big yellow shoes …
