A Clown's Sermon.....literally.

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My in-laws are vacationing and told me about a church service that they attended this past Sunday (at a main stream Protestant church).

The pastor delivered the sermon dressed as a clown! The outfit, the makeup, the wig – the whole bit!

He would describe how different types of clowns performed their roles. For example, the way a rodeo clown helps to protect a fallen rider. He would then correlate that with roles that Jesus performs, like protecting us.

But dressed as a clown? During Palm Sunday? During the holiest week of the year?!
 
I’ve seen several contemporary fundamentalist church preachers do stuff like this over the years. Most are non-denominational, non-liturgical congregations that preach on whatever topic pertaining to Christianity & The Bible that they choose and try to relate it to trends in today’s world. Not saying that relating to “today’s” topics is a bad thing as Jesus himself used parables in most of his teachings. They just do not see the importance of order and scheduled or liturgical teachings as much as Catholic and/or other apostolic churches do.
 
See… we were ahead of the game in the 70’s! :juggle:
 
novusCatholic said:
My in-laws are vacationing and told me about a church service that they attended this past Sunday (at a main stream Protestant church).

The pastor delivered the sermon dressed as a clown! The outfit, the makeup, the wig – the whole bit!

He would describe how different types of clowns performed their roles. For example, the way a rodeo clown helps to protect a fallen rider. He would then correlate that with roles that Jesus performs, like protecting us.

But dressed as a clown? During Palm Sunday? During the holiest week of the year?!
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Wow! It kind of reminds of a post I saw 2 or 3 years ago on CAF…I can’t seem to find it on here but I found it here:

Priest uses “super soaker” to bless Mass

catholicforum.fisheaters.com/index.php?topic=3332092.0
 
you did say protestant service.i not surprized at anything I hear about a religious service being conducted.Even some Catholic services is some places can be seen as a little unorthodox.Protestant services can do just about anything they want to try to deliver a message.Often its half entertainment and half message.What better way to appeal to this young hip generation?
 
valentino said:
you did say protestant service.i not surprized at anything I hear about a religious service being conducted.Even some Catholic services is some places can be seen as a little unorthodox.Protestant services can do just about anything they want to try to deliver a message.Often its half entertainment and half message.What better way to appeal to this young hip generation?
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Well, I can tell you that, as an elder in my parish, were my pastor to pull a stunt like this, I would have his ear, and quite probably the synod’s ear.

Jon
 
That’s kinda funny. People do alot of things to grab a congregation’s attention. I don’t blame them. Many people just don’t give a ****. They get jaded and just “go through the motions” like Cathilics. Matthew West even wrote a song about “going through the motions”.

I think that sometimes people view protestants as the “fun” christ followers complete with jumbo-trons and parish fellowship…it’s not really like that. They fall into ruts like everyone else.
 
JonNC said:
Well, I can tell you that, as an elder in my parish, were my pastor to pull a stunt like this, I would have his ear, and quite probably the synod’s ear.

Jon
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My first reaction would be in the right setting and time, like a kids service during a circus themed VBS the clown thing could be very effective. The pastor at my old church dressed up a lot during VBS depending on the theme of that year. Sometimes the Sunday before and after VBS (which was in the Summer) they would do skits with the kids and the Pastor dressed up for the Sermon.

However, probably not the most appropriate thing for Palm Sunday.
 
Alix1912 said:
My first reaction would be in the right setting and time, like a kids service during a circus themed VBS the clown thing could be very effective. The pastor at my old church dressed up a lot during VBS depending on the theme of that year. Sometimes the Sunday before and after VBS (which was in the Summer) they would do skits with the kids and the Pastor dressed up for the Sermon.

However, probably not the most appropriate thing for Palm Sunday.
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Well said, Alix, well said. 👍 You are absolutely right! Our pastor often uses items familiar to children in his children’s message, and VBS would be a wonderful time for this type of dramatics.
I would take issue with it during Divine Service, however.

Jon
 
JonNC said:
Well said, Alix, well said. 👍 You are absolutely right! Our pastor often uses items familiar to children in his children’s message, and VBS would be a wonderful time for this type of dramatics.
I would take issue with it during Divine Service, however.

Jon
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I totally agree. There is a time and a place. Palm Sunday was not it. However, not knowing what type of protestant church it was it is hard to say if that is a normal thing for that church or not.
 
novusCatholic said:
My in-laws are vacationing and told me about a church service that they attended this past Sunday (at a main stream Protestant church).

The pastor delivered the sermon dressed as a clown! The outfit, the makeup, the wig – the whole bit!

He would describe how different types of clowns performed their roles. For example, the way a rodeo clown helps to protect a fallen rider. He would then correlate that with roles that Jesus performs, like protecting us.

But dressed as a clown? During Palm Sunday? During the holiest week of the year?!
Click to expand...
Ahhhhh…I think that would be a HUGE RED FLAG! Did he also call himself BOZO the Clown? :whacky:
 
I remember one Sunday growing up Saint Nicholas day fell on a Sunday. So my pastor came around to each Sunday School class dressed like the Saint. Pretty much just like the picture below sans the beard. 😃
I thought it was great. However, as said above there is a time and place for that sort of thing.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/M5mQhY1RgcI/SxpVu5DHfpI/AAAAAAAAGxY/gDiEiF7Qwqg/s400/St+Nicholas.jpg
 
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