Another Sign of The Decline Of The Mainline Church: Clown Eucharist

The Layman Online reports:

"Looking like refugees from Clown Alley at Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, ministers and many parishioners participated in a "Clown Eucharist" at an Episcopal church in New York City.

Earlier, the rector of Trinity Church-St. Paul's Chapel Trinity Church, the Rev. Dr. James Herbert Cooper, encouraged the parish family to come to church "in clown dress, big hats, floppy shoes or some sort of foolish garb. Those watching on the Internet might even be foolish enough to put on some white face or a big grease-paint smile as we worship God and learn about the structure of the Eucharist by being the circus which came to town and to church on that day."

The article then goes on to explain the justification for this profanation of the Lord's Supper.

"While he [the Rev. Dr. James Herbert Cooper] admitted that it might "be a surprise to see clowns inside Trinity Church," he asked church members to think about "how we perceive the world in light of our relationship with Jesus could rightly be called foolish. Jesus looked at things in a new and strange way – a foolish way. But, as St. Paul said, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of the world. Paul declared himself a fool for Christ's sake."

According to Cooper, "clowns represent the underdog, the lowly, the remnant people. Their foolishness is a call to unpretentiousness. They take incredible risks – balancing on tight ropes, eating fire, keeping silent, being poked by others or getting soaked in water. Clowns are parables in themselves, spending great amounts of energy uncovering small things, then showing forth the hidden treasure of life (like the kingdom of God) and, surprisingly to us, giving their most cherished possessions to others. … Clowns look at the world, like parables, inside out and upside down: the last shall be first, the smallest seed is the greatest tree, and those who work all day get paid the same as those who worked an hour. To the world, this is foolishness."

No Rev. Cooper, you are the fool...

This garish and unseemly display only give critics of Christianity one more reason to scoff. To turn the sacrament into a circus devalues the precious body offered up and precious blood shed for the sins of the world. Such actions are rebuked by St. Paul who writes in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. ²⁹For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself."

Such "wisdom of men" will only hasten the decline of the mainline churches in this country and for my part such a demise can not come to soon. Perhaps then the Church can get back to the serious business of sharing the Good News in a manner worthy of the One who has saved us and called us to His service.