A Touch of White

Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday) recently ushered us into a season of reflection that lasts forty days (not counting Sundays). The point of the original celebration was to have fun for the last time before the sacrificial, solemn period the church calls “Lent.” It was a time to use up all the fats in the house before Lent began. The traditional way to do that was to have a Pancake Supper on Mardi Gras evening, even though many had no idea why they were doing it.

Then on Ash Wednesday, people would receive a dab of soot on their foreheads to represent this time. I always forgot what it was all about and would say to a friend, “You didn’t wash your face!”

One other celebration came out of the early church and into the 16th century: “The Feast of Fools.” It was a time to make fun of church rituals and wear bizarre costumes. It was a license to be bawdy and crude.

I like using the image of a CLOWN, which comes from the Anglo Saxon word for “clod,” a meaningless clump of dirt, the “lowliest of the low.” So the clown became a fool to lift up someone else – to give power to the other. The clown would do something to make the other person look like a fool, and follow that up with something to raise the person up even higher.

There are other words that give us permission to be clowns. For example, the original meaning of the word “silly” was “holy.” So to be silly was to be holy. The next time you think you’re being silly, substitute the word “holy.”

And don’t forget that the root word for “human” is “humor!” We were created to have humor (when we are not being so humorous that God laughs at us)! Laughter keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously.

Too often, we miss the humor in life. Being the “clown” allows us to laugh at ourselves, in spite of what else is going on. When I can remember, I try to see the humor in all situations – even those I think require me to be too serious.

On top of the white death mask, the clown paints the colorful symbols of life, showing how the clown brings new life to everyone. Many rodeo clowns are paramedics or fire fighters. They literally “give new life” by distracting the bull from the bull fighter, or the high-wire acrobats. They are not there merely to give us all a laugh.

The clown also is mute, requiring that we watch rather than merely listen, in order to understand the message we are to receive.

When we are the clown, we transform everything and everyone into a new and more meaningful future. We take whatever is simple and ordinary in life and lift it into something exquisitely beautiful.

The same word for clown also could mean “servant.” We are asked to be “servant leaders” if we would truly serve others and bring peace to the world, lift up the nations. Look up any scripture and wherever you see the word “servant,” substitute the word “clown,” and see how the meaning can deepen.

So in this month of March, lift up others, be a servant leader, do what others are not willing to do, and LAUGH!

Rather than ashes on your forehead, I invite you to dab white clown paint or powder on some noticeable part of your body. Let that touch of white remind you to be the “fool,” the “servant,” the “clown.”