Dear readers, I hope I never stop finding things about this place that surprise me. You may remember how stunned I was to learn about The Bubble created by students and faculty at the local outpost of Antioch College in Columbia. I mean, what could be weirder than that?
Imagine my surprise when I learned that there was a time when Columbia was a hotbed of…clowns.
Christian clowns. Ministering clowns. Clowns who were gently, playfully pushing at the established boundaries of traditional church worship.
The rich and controversial history of Maryland’s clown ministers, Lillian Reed, Baltimore Banner
Don’t believe me? There’s photographic proof, and the Columbia Maryland Archives has it. Of course.
Created by Floyd Shaffer/Courtesy of Columbia Maryland Archives
Here you see the Rev’d Floyd Shaffer, who founded a clown ministry here in 1974. He’s accompanied by his granddaughter and a clown marionette. According to the Banner article,
Earlier this year, the Columbia Maryland Archives put together an online exhibit about the town’s nondenominational clown ministry, called Faith and Fantasy, which Shaffer founded in 1974. Archivist Erin Berry said staffers were inspired after stumbling across a popular YouTube channel’s episode on Christian clowning.
I was even more surprised to see the name of the church where my husband is the music director jump out from the text of the article.
Six years later, Shaffer debuted as a clown minister for the opening day of Abiding Savior’s vacation Bible school, according to a news article preserved in Columbia’s archives.
We’ve been associated with Abiding Savior since our youngest was an infant and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about clowns. I find this all very fascinating.
Archivist Erin Berry makes this point and I think I can understand why:
“I don’t think that something that’s so controversial — I don’t know what other word to use — as clowning ministry could flourish in another place other than Columbia,” Berry said. “You could just try what you wanted to try.”
One thing I don’t see in this article is any mention of the musical Godspell, which was created during this same time period. (1971) I don’t think there’s any way to dismiss the connection.
John-Michael Tebelek wrote Godspell in order to give people a "way in" to religion in general and the teachings of Christ specifically. The physical production must work toward that end as well, through the sets, costumes, staging, and acting style. The show's original concept was based on Harvey Cox's 1969 Feast of Fools, which argued that for religion to once again reach the people, it had to reclaim its festivity and fantasy. Much of organized religion had become so somber, so serious, that the joy had gone out of it.
From this concept, Tebelek seized upon the idea of using clowns to recapture that lost feeling of celebration and revelry. The cast put on clown make-up and wild colorful costumes after being drawn together by Jesus. This concept was based not only on Cox's work, but also on the joy and freedom of the youth movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. The cast as ordinary people becoming clowns illustrated a dramatic change, a very visible kind of conversion. GODSPELL: An Analysis,
It looks as though the time was ripe for a movement to express preaching and ministry in nontraditional ways, and not just in Columbia. I do think there was something about the New American City which provided fertile ground for Rev’d Shaffer and others to develop and express their new and sometimes controversial ideas. I mean, this was Columbia. Anything was possible.
Lillian Reed’s article in the Banner contains a lot more information and visuals - - take the time to read it if your curiosity is piqued as much as mine was. Even better - - you can see the exhibit itself at the
Columbia Maryland Archives. It’s called
Send in the Clowns! Columbia's Clown Ministry: Faith and Fantasy and is available to view online.
I hope I never stop being surprised by this place. After all, Columbia was meant to be all about the joy of discovery.
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