“Jesters,
Christmas, and Jesus”
Fr. Tony’s Mid-week Message
December 20, 2013
The English tradition of having Mummers’ Plays or
Pantomimes as part of their Christmas celebrations comes from the idea
that making fun of our solemnities and normal social order is a key in
finding the liberation of the soul we seek in our mid-winter
festivals. It is part of a
tradition that often includes the crowning a “Lord of Misrule” and turning
the social order on its head, if only for a single night of partying. A very old form of the Christmas
Mummer’s Play tells the story of St. George fighting the Dragon in terms
that express our hope in darkest winter for the return of Light and
Warmth. “Like winter, I must die,” George says after being dealt a deadly
blow by the Dragon, “But rise again as Spring.” We are going to try to put on a
short, impromptu version of St. George’s Play at coffee hour after the 10
a.m. Mass on Sunday.
Sociologist Harvey Cox wrote, “Like the jester, Christ
defies custom and scorns crowned heads. Like a wandering troubadour, he
has no place to lay his head.
Like a clown in the circus parade, he satirizes existing authority
by riding into town replete with regal pageantry when he had no earthly
power. Like a minstrel, he
frequents dinners and parties.
At the end, he is consumed by his enemies in a mocking caricature
of royal paraphernalia. He is
crucified amid snickers and taunts with a sign over his head that lampoons
his laughable claim.”
Let us pray.
“Lord, help us live so foolishly for you that we draw
onlookers and those who would deride us. And while they watch and mock,
change all our hearts that we might learn to laugh at the foolishness this
world calls normal and run away from the circus that is ‘real life’. Amen.”
(Prayer from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary
Radicals, p. 73)
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