It’s Fair Time 12 November 2017

Don’t you love a good fair?

The word ‘Fair’ is derived from the Latin ‘Feria’ meaning feast or holiday. The ironic thing is that once the church got hold of the word ‘feria’ they gradually changed its meaning from feast and holiday to any ordinary day of the week, a day when there was no celebration or a saint’s day.

But in Europe and Britain, fairs and fetes continued to be celebrated as holidays during the year, when a village came together with market stalls, entertainment, sports, and drinking and cavorting. (We mustn’t forget the drinking and cavorting – for ordinary people needed a break from the drudgery and dangers of life!)

Fairs were usually held on a holiday and a saint’s day associated with that particular region or church. Now some of these celebrations were called ‘Fetes’ – which came from the Latin word ‘Festus,’ meaning feast. So, a fair or a fete has always been a chance to have a holiday from the daily grind, and to feast on special foods… and to drink ale and cider.

A fair is a good old celebration! And I say harray for any excuse for a celebration!

Fairs express my sort of Christianity, my sort of religion that based on the hospitality of God – that we share food and we feast together – because we know that the spiritual battle of good and evil has been won, that Christ – our Christ is the victor, and we the baptised live a dual existence – spanning earth and heaven – with one foot in ordinary time and another foot in resurrection time.

When we share hospitality, and when we celebrate, and when we feast; we are sharing in earthly time the great celebration that we look forward to at the end of time – when we will share in the Divine Wedding banquet of all God’s people and the completion of all God’s creation.

I look back on the old English village traditions of ‘beating the parish boundary,’ and of having a yearly fair, as expressions of releasing the Spirit into our earthly life. They are moments of pulling away from the daily grind and worldly time, and entering into resurrection time – time when the spiritual meets the earthly.

Sure, that also happens every Sunday when we join together in worship… when we lose ourselves in singing to the Lord, and when we enter into Communion with God through sharing Christ’s body and blood. And sure, it also happens when we go on retreat, and have a couple days away from home, and enter into silence and prayerfully focus our minds and hearts on God for an extended period of time.

But the joy of the fair is that is it is not churchy religion… it is of the people for the people – it is like God enters into human fun, feasting and frivolity – and the ordinary become divine as it were by the back door… not the front door of the church. The church becomes the market place and not the building.

And It is our chance as the church to meet the people that Christ redeemed (remember that he died for us all) –  for those who may not be part of our church or part of the church at all… but with whom we share our joy of life with – and so show to them – that being redeemed by Christ doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun.

It’s when we invite others from outside the village and share with them what is unique to us: our jams and chutneys, our sowing and cakes, our seedling and plants, and preloved things – as well as ourselves as fun-loving Christians. But a fair is also a time to sing and dance, to feast and drink, and never forget cavorting.

There’s a special place as Anglicans for selling our bargains to strangers and making a little bit extra for the parish – but we must remember that a fair is foremost a holiday, a celebration, time out from the drudgery of daily life, a chance to feast, to drink and cavort, and to enjoy life.

You have a vicar who at heart is a fool and a clown. I am not a comedian – while I enjoy jokes, I can never remember them – I only remember the punch lines – and before I can finish a joke I usually end up laughing – it’s quite embarrassing.

But as St Paul wrote “Let no one deceive themselves. If any one among you thinks that they are wise… let them first become a fool that they may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly to God” (1 Corin 3: 18-19). Later in his letter to the Corinthians he says, “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but that makes us wise in Christ” (1Corin 4:10). So as a vicar, you have a fool for Christ… no wonder I love the fact that we have a fair – and I see the potential for a fair to share the Gospel – the good news – by the back door … to share the good news of the fullness of life in the market place… rather than in the church.

As a Franciscan, I rejoice that St Francis called his brothers not only Friar Minors (that is the little or less important brothers) – he also called them ‘mundi moriones’ which means ‘holy fools’.

While the early church tried to direct Christians to live every day as good and saintly people. It could make life oppressive and joyless as people tried to walk the narrow path of faith. But faith is much bigger for it includes all of life.

God is there when we let our hair down, as much as when we sin. What is the greater sin – is when we turn our hearts and minds away from God, and try to separate ourselves from God’s Spirit. While we humans can and do turn away from God, God never turns away from us, and is always there seeking us and calling us back into fellowship in and through his Son, Jesus Christ.

I also love the fact that in the earlier medieval church there arose the feast of fools. In fact, there were three feasts of folly celebrated around the time of Christmas. These were traditionally Holy Innocents Day, The Feast of Fools, and the Feast of Asses. On Holy Innocents Day a boy was often appointed the bishop for the day, and the bishop took a back seat from the affairs of gthe church. In religious communities it was a time for feasting, drinking and frivolity. On the Feast of Fools it was a time for junior clergy to mock the offices and roles of their superiors.

I quote from Hyers’ book ‘The Comic Vision and the Christian Faith’: “In many cases a ‘Lord of Misrule’ was elected… the installation occurring at vespers during the portion of the Magnificat beginning ‘He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and has exalted those of low degree’” (p47).

And finally, there was the Feast of Asses, which commemorated the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt (because King Herod wanted to kill all baby boys who were born in Bethlehem around the time of Jesus). During the service a donkey would be ridden into the sanctuary by a young girl carrying an infant – representing Mary and the baby Jesus. It was another chance for religious foolery; and while the litany was sung, the congregation would bray the refrain, “He-haw, sir Ass, he-haw”.

However, alas, by the 16^th Century these opportunities for comic festivity were banned by the Western Church, probably because we entered the so-called “Age of Reason,” and any sense that the people could mock the religious church was seen as blasphemy. Low and behold, today in the West the majority of people don’t mock the church – they just don’t believe, and I’m not sure which is the worst.

Nevertheless, I think we see the remnant of the feast of fools in the Carnival which is celebrated in Latin countries just before Lent. People dress up, sing, dance, feast and do a lot of cavorting…. A lot of cavorting!!!! (Or so it seems to the Protestant eye!)

Part of me would love to do some clowning in church…. Part of me would love to celebrate the ‘feast of fools’ once a year in church. There’s part of me that always wants to see the fun in life, to laugh at the absurdity in ordinary life.

Look, I think it is wiser to always be on the cusp of laughing because there is so much in life to cry about… there is so much pain – but God in his wisdom has given us the medicine of laughter and folly to bring balance and wellness back to our lives.

But in the English church, we have the tradition of a yearly Fair – and it is a good tradition. We shouldn’t see it as primarily an exercise in fund-raising, we should see it first and foremost as a chance to bring Good News and the Joy of Life into the Market Place!

We have much to share as good news – yes, we have our chutneys and jams and second-hand goods, but we should also plan to share our joy and fun in life.

Hence, people in Britain are getting back in touch with the theme of the Medieval village or Renaissance Fair. People dress up and they encourage others to dress up in oldie-time costumes and clothes. They make opportunities for fun and frivolity. And no medieval fair worth its weight in gold would happen without a feast. Yes! Bring back feasting (I’m sure that we could sell tickets for a damn good feast!)

And there’s always entertainment – jugglers, music, dancing… I even saw on the internet photos of people playing drums and flutes and even a harp…  we have got a harpist!

I am not putting down what we do – no, I want to encourage what we are going to do next Saturday. It’s our fair and let’s make the most of it, and especially enjoy the day!

Yet I know that there are some among us who wish to pull back their involvement in future fairs, and that’s OK.

What I want to say to you is – let’s not give up on this long tradition of ours. Let’s not see it as an unholy drudgery – a drag, an unreligious thing.

Let us see it as a divine opportunity, for us, to be Good News in our community. There is so much potential of what we could do.

Like our monthly community meals – it is our shop face to those who may not come to church… through these meals and our fair we can bring the joy of life… a sense of the divine wedding feast to people… we can bring to the Good News of God to them through the back door of the Market Place.

And lastly, let’s not forget that it’s a chance for fun, feasting, frivolity and cavorting… all done in the name of Christ. Amen