The pews were full at All Saints Church in northeast London recently as the
parishioners bowed their heads in prayer, sang hymns enthusiastically and raptly listened to a Bible reading. It could have been any church service except for one thing: Many in the audience were clowns.
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This was the 80th annual Grimaldi Service, held each February to honor Joseph Grimaldi, a 19th-century
performer known as a father of modern clowning.
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If it weren’t for Grimaldi, the white-faced, red-nosed and rosy-cheeked makeup associated with clowns would not exist. And although he’s little known outside clowning circles, the Grimaldi Service draws a vast audience of locals and tourists who want to
celebrate the art form he helped shape.
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“We can be faithful to God and also have a laugh,” Laura Luz, the church’s vicar, said in an interview, noting that, during her eight years leading the service, one clown had thrown a custard pie in
her face and another had encased her in a giant soap bubble. At no other service did people worship with “such a real spirit of joyfulness,” she said.
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Sunday’s service began with a procession of about 30 clowns in full makeup along the church’s nave, including one riding a miniature bicycle and another
blowing bubbles out of a toy saxophone. They and the 700-strong congregation then read aloud a prayer that asked the Lord to forgive them “for all the times when we have failed to see the joke.” Josie Godfrey, the church’s assistant curate, later delivered a sermon about how laughter was essential, even in times of grief.
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As she finished, a clown honked a rubbery horn in approval.
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