The Vaudeville Parson

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 30, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 47.

The Vaudeville Parson

SOME time ago, a pastor of one of the churches in Los Angeles, in order to attract a crowd, advertised an “umbrella sermon.” He came into the pulpit dressed in rain clothes, with an umbrella over his head. He undertook to draw lessons for his congregation from the umbrella, and then at the conclusion the umbrella was to be presented to some individual in the congregation.

And now Portland, Oregon, presents another kind of pulpit freak in the person of a preacher who goes on the vaudeville stage as a part of his regular work. He conducts his services in his church on Sundays, and between times sings “sacred songs” in the vaudeville shows. He seems to be a drawing card on the stage; and his congregation is divided, according to the reports, over what they should do with him. And let it be said to the honor of many of the members of his church, that they are strongly opposed to such work.

The conception a man has of the gospel and its great soul-saving work is not only confused but entirely gone when he thinks that the eternal themes of salvation can be blended with such vaudeville performances as that of either Los Angeles or Portland. True Christians will ever resent such manifestations of folly when perpetrated in the sacred pulpit and under the name of being a part of the blessed work of calling men and women to eternal salvation. There is no concord between the follies of this world and the pure, elevating joys of the eternal salvation of Christ.