Part XXXIX Matthew – The Apocalypse and the End of the World

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 5 February 2015 3 Comments
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Question

Why do Christian ministers have to wear a uniform, big crosses, colored tunics, etc.? It is very off-putting to me and I think it acts as a barrier. Jesus did not have to wear those things, he was one of the people and had to be recognized by a kiss on the cheek.

 

 

Answer

Dear Klazina,

The use of a uniform to identify a profession is both old and widespread. Policemen, firefighters, airplane pilots, nurses, doctors and many others wear uniforms. Part of the reason is to allow them to be recognized immediately as one who can be trusted to act with competence and authority.

If a policeman without a uniform stopped a driver, the driver would wonder if the stop was legitimate. If, when you board a plane, the pilot came in wearing a sport coat, you might wonder if he or she was qualified. If your surgeon started to operate on you wearing a necktie, would you be secure? So, a uniform signifies that one is trained, prepared to do what he or she is doing and is certified to do it. There are, I believe some great values in that practice.

Clerical garb also functions in that manner though most of it did not develop in a carefully thought out manner. Indeed much of what we now recognize as “clerical garb” came into being for very practical reasons only to be invested later with all kinds of connotations. The reason some clerical garb has developed in the way it has over the centuries has little to do with anything profound. One simple fact is that monks in northern Europe needed heavier clothing than monks in southern Europe. So, over the years, clergy vestments evolved into the forms we recognize today: the clerical collar, the black suit, the seasonal colors on stoles and chasubles. Individual ministers adapt styles to their own preference. I had a woman priest in my diocese once who, during Advent and Lent, when the church was dressed in penitential purple, wore purple shoes and purple earrings to match her purple stole. Her shoes and earrings then changed colors with the rest of the liturgical year. She was known as quite a fashion plate. Vestments are not sacred; they are not required. They do, however, serve the purpose of designating the qualifications of the ordained one. So I think we should sit lightly to them. I worry when clergy think that vestments are all important. Perhaps some clergy do not know who they are if they are not wearing their clergy uniform. I have known clergy, whom I was sure did not go to sleep at night unless they were wearing clerical pajamas!

Bishops’ vestments were adapted from the garb of a king. We wear a thinly disguised crown called a mitre. We wear a royal ring. We wear a medallion of our office called a pectoral cross. We carry a royal staff called a crozier. We sit in a chair called “the Bishop’s Throne” and, at least in the old days, we lived in a house called “the Bishop’s Palace.” To this day the Archbishop of Canterbury lives in “Lambeth Palace.” All of these symbols were simply taken over from medieval royalty. Are they appropriate for bishops in today’s world? I do not think so. It is hard to wear a crown on our heads, a royal medallion around our necks, to carry a royal staff, and to sit in a chair called a “throne” and convince many people that we really are in the ministry of servanthood. To tamper with these longstanding ecclesiastical traditions, however, will be troubling to some clergy and laypeople alike. To fight the battle of ecclesiastical haberdashery has, however, never been important enough for me to want to engage it. There are so many great issues facing the church today that vestments do not rise to being a fight for which I wish to spend my spiritual capital. I do not mind the traditional vestments, but I want the clergy of today to be qualified by ability and not by either office or by clothing.

John Shelby Spong

 

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