Fourth Wednesday after the Epiphany
Thanks to April for her very kind and generous comments about her Dad.
Last week Jennifer noted that she seemed to be seeing more and more younger pastors wearing clerical colors. Since I don't go to District and Conference meetings anymore, the only clergy I regularly see are UUMC's, all four of whom wear clerical collars.
I'm looking at the October, 1983 issue of the United Methodist clergy journal, Circuit Rider. It contains the my first published article, "The Problem and Promise of Biblical Commentaries." It also contains an article entitled, "Should United Methodist Pastors Wear Clergy Collars? A Debate." I reread it. I found neither of the two debaters on the subject to be particularly enlightening.
I'm glad I saved (several copies actually) the issue. A few years earlier (1975) a Cokesbury Catalogue came out with a young man on the cover modeling a clergy shirt/clerical collar. Cokesbury had just begun selling them. The name of the young man modeling was not in the magazine, but models usually aren't identified. It turned out that the young man had just gotten a job as a weather forecaster for a the weekend weather on a local Nashville TV station. One Saturday, the local weekend news anchor, held up the catalogue and the whole cast and crew got a good laugh out of seeing their weatherman, who was not a clergyman, modeling the clergy shirt. The young man has gotten older since 1975 but is still on TV, though not a weather forecaster. I caught a glimpse of him on TV just last night. His name is Pat Sajak. I really wish I had saved that Cokesbury Catalog.
Oh, and incidentally, the weekend news anchor was one of the earliest female news anchors on local TV. She was also, I think I'm right on this, the first Black female local news anchor in Tennessee. Oh, and incidentally, her name is Oprah Winfrey.
Catholic and Episcopal clergy have worn black clerical collars all the time for centuries. The only change in the color is that bishops wear purple clerical collars. My last pastoral appointment, First UMC, N. Wilkesboro had one pastor, Bill Medlin, who back in the '80's wore a collar all the time.
I wore a clerical collar for one year at Greensboro College at the behest of the college president. There was a change of presidents. At the behest of the new one, I quit wearing the clerical collar. I was always amused when a stranger in a grocery store would look at me and say, "Hello, Father."
The chief value of wearing a clerical collar is identification. People immediately know your profession. This helps, if you need to visit in a hospital after visiting hours, to visit in a locked psychiatric ward, or to visit in many jails. It can help if if you need to diffuse a crowd conflict, or talk someone out of suicide, or even break up a fight. I noticed that there was no one in a clerical collar in the mob that attacked the Capitol. The clerical collar can also be protection when you need to go into a dangerous situation. Drunken men are much less likely to take a swing at a clergy person than just another guy. The collar associates you with the church and with God.
In a society that still harbors much racism, sometimes subtle, I suspect it helps black pastors in white crowds or in police situations. For women clergy it simply identifies you as clergy, something that Catholics and Baptists are not used to.
A clerical collar also brings instant trust. It can be as simple as someone at an airport saying, "Can you watch my bags while I go to the restroom," or a distressed person asking if you will pray with them.
I never wore a collar when I was a parish minister. If I were to do it all again, I might.
Faithfully,
Christian
1 comment:
If someone asks you to watch their bags at the airport, they may be a terrorist leaving you a bomb. So please do not do that with or without clerical collar.
Do you remember the part in the Susan Howatch novels where Charles said he never smoked in his clerical collar?
The thought of drunk people not taking swings at people in clerical collars is very amusing to me. I could poll a large organization of people who used to drink a great deal and find out if people believe they were less likely to take a swing at people in clerical collars. Some were probably more likely. I could say I'm asking for a Father.
I like the more formal clothes for the clergy, though the clerical collar does seem wrong to me for Protestants. I like for pastors to wear their robes and grown up shoes. Though when my pastor at Old First UCC wore his robe with sneakers or Birkenstocks it was pretty funny.
For someone my age, I am very old fashioned in many things. Not so much in a great many things, but in terms of dress and ritual, I think much is lost with informality. I remember you were the last professor at Elon to come to class wearing a coat and tie. And how Grandmother and Granddaddy used to dress in suits for dinner at their retirement community. All Granddaddy wanted for his birthday one year was for the men at his table at the retirement community to dress "properly" for dinner. I guess I come by it honestly!
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