Beauty Tips for Ministers

Your Stole’s Too Long To Box With God

July 8, 2009 on 12:16 am | In The Naughty Corner, Tips For My Menfolk, Vestments And Clericals | 11 Comments

A tall, male colleague and friend showed me a photo of himself officiating at a Sunday service wearing a suit and a stole that was almost DOWN TO HIS ANKLES.

I said, “Ooh, kiddo, you’re stole’s too long.”
He said, “Oh, no big deal.”
I said, “STEVE, it is a BIG DEAL. Okay? That stole is RIDICULOUSLY LONG and it’s WRONG AND INAPPROPRIATE. Are you listening to me? This is IMPORTANT!”
He said, “I’ll have two eggs over easy.”
I said, “STEVE, are you taking this SERIOUSLY? You CANNOT wear that stole until you have it altered.”
He said, “Get the waitress for more coffee.”

Two thoughts on this:
1. I’m horrified that he’s been walking around with this stupidly long stole flapping around over street clothes — SO wrong!
2. I’m glad I have such patient, accepting friends.
3. If I see that stole I’m getting out a pair of scissors, I swear. Stubborn fool.

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1. May I give you a terrorist fist bump and a kiss of peace for the BEST BLOG POST HEADLINE EVER? [:::bump *Smooch!::: - PB]

   Comment by Miss Conduct — July 8, 2009 #

2. OK. I’ll bite. How long SHOULD a stole be? [Well, somewhere between above the knee and just below it. - PB]

   Comment by cindy, really — July 8, 2009 #

3. or, you could steal it off him, and return it to the person who has the chasuble that it must be designed to go with…

   Comment by Kimberly — July 8, 2009 #

4. hmmm.. I’m 5′8″ (not that short)… Every stole I’ve ever owned has gone nearly to my ankles.

   Does everyone else wear their with a white alb and a cinture? I would wear short stoles with a cassock and surplice.

   Comment by Erin — July 8, 2009 #

5. I like long stoles better especially with an alb. It just looks better to me.

   Comment by indie — July 8, 2009 #

6. @ Erin and Indie: We don’t wear albs or chasubles in my tradition, so I’m sure you’re cool. This was a suit — street clothes. With an ankle-length stole. Totally bizarre.

   Comment by PeaceBang — July 8, 2009 #

7. oh right. Missed the part of the story where he was wearing a suit. lol.

   Comment by Erin — July 8, 2009 #

8. I wonder if it had been lovingly stitched for him by a relative or a congregational member, and he felt it would be crass to take scissors to it and hurt their feelings.

   (Can’t address the suit/stole combo–that’s out of my experience!)

   Comment by Sue — July 8, 2009 #

9. I don’t know about anybody else who sews stoles, but since I use 54″ wide material, I try not to make my stoles longer than 54″.

   And since 54″ is 4-and-a-half feet, it is usually a good length no matter what height the clergy person is.

   Comment by Kim Hampton — July 9, 2009 #

10. I make stoles too (just opened a new shop on Etsy, http://piecemakerrev.etsy.com). Generally I make them 100″ long for anyone under 5′7″, and about 110″ for those taller than that.

    A stole that falls just to the knee seems a little short to me, but I’m not sure if there’s a difference if it’s over street clothes?

    Comment by Beth B. — July 10, 2009 #

11. A stole is a liturgical garment…street clothes aren’t. “Leading the service in a suit and a stole” indicates a certain confusion of roles in the worship leader
    [I agree, absolutely, although I am guilty of this crime myself, since the wearing of a stole over street clothes is normative in UUism. In some congregations, a minister in a robe would cause a riot! Not that I think we should encourage clergy-or-God-or-religion-phobic church-goers (ironic, isn't it? that all three are so present in UU congregations?) to dictate our pulpit wear, but it's a tradition by now.- PB]

    Comment by Jason — July 20, 2009 #

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