PeaceBang INSISTS that when one is leading or co-leading worship and not wearing a robe, one belongs in a SKIRT, not pants. Fight and fuss all you like, she is FIRM on this.
Say you have a lovely Mexican pine dining table with pretty, carved legs. You are hosting Thanksgiving dinner. Do you put a beautiful tablecloth on that table? Yes, you do. It is simply elegant and appropriate. There’s a reason men have been wearing dresses to preside in for centuries. They’re no dummies.
Purple is HUGE this year, and although I’m not a particular fan of purple, I love this skirt (given that you’re not going to be standing around with your leg sticking out like a kick-stand, hem it a bit higher on your calf):
This one has a cute little belt detail:
Sweet little kick ruffle at the bottom, but not so short that one’s modesty in the chancel is compromised:
You could wear this every single Sunday. Classic:
This, however, is a mess and inappropriate for Sunday morning. Why would any of us wear a garment whose defining characteristic is Looking Wrinkly? Heavens.
These tiered skirts are hideous and dated on everyone. No, thank you, 1980’s Gypsy Mama:
Totally cute, but too informal for the chancel. But if you’re not taking a major role in the worship service, by all means wear this:
Too summery, too vibrant, too busy:
And finally, your clothing’s patterns should not induce vertigo:
All skirts can be found at www.catherines.com, are plus-sized, and under $50.
Ok. And really cute skirts. I’m weird about not wanting to wear pants at all when I lead worship, so I understand, and agree.
But several questions/problems:
1) Do you bring a “lap blanket”? I’ve been using my sweater to cover, even if I think the skirt is long enough. [You’re kidding me, right? Honey? You haven’t been putting a sweater on your lap, have you? Please don’t. That would be all kinds of crazy. Just smooth your skirt over your knees and keep your knees nicely together.]
2) What about the lapel mike? I suppose most of these skirts would withstand a mike on the top of them, and others might have pockets. But my favorite dresses don’t work as well. I have found dresses with ties in the back and MOST lapel mikes have clipped onto the ties alright, but this week was a disaster of a falling mike. Suggestions about mikes and non-robe worship attire? [You’re talking about the mic PACK, I presume, since I’m sure you know to clip the actual mic itself to your lapel or shirt buttons placket at the breastbone (just make sure you have something you can clip the mic too, obviously). I wouldn’t trust a transistor mic packet to a skirt waistband unless you do the theatre thing and drop it first into a little bag with a velcro loop that attaches to your hose or something — we use ACE bandages around our waists in theatrical productions. If you really can’t remember to wear something with a good pocket, clip that sucker to the front of your waistband where you can grab it faster if it gets loose. All of my robes have pockets in them. If you’re wearing an alb and cincture, you could use a little cloth bag with a cotton loop on it and hang that off your cincture around your waist, and put the mic in there. I’ve done that with a little bag made of brocade that I got at a crafts fair. As a general rule, don’t ever clip a mic BEHIND you. That’s asking for trouble. – PB]
Thanks for taking a stand on this! We always get to wear robes, thankfully, but skirts just look great and add a certain gravitas. Not the flowery sort, which just make me at least look like i raided my grandmother’s closet.
These sorts of skirts are widely available too, but you have to know where to look. I have better luck at department stores (even places like JC penney) than the more specific fashion-y stores.
The last time I checked, adults could disagree about things without fighting or fussing, so I’ll simply say that you have an opinion about whether slacks are appropriate for leading worship, and I have another one, and they are different. And that’s okay….right?
Tacky gypsy skirts- awesome to wear under your real skirt at the Renn Faire.
I don’t think my green leaves the closet any other time, though every now and then I wear my black one someplace informal.
CC
I’m so not with you on this. I have a lovely, subtle, wide leg, rayon/poly/cotton blend pair of pin stripe pants that I wear (black with a ‘barely there’ white stripe) with heels and a fitted black top with an elegant neckline to lead worship when I am not robed and it makes me look far more professional than any skirt I currently own or have ever owned. [I just can’t see it. There’s office professional and there’s church professional. I’m afraid you’ve confused the two. I’m sure you look lovely; i just hold to the opinion that a skirt is better in the church setting. – PB]
I’m with Wintry and Sarah on this one…I had a comment, but it got out of hand, so I posted on my blog instead.
http://theexegesisfairy.blogspot.com/2009/09/leading-worship-in-trousers.html
[Hi, Fairy. All of you own personal associations about skirts (dating, sexiness, vulnerability, etc.) are interesting, but they don’t really have anything to do with the congregation’s associations with skirts and slacks, do they? And they don’t have anything to do with aesthetics, either. Both of which are primary in my pushing for skirts while leading worship in the church setting. – PB]
I haven’t the faintest idea whether my priest usually wears skirts or slacks to church. I would notice if she wore jeans (which she wouldn’t) and have noticed on the rare occasion when we have an outdoor service that she wears something more casual (like linen capris). Maybe it depends on the church. We have women of all ages wearing both skirts and slacks. Nobody seems to be overly concerned about which is chosen.
Chiming in on the pants debate. I probably go 60/40 toward pants on worship days. I am short. My robe goes to mid calf and there is hardly any leg showing anyway, so most people probably never notice what I am wearing until I am at coffee hour. Especially in the rural churches where I tend to preach, if I was in a skirt, I would be the only one. I remember from communications class in seminary that a big part of helping people know that you are understanding what they are saying is to respond using parallel language. I think about that as I dress for church. I want to be dressy and professional, but parallel to the people I am worshiping with. When I was in boiled wool country in Eastern MA, I wore suit skirts. That’s my two cents… Good conversation! [Oh, I wear pants when I’m robing. Not that often, just because I don’t like the way they look under the robe, but I was talking about leading worship when we’re not vested. – PB]
Presumably at least some of this is about context, right? I wear a robe for 2 of our 3 services, but the first one is explicitly “informal” with a band and whatnot, most people are there in jeans and t-shirts…I probably wear a skirt about half the time. Some of that depends on the weather, how I’m feeling about my body, what the mood of the service is to be, etc. Were I in a skirt every week, though, we’d be back to the days of fighting about the service style and how the pastor so obviously prefers the more traditional service (and shows it in the way she dresses/carries herself/speaks/acts/blinks/god-only-knows-what-all) and the alternative service is some kind of stepchild. And I don’t want that…nor do I want to be uncomfortable when preaching from a music stand at 8.30 in the morning…hence the 50-50. context, context, context… 🙂
True, my congregation’s opinions on skirts and trousers didn’t come into it.
Mostly because my current church robes, and my last church…well…hang on, two of the worship leaders (there are about twenty on rotation) wore skirts sometimes! And maybe four members of the congregation (of two hundred)…
As far as aesthetics goes…isn’t that very much a personal thing? I mean, grubby-wrinkly-holey is one thing. Trousers is another. But then I would say that.
Hey, how come the guys get a free pass here? Shouldn’t we be campaigning for them to wear kilts or robes or whatever?
It’s an Aesthetic Thingamy, after all, they should do their bit! 🙂
I don’t think guys get a pass at all. They may be giving them SELVES a pass–what with the golf shirts and fake tans and laquered hair and Hawaiian flowerdy shirts and jeans in the pulpit (or clerical shirts with brooks brothers stripes and french cuffs which is just as weird).
I do think that clergy who take a step back from the latest trend in fashion AND their own desires about what to wear are sort of refreshing, particularly if they (we) can do this and manage to not look like a big frump.
Robes do make one’s life so much easier. . . .