Posted on by PeaceBang

Summer Preaching

Ducklings,
I am working with a Midwestern minister who is preaching sans robe in an unair-conditioned sanctuary. Girlfriend is HOT, and not in a good way. I’m trying to find some examples of looks for her and am so far coming up empty handed. I will share my longer response with you tomorrow but for now, let me just say that I LOVE this selection of dresses from Ann Taylor but consider none of them preaching-appropriate. Quelle dommage!

This little surplice item from Talbot’s however, could get you through a whole summer. It’s a modest length and elegant cut and I would wear it every Sunday if I had the bod for it. There’s no reason to keep trying to be original and cute in the summer. Let it be your Sunday dress, just like in olden times.

Meanwhile, Macy’s is having quite an amazing sale on suits. Check it out. There are some really classic options for great prices here.

18 Replies to “Summer Preaching”

  1. For those who don’t have the option, the Geneva gown can be worn open — though you have to be that much neater in your street clothes. The air-flow makes it much, much cooler. And I did preach in an un-air-conditioned church in Georgia.

  2. I have three unconditioned churches to run to. The other week I forgot my alb (I have a lot to haul from church to church) and while I was dressed nicely, and it was cooler, after 25 years of leading worship vested I felt uncomfortably naked. I have to vest.

    My problem is on top of the heat is getting hot flashes in the middle of worship. Although it’s possible I’m not as red faced as I feel.

  3. I had to preach unairconditioned last summer… it’s awful because you lose your train of thought with the heat and you always doubt that people are listening as they wave their paper fans.

    The key is to get clothes that don’t show sweat stains.

    As far as your suggestions, I love the Talbotts dress and I have two dresses of a very similar cut (but prettier color!) from JC Penneys.

  4. If she’s in a tradition that wears alb+clergy collar, an easy fix is a long white linen skirt and a white short-sleeved clergy shirt. Cool, professional-looking, and much of the congregation won’t realize that it’s not actually an alb until after service when … it doesn’t come off …

    I had a pastor when I was a teen (in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, which granted doesn’t generally get as hot as the Midwest can) who did that.

  5. Probably the questioner does not want to add another layer, but – linen-blend jacket. The problem I’ve run into is I need pockets for microphones!

    If clergy shirt isn’t necessary, then throw a jacket over the structured dress. If it is, then find a skirt that goes with the body type, in a neutral color or pleasing pattern. I just bought the neutral pencil skirt from Coldwater Creek, and wear it with a black clergy shirt and a white jacket.

    Problem with white jackets – it’s hard to find one that doesn’t look like a dentist.

    In the heat – ditch the alb/gown/vestments if you can. My male colleage wants to vest all summer – he’s crazy.

  6. I preached in an unairconditioned sanctuary last summer, although thankfully it was never too unbearably hot. I am in a tradition where only a few churches expect robes (and most would be pretty confused if the pastor started wearing one without explanation).

    Most of the time I wore a and a 3/4 sleeve jacket from Lane Bryant. I had a few different tops I put under it (partly depending on how hot I expected it to be). It worked well for me and the situation

    If you wear a dress, where do you hook the mic pack? I have a couple of preaching appropriate dresses that I don’t wear for that reason.

  7. Sorry, my attempt at a link didn’t work very well. The link is to a black skirt that I wore with the jacket (that I couldn’t find a link to).

  8. Hot is hot and I don’t know how much you can alter that fact. With that said, I feel the cut of the clothes is the most important part; second is the choice of fabric, and third is the shoes. I love the all-white idea; I would have never thought of that! I guess I just mentally prepare for the discomfort, lay off the coffee & chug some water, and get home as quickly as possible to take a LOOONG shower.

  9. Before we air-conditioned our sanctuary, I was always on the hunt for summer liturgical wear. To me this meant floor-length and simple, short-sleeved if possible. (I’m less strict than PB on the never-sleeveless rule. I’m not exactly ‘toned’, but my arms look fine to me.) You may check out formal wear, esp “Mother of the Bride” – this usually means more modest in cut and fewer spangles. I always searched the rack of long dresses at Goodwill, looking for bridesmaid dresses that were very simple and not shiny or loud in color. If you find a great one, it’s $10 and would be totally worth getting altered.

    One of my fave Goodwill scores: a floor-length, A-line black crepe dress with a square neck and short sleeves. Liz Claiborne. Looks like it was MADE to be worn with a stole. Sorry if this is merely taunting you.

  10. I was in this situation a few years ago. I always wore a clergy shirt with a skirt suit and ditched the jacket only on the hottest days. Black and white shirts conceal sweat better than other colors.

    I have also recently acquired a lightweight, open-weave knit vest that pairs beautifully with the collared shirts – a much cooler option than a jacket, yet you still look polished. So check out vests next time you go shopping – for the hundreds you find that would look all wrong, you may find one that works well.

    I must say though that I am a bit taken aback by the bridesmaid and mother of bride dresses for leading worship. A joke?
    [Oh No. NO VESTS. OMG NO VESTS. – PB]

  11. K:
    I know how jokey my bridesmaid/mother-of-the-bride dress suggestion is, but I stand behind it. You have to have an eye for them, but there are dresses that are simple, modest, non-sparkly, etc. The aforementioned Liz Claiborne dress has just the right robe-like swish as I move. Though I’ll admit it wasn’t “bridal wear”, it’s what gave me the idea to look there.

  12. Timely as I’m preaching on Sunday in a non-aircon building (I’m in France, we don’t really have aircon here) and the forecast is for HOT (high 90s F)

    I’m a lay preacher in a baptist church so robes aren’t an issue. I’m going with a smart, but not too tight dress. Cap sleeves, v-neck but not too low and the skirt skims my knees. But I am deliberately breaking one of PB’s rules I think because here bare-legs are perfectly acceptable in summer(phew).So I have a session planned this evening to wax, fake tan and do a pedicure. (Oh yeah, open toed sandals – I’m guessing that might be another no-no in some places.)

    Drink lots and negotiate with the tech team not to use more spotlights than strictly necessary ! For the mic pack – the problem was solved for me by ours breaking ! So we currently have a mic on a stand. Less flexible for walking around – but so much less wardrobe hassle.

  13. I’ve seen someone getting robed with a tiny little microphone bag because she had no pockets. This would be very easy to make: two rectangles of fabric stitched together, with a long strap made out of ribbon to go over her neck. The only problem is you’d end up making them for everyone else on the team, and they’d still get nicked because they’re so useful.

  14. For 8 years I served in a rare congregation: liturgical (Episcopalian/Lutheran) with a contemporary worship service. I always wore a clergy collar – whether with pants, dress or skirt. We were very high tech – mics, power point screens, the whole bit.

    When I wore a dress, I wore a slip, put a skinny belt on, then the dress over it. I hooked the mic pac to the belt (with a small clip, like on the back of a name badge, as well as those big clips that were not very friendly to my curves). Then I’d fish the cord connecting the mic pack and the lapel/ear mic under my clothes/collar, and to the outside. It worked GREAT. You soon get a feel for the on/off switch as well.

    I’m in a traditional church now, wearing robes (in blessed airconditioning) and still do the same thing because it’s tidy.

  15. I have two non-airconditioned churches and it gets very hot in there in the summer – one even has no windows that open! From about mid-June until after Labour Day I do not robe. I did think of it at one point but figured fainting would not be a good idea (I’m quite sensitive to the heat). My whole congregation goes casual in the summer – the men even wear shorts 🙂 We’re two small (under 25 people) congregations and have a very laid-back, relaxed atomosphere.

    However, I still dress professionally. Most Sundays I wear a nice pair of black dress capris, black sandals, and then one of my many light summer bloues that go well with black. Last night, I bought myself a summer dress – it’s black with the tiniest little white flower design on it (nice – not cutesy), with short sleeves, a v-neck, and comes to my knees. I tried it on and was thrilled. Funny enough a woman was in the store from a neighbouring congregation, saw me come out of the dressing room, gave me the “thumbs up” and said “perfect for church!”. I agree.

    I think that whatever we wear in the summer, we always have to take in “context”. If I were in a different church, I might dress a bit differently… especially if it had air conditioning 🙂

  16. Hiya Peace Bang
    Dress Barn has always been my go-to place. In addition to dresses that are NOT floozy or cocktail-dressy or hippy-dippy, they have good separates. And I’ve had good success with their dressier tops and then pairing them with a pair of linen pants and flats.

    Since I’m a non-robe gal all the time, I have to think about what I can wear in street-clothing that doesn’t look like, er uh a street-walker. 🙂

  17. This one only works for petite girls, but a petite friend of mine (topping out at 5’1″) found a black mandarin collar dress that looked very similar to a cassock, except it was this very breathy fabric. She got it in a tall, so it came to her ankles and pinned on a collar. She’d toss a light surplice over that, and was good to go and cool all summer.

    Sadly, for me, the same dress only came to my calves, so I couldn’t pull that off for worship.

Comments are closed.