I admit it. I’m beat down by all this snow. We got another, I dunno, ten inches overnight that I wasn’t expecting (or didn’t want to acknowledge). I need to go shovel out the car. I didn’t put it in the garage because there’s an old creaky tree next to the garage that goes crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreak and sways threateningly when you look at it funny and I had visions of it falling. I always have visions of it falling.
So I have to shovel out the car now. Fridays are my day off but I have an article to write for a book and I’m also lonely for my people so I hope to get out and make some pastoral visits today. It feels like it has been such a season of isolation for me that I can’t imagine how I would feel if I couldn’t drive myself around.
Anyway, let’s talk about women’s preaching shoes for a minute. I feel that these Jambus are unacceptably sporty to wear in the pulpit:
It seems like all comfortable shoes these days are made with these big rubber soles in a contrasting color and it’s just too sporty, dern it all!!
And then, contrarywise, there’s something like this Fluevog, which is just way too gangster badass. Silver and pointy toes and cut-outs and 3″ crazy heel? All bad design elements for preaching. Too flashy, too sexy, too distracting. I would wear these with a beige linen suit or something else very tailored and very unadorned, but they do not belong in the mainline Protestant pulpit or on any bema. If I decided to go into some kind of charismatic evangelical tradition where I could walk all over the chancel or stage and gesticulate and sweat and take out a hankie and mop my brow and get slain in the Holy Spirit or that kind of thing, I might rock these shoes. I’d wear a fabulous white suit with slightly flared pants, a mic around my head, and I would stride around in these amazing shoes kicking Satan to the curb. “Satan! FEEL this pointy toe in your bum!”
Different life, different shoes.
Out to shovel some snow. Did I just say snow again? Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow. Oh, wait, did we get more SNOW? Allworkandnoplaymakespeacebangadullgirl. I’ll alert you if I start seeing visions of creepy twin girls in period garb asking me to come play with them or if my dog starts saying “redrum” instead of “woof woof.”
Take care of yourselves, peachies.
Thank you for contextualizing the pulpits and bemas by what’s appropriate in each context. I forgot to take pix this week, but I was EPIC!
The thing about a pulpit is that it hides your shoes – or at least ours does. Neat huh ? That said, I pretty much always wear heels to preach.
I would wear the second pair, as you say, with slightly flared pants. But I’d wear them in black or purple or deep red or something.
[But darling, certainly one moves around throughout the service, yes? – PB]
Oh, I can just SEE PeaceBang rockin’ some way over the top pulpit in that second pair of shoes…..
We “only” got about 8″ of snow down here, but there was no way the Prius (blessedly garaged) was going to go over it, so I had to shovel. And it was the kind of snow that sticks to the shovel, which I think is twice as much work. But I just kept trying to give thanks for being able to do it, which I have not always been.
I hope you get out to some people. I’m holed up at home with both daughters, who had all their wisdom teeth out this morning. I think my extra calories burned shoveling will entitle me to some of their ice cream.
And I would cross state lines to watch you preach in those Fluevogs.
I love the picture you painted of your alternate self. Especially fond of “kicking Satan to the curb”. I have some pointy red cowboy boots (which are culturally appropriate in rural Illinois, thank you) and I’m going to remember “SATAN! Feel this pointy toe . . . ” the next time I put them on.
Since you have all of that lovely snow (we got nothing here), take advantage of it and make snow cream! http://www.ehow.com/how_2159065_make-snow-cream.html
Sunday morning shoes are the hardest note to strike, I think. Keep giving us photos of (affordable) good preaching shoes.