I used to admire this couple back when they were in the same district as I, and were always dressed to the nines.
Remember when I said that beauty had regional implications? This is a perfect example: they’re serving a large congregation in Texas now and look how fabulous he is in his ten-gallon hat. I am certain that he wouldn’t be sporting that look if he was serving a historic New England church. Here’s a guy who gets it. Don’t mess with Texas. He didn’t arrive and insist on maintaining his East Coast look; he got to his new settlement and adapted to the culture. Let that be a lesson for all of us. It’s just plain smart, and it seems not only politic to me, but also affectionate, as in “your people shall be my people and your God my God.”
I hear a lot of you chickens out there pecking and fussing about how dressed up you should get doing the work of the LORD. Some of you cluck about not wanting to outdress your parishioners. Listen, chickens: Big Mother Hen here says quit worrying about that! Quit yer fussing already! Hardly any of us are in any danger of looking more fashionable than our parishioners in the first place and you know what else? It’s okay to dress a step up from your people. In fact, you should. Not in a flaunt-y, “I make so much money I’m wearing out my shoe leather in Lord & Taylor’s” kind of way, but in a “This work I’m doing is so fine, and the church is such a fine place to be, I’m going to dress in my finest.”
Look at Mark and Becky (they’ve got their nametags on clear as day, so it’s not like I’m outing them as attractive, fashionable people). They look like leaders. They look like people who got up in the morning and had some FUN getting dressed and becoming a well-matched clergy couple who are ready not only to comfort the afflicted and speak truth to power, but are ready to speak to a reporter or to show up on the evening news talking about, for instance, immigration issues.
If your daily wardrobe was chosen for the most scrubby aspect of your work — say, setting up for the church fair or scrambling around on the floor with the children in Sunday School, be honest with yourself. How often are you really setting up tables for meetings? How often are you really playing with puzzles on the floor? Not very often. On the other hand, how often are you walking through town unconsciously representing your office and your congregation to every one who sees and knows you? How often are you interacting with an office and program staff who needs to rely on your leadership and team-building? How often are you striding through the halls of power in order to testify on behalf of “the least of these” or appearing in the door of the hospital waiting room ready to help a family make one of the most harrowing decisions of their lives?
Dress for the highest moments of your calling, not for the scrubbiest.
You can always take that linen suit to the dry cleaner or have it mended if it gets dirty or torn. What you cannot do, however, is repair your image if you represent your congregation, your movement, the Church and your God in a sloppy and unpolished manner.
Ya hear, now?
