My dear and vigilante readers, we have had a cry of distress from the seminarian realm! S/he writes,
Hi PeaceBang,
I love your website! Your answer about CPE-wear gives me hope that you will answer another “student” question. I am doing field ed in a (UCC) church this fall, and have found out that I need to buy a robe for worship. I do not have the first idea what to buy, and am not getting a lot of info from other sources. There are a lot of styles out there and basically I do not want to make a $400 mistake (did I mention that I am a student?). Can you give me some pointers? Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated! Of course, I need to order it immediately in order to get it on time… Thanks!
Dear student,
Thank you for reaching out in your moment of pastoral panic! But not to worry, peach pie!
PeaceBang may get a lot of flack for this, but she firmly believes that there is absolutely NO reason for you to make an expensive purchase at this point in your ministerial training. PeaceBang is, in fact, disturbed by the number of seminarians who have not yet seen even a regional sub-committee to help them discern their fitness for the ordained ministry, but who are nevertheless buying themselves robes and stoles. This seems to PeaceBang to be putting the cart before the horse, ecclesiastically speaking, and is presumptuous at the very least. Call me old-fashioned, but until a congregation votes to ordain one to the ministry, why should any seminarian representing a congregational tradition own vestments? Being accepted into an M.Div program is not a green light to start designing and ordering one’s vestments. Just because we feel a call to the ordained ministry does not mean that that call will be validated by the rest of the world.
(Speaking of which, PeaceBang found to her horror an article she wrote 12 or so years ago in which she described herself as a minister. This before she had even started her M.Div program!! I’m not sure if this was a typo or editorial misunderstanding or I’m getting the years wrong or what, but it certainly illustrates that PeaceBang herself was prone to the jump-the-gun enthusiasm she now sternly warns others against. Learn from my ignorance, my doves! I knew so little of congregational polity back then).
But that’s not you, dear panicked student. You are further along in your preparation and have secured a field ed placement. Congratulations and mazel tov. What you may chose to do is to sweetly say to the teaching congregation, “I’m looking forward to ordering my first robe at graduation/ordination, as is customary. If the congregation thinks I should wear a pulpit gown during worship, I would be happy to, but that’s not in my budget right now. Perhaps the church, committed as it is to being a teaching congregation, would like to buy some to have for their student ministers to wear? Here’s a catalog I just happen to have handy.”
If they don’t bite (and they should), ask around. A simple choir robe is absolutely appropriate for your needs. Have it hemmed to your height and save the momentous decisions about your own “real” robe for later, when you’re ordained and are ready to make such an important investment (forgive the pun).