Comment Of The Day: Wearing Clericals Does Not Equate Dressing Professionally

Someone who would Rather Not Say who they are commented thusly in response to the Polo Shirts post:

We had to wear red polos. A little better than lime green but not much. This is sad thing, though. For a lot of these folks, polo shirts IS dressing up. People don’t dress up for church conferences anymore. And you get made fun of if you wear a collar.

Dear Rather Not Say,

It’s time for a revolution, then.
If you get made fun of for wearing a collar, for wearing a dress, for wearing a suit, for wearing a shirt that needs to be ironed then something is very wrong with the Church’s self-understanding.

It simply GALLS PeaceBang that a group of well-meaning, supposedly faithful Christians will gather at a conference during which one of the inevitable subjects will be “How Do We Grow” or “How To Stay Relevant In These Times” and not realize that part of why we seem irrelevant is that we look we’re doing nothing more important in the world than mowing the lawn.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: lay people can wear whatever they want to any aspect of church life. If they are ushering or participating in the service, it is important that they spruce up as well as they can, but not everyone has the means to do so. This is a very different matter from not wanting to do this, or embracing an ethos of extreme informality under the mistaken impression that this makes the church more “accessible.” No, it does not. It makes the church seem like the people there don’t take seriously what it is, does, and stands for in the world.

Clergy, however, are leaders! Leaders do not remain quiet or go home resigned when someone — lay or ordained — laughs at them for wearing a collar or in some other way indicating that they find the occasion important. Clergy must signal in every possible way that they take seriously what the Church is, does, and stands for.

But let’s be clear: simply wearing clericals does not signal anything beyond, “Hi, I’m a priest,” and if the rest of the clergyperson’s attire and grooming are sloppy, the collar does not redeem that. In fact, if you’re not going to look professionally put together, the collar can be off-putting and confusing: “Who is that guy with the fungus toes and stained Tshirt ambling around in a priest’s collar? Is that really the priest? Yuck!” Or, “Why is that woman in the frumpy sundress wearing a priest’s collar? That is such a weird outfit, it just looks dumb.”

Yes, people judge that way. I know I do, and I think “If that clergyperson can’t even dress themselves appropriately for a social occasion at their church, I question their judgment on many things.” Because I judge, and I make no apologies for it. We all need to know what people are really thinking and stop relying on hundreds of years of societal status and respect to carry us on into the future. Because if you ain’t noticed yet, kids, that societal status is on the wane. If you want to communicate relevance, wrinkled chinos and fungus toe sandals isn’t the way to go.

People of the cloth, we need to get our conference looks together. We need to get our festival looks together. We need to get our “accessible and informal” look together. We should be as thoughtful about those outfits as we are about weddings and funerals.

If anyone laughs at you for being overdressed, tell them that you don’t think the steady decline of interest in churches in America is a laughing matter. Then just stand there and smile at them. After some uncomfortable silence, ask them if they think the work of the church is important. Ask them if the presence of the Church is important. When they respond yes, tell them that you agree, and that you are committed to looking like it is.