Hello,
As a Lutheran pastor, I wear a clergy shirt when I am involved in leading worship to give a visual sign of my role as pastor amongst those who have called me to serve them. If you’re not familiar with a “clergy shirt”, it is one of those black shirts with a white tab in the front collar. Interestingly enough, the practice of wearing clergy shirts among Lutherans is not uniform. In the mid-west, where I spent a good deal of my ministry, some did not wear them at all. And here, in Western Pennsylvania, the majority of Lutheran pastors wear their clergy shirts every day, all the time (they may even sleep in them?).
This past Friday I had a wedding in the afternoon, so rather than dirtying two shirts for the day, I put my clergy shirt on in the morning and wore it throughout my work day. I wore it to the hospital. I wore it to the food court at the mall where I make myself available every Friday noon.
I discovered that things change when I wear my clergy shirt in public. People notice me.
“Hello, Father,” was said to me as I walked through parking lots and doors. “What do you think about that Pope?” I was asked by a woman sitting in the hospital lobby. “Well, don’t say “hi”,” said a sharp tongued woman who was apparently offended by my lack of response to a soft spoken “hello, Father” that I didn’t hear.
I am not used to this kind of attention. I suppose that it is good in so far as the wearing of my collar lets people know that if they want to talk to a Christian leader, I am one. But in truth, I find the spotlight to be a bit disconcerting. I hope that people are not being kind and polite to me because they think that my clergy shirt is an indication of an elevated holiness in me, because I know that I am no more holy than the people whom I serve. I hope that people don’t look upon me as one who deserves respect and reverence because I, who wear a clergy collar, am somehow closer to God, because I do not believe that I am. I hope that people do not treat me with a generosity they withhold from others because I, who wear a clergy collar, am someone through whom they can vicariously live out their faith, because faith cannot be lived out vicariously.
Business casual would best describe my every day work attire…no jeans though! Walking down the street, around the mall, in the hospital I find myself blending in, and not standing out. Truthfully, I like it that way, because that is the way I see myself as a pastor….someone who is no different from anyone else. Sure, I have been trained in things Biblical and church, but when it comes down to it, like we used to say of the baseball teams that I faced in high school, “I put my pants on the same way they do. One leg at a time.”
I am humbled and honored by the invitation of people to be part of the deepest moments of their lives, and I hope that I live up to the confidence and trust that they put in me. The mere fact that you have taken the time to read this Bungee Cord is an honor, and I hope that through my words God has spoken to you in a way that lives up to that honor.
I tend to stray away from the title “Reverend”, because I don’t think that there is anything more to revere about me than anyone else. I much prefer the title, “Pastor”, which means shepherd, because that is what I hope I am…someone who is the physical hands and feet of the Good Shepherd, who has loved his sheep with the laying down of his life, who knows each of them by name and calls them unto himself, and who will leave 99 flocked sheep to go find the one who has wandered.
So, if you find me wearing a clergy shirt you can assume that it is because I am leading some sort of worship service. Besides, according to my wife, I don’t need to wear a clergy shirt to stand out. Often she will say to me as I am walking out the door dressed as I normally do, “Are you really going to wear that shirt with those pants?”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
No comments:
Post a Comment