Clergy wear
Sir, The very idea of ‘bespoke clergywear’ would astonish and probably outrage Richard Baxter, the great Puritan leader of nonconformist Christianity in the 17th Century.
What he would make of startling clerical designer garb recently paraded on a Bristol catwalk is not hard to imagine. There is a competition going on throughout Christendom for preachers and teachers of the Church to appear in technicolour. It may be a pretty sight, but what has it got to do with the Man who came to release captives, heal the sick and feed the poor?
We have become used to it with clergy in the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, even the Roman Catholic churches. But the infestation has now reached Methodism, the United Reformed Church, the Church of Scotland, and sadly the Baptist and Independent (Congregational) sections of the Church Universal.
How ministers of the plain gospel of Jesus feel compelled the draw attention to themselves in costly robes and exotic headgear literally defies belief. Never was the aphorism better illustrated: ‘What you are speaks so loud I cannot hear a word of what you say’.
Baxter, a Puritan divine from Kidderminster, urged the pastors he taught to shun the pride which obviously causes clergy to dress in what has been called the ‘godly gaudy’ just portrayed in Bristol.
Pride, he wrote ‘fills some men’s minds with aspiring desires and designs. It possesseth them with envious and bitter thoughts against those who by any means eclipse their glory.
What, Baxter would ask, have the gaudy godly got to do with the plain teaching of the Gospel? How is the observing sinful world to be brought to a better understanding of God’s love by seeing His ministers parading about in bright colours, strange designs and funny hats?
How do these garments lead to a better understanding and deeper reverence for the preaching and sacraments of the Church? What, for heaven’s sake, is a United Reformed minister doing showing off a saffron chasuble tagged at £650 plus VAT? United Reformed? Isn’t that a derivative of the nonconformist movement of Richard Baxter? What would he say to Tom MacMeekin, the URC cleric grinning at us from the pages of The Times (January 24) in his outrageous garment?
Some of us struggle with a simple dog collar to denote our clergy role, and get into hospital wards without having to argue our case. Many have abandoned all forms of clericalism in the way they preach and offer pastoral skills.
Surely there is a middle way in which ministers of religion can present themselves to a cynical public without spending more than could feed a third world village for a month in dressing up.
The godless masses think little enough of us as things are, without making them hide behind their hands in snorting mirth whenever they see clergymen parading about as in divine vaudeville. The Rev Ian Gregory, Stoke-on-Trent