I thought it was a little early for Halloween

Soooooooooo….
She thinks that her religious vestments should reflect her PERSONALITY????!, and of course the glory of God’s creation.

How to respond that doesn’t involve heavy artillery.
Um….perhaps the purpose of the vestments of ministers of God is to reflect HIS(!!!!) glory.

To quote one of my favorite sayings: “There are few problems in this world that cannot be solved with a suitable application of high explosives.”

My wife custom makes liturgical garb (copes, chasubles, stoles) and altar parements (frontals, pulpit & lectern hangings, banners, etc.) at reasonable prices to supply start-up congregations, small parishes, and congregations with limited funds. [Note: click on the link to Shelter In the Storm and then from there, click on Church Mouse Designs for some samples.] Her work ranges from traditional to somewhat modern, but it does not go into the realm of the bizarre.

We are not talking about fashion here, folks. We are talking about liturgical garb which serves not only to remind the congregation of the season of the church year and its theme, but also to focus on God and serve as an intimation of the glory which we will experience in His Kingdom.

I find this prancing about like Super Models extremely offensive and believe it dishonors the function of liturgical vestments. They are not there to make a statement, they are there to celebrate the glory of the Most High God.

Where were the oven mitts?

Did that young man say he wanted to re-use Christian symbols for “today’s doctrines”? I listened twice and couldn’t hear it.

And surely he didn’t say that.

As to the Puritan thing Chris, growing up Baptist I remember sartorial elegance not as colorful, but certainly as prideful.

Allen,
your wife’s designs are very dignified. I have actually done some liturgical embroidery, and as an artist I really don’t have an objection to beautifying worship. In fact in the Jewish tradition there is a “Hidur Mitzvah”. “Beautifying the commandment”, which has the idea of honoring God with beauty in the worship.

It is when you start getting into the realm of distraction, and the bizarre that it falls apart. The thing that gets me about this “fashion show” is how self centered it all is. I also thought the idea that female clergy have brought in the “style” element, highly amusing.

Here in Boston, at the Church of the Advent (Anglo-Catholic), the celebrant usually wears a very grand, gold embroidered cope (? cape?). It’s antique, and very very grand. The idea is that the celebrant is handling sacred materials, the actual Body of Christ, so therefore this calls for something regal. It’s certainly not about the priest.

FW Ken, he said “for today’s culture”.

You have got to be depraved to even find this crap!

Thanks for the Saturday chuckle.

“A pretty girl is like a melody”……….

No matter how appropriate or inappropriate the actual vestments, seeing priests doubling as runway models just odds me out.

seeing runway models doubling as priests just odds me out.

Fixed.

So, what happened to “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam“? In addition to the priest handling the Body of Christ, the vestments are also supposed to serve as a sort of uniform in the sense that we don’t focus on the priest as an individual, but rather on his function during the eucharist.

As for this “fashion show”…eeuuuww!

Thanks, JanJan.

And yes, the vestments on parade made me queasy, too.

It is a cope.

Vestments as political statements. Right.